Luck, Lewis Edward

Lewis Edward Luck was born in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, England, on 7 April 1893. He was the fifth of John and Annie Luck’s six children. His father was a baker and grocer. Luck immigrated to Canada in 1910.

He worked as a shipper before enlisting in the 15th Canadian Infantry Battalion on 18 September 1914 at Valcartier Camp, Quebec. His elder brother, Sydney James Luck, enlisted a year later. After initial training in Canada, Luck and his unit embarked for Europe with the First Contingent of the Canadian Expeditionary Force on 3 October 1914. The Contingent trained on Salisbury Plain for four months before being shipped to France in February 1915.

Luck was wounded in the right arm on 22 April 1915, the first day of the Second Battle of Ypres. After treatment behind the lines, he rejoined his unit in the field on 22 May 1915. Luck was hospitalized once again in early December 1915, this time suffering from influenza. He returned to his unit on 17 December 1915, eight days after having been admitted to hospital for treatment.

In late April 1916, Luck was attached to the 2nd Canadian Tunnelling Company for two weeks. No reason for this posting was provided. He returned to his unit in early May. On 26 September 1916, Luck was killed on the Somme during the 15th Battalion’s successful attack on German positions at Thiepval Ridge. His body was not recovered. Belying the cheery tone of the 15th Battalion’s war diary — which noted with regard to the assault that "everything [was] going in good shape for us" — the attack was not a cakewalk. Although some German defenders surrendered almost immediately, others mounted very stiff resistance. The result was significant casualties on both sides. By 6 p.m. — some five and a half hours after the attack was launched — the heavy losses forced the 15th Battalion to bring up from the rear every available man to defend the positions it had taken. The Germans lost almost all the men defending the forward trenches.

Lewis Edward Luck is commemorated on the Canadian National Vimy Memorial, on Vimy Ridge, in France.