Feature Letter of August 30th, 2025
Maharg, Ivan Clark
I am sorry that I have to mention poor Carey McKee was among the list of killed. He went forward with "B" Coy. just ahead of us. They reached their first, second, & final objective (the town of Monchy) with only a few casualties. The hun by this time seemed absolutely up in the air & was evacuating & leaving everything behind in his endeavor to escape our our rush. The opposition seemed so slight that the company instead of stopping pushed on past the town & into the open. As far as I know Carey was still with them. In front of them there was another small wood & apparently the enemy had it full of machine guns. Here he made his stand, & opened up such a heavy fire that "B" Coy. had to retire at once to where they could get a line of trenches for cover. They suffered heavily coming back but soon got settled down in a bunch of shell holes. One of the officers (M. Wilson of "B" Coy.) told me that McKee, his Sergt. & two men got into a shell hole together. In another shell hole close bye they had seen a wounded R.C.R. soldier. The latter seemed to be suffering very much so Carey got up to move over & see if the fellow's wounds had been dressed just as a large shell burst right on top of his same shell hole. Carey, the Sergt. & the wounded man were killed outright so none of them had any suffering to hear. The other two men were badly wounded. I know about where he was buried the same day & I think our Padre has erected a cross over his resting place. It is about two hundred yards to the north west of the Village of "Monchy." McKee was doing fine work here. It was his third time over the top & I guess he saw as much fighting as any man out here for the length of time that he was at it. His platoon had grown to look upon him as a chum & a leader & his Coy. officers respected him as a gentleman & a conscientious officer. I have thought of writing his people but perhaps if you showed them this it would do just as well. Use your own judgment about the matter.
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