AED donated to St. Marys Legion Branch 236

At the February dedication ceremony, Legion branch service officer Mike Rumble, branch president Reg Rumble, Scott Rutherford of the Perth County Paramedic Service and representatives of the Near family.

By St. Marys Independent Staff

On Feb. 14, Branch 236 of the Royal Canadian Legion in St. Marys held a dedication ceremony for an Automated External Defibrillator (AED) donated through the Dave Mounsey Memorial Fund.

The device was dedicated in memory of Frank and William Near, two brothers from St. Marys whose story of service and sacrifice speaks to the personal cost carried by so many Canadian families.

Before the First World War, Frank Near worked as a barber and William Near as a freight agent in St. Marys. Frank Near enlisted on June 28, 1915, with the 33rd Canadian Infantry Battalion. William Near followed less than two months later, enlisting on Aug. 16, 1915, with the same battalion in London. On April 1, 1916, they sailed together from Halifax aboard the SS Lapland, crossing the Atlantic side by side into the unknown.

Though they tried to stay together, Frank Near was transferred to The Royal Canadian Regiment while William was diverted to the 7th Canadian Infantry Battalion. William Near applied to have Frank Near transferred to serve alongside him, but the paperwork never went through.

On Oct. 8, 1916, during the Battle of the Ancre Heights at the Somme in France, Frank Near’s unit attacked the German position. The assault fell apart when other battalions encountered uncut barbed wire. Canadian forces suffered 1,364 casualties that day and Frank Near was listed as missing. His body was never recovered, and his name is commemorated on the Vimy Ridge memorial.

William Near carried on. A year later, during the Third Battle of Ypres at Passchendaele in Belgium, he served as a battalion headquarters runner, carrying messages through shellfire. His last diary entry, dated Nov. 7, 1917, mentioned cold rain and writing a letter to his mother, Mary. The next night, William Near was killed while moving into the assembly trenches. He was buried in Belgium, but the location of his grave is lost to history. His name is inscribed on the Menin Gate in Ypres among the 54,000 missing.

It was this history that brought a small group together on Valentine’s Day. The ceremony was attended by Scott Rutherford of Perth County Paramedic Services, who demonstrated the AED and explained the Public Access Defibrillation program; Reg Rumble, branch president; Mike Rumble, veteran services officer; and relatives of the Near family.

The Dave Mounsey Memorial Fund was established by OPP Sgt. Patrick Armstrong in honor of provincial Const. Dave Mounsey, who died in the line of duty in 2006. It donates AEDs to public buildings in memory of fallen law enforcement, fire, EMS and military members. To date, the foundation has donated 242 defibrillators, saving seven lives.

“Frank and William Near gave everything,” said Mike Rumble during the ceremony. “The Near brothers couldn’t come home. But because of them, and because of the Dave Mounsey Foundation, someone else can.”

The AED is now available for public use at the Legion.