Homes of Heroes Honours the Veterans of the First World War

Neil Edwards

Paris Independent Contributor

Jairus Maus was born on February 1, 1880, in South Dumfries Township, the son of Henry and Elizabeth Maus. He grew up on a farm just north of Paris. Jairus attended Maus School and Paris High School. Later he went west to fill a responsible banking position. He was working in Victoria, British Columbia when he enlisted with the 50th Regiment of the Gordon Highlanders on November 7, 1914, placing him among the first Canadians to volunteer during the First World War. On arrival in England, he was transferred to the 16th Battalion, the Canadian Scottish Regiment.

Jairus was serving with the 16th during the Battle of Langemarck. It was a major phase of the Second Battle of Ypres and the defining, legendary moment for the 16th Battalion. Langemarck is in West Flanders, Belgium, eight kilometers northeast of Ypres. It was here, during the late-night hours of April 22–23, 1915, that the battalion engaged in one of the most famous and costly actions in Canadian military history, the counterattack on Kitchener's Wood. 

On the afternoon of April 22, 1915, the German Army released 160 tons of chlorine gas near Langemarck. It was the first time that lethal poison gas was used on a massive scale. The toxic cloud decimated French colonial troops on the Canadian left flank, causing the French to retreat and leaving a catastrophic four-mile gap in the Allied front line. The Germans were poised to sweep through and capture Ypres. To plug the gap, the 16th Battalion and the 10th Battalion (Calgary) were ordered to launch a desperate, immediate counterattack into Kitchener’s Wood, an oak plantation near Langemarck that the Germans had occupied. Without time for reconnaissance or artillery preparation, the two battalions formed up in the dark. At 11:46 PM, 816 men stepped off into No Man's Land in complete silence. 

Halfway across, they hit a thick, wire-interlaced hedge. As they used their rifle butts to smash through it, German flares illuminated the field, and devastating machine-gun fire tore into their ranks. Screaming and charging with fixed bayonets, the Canadians broke into the wood, overpowering the German defenders in brutal, hand-to-hand combat and recapturing a British artillery battery. The 16th and 10th Battalions successfully cleared the woods and dug in, blocking the German advance. However, they remained heavily exposed and vastly outnumbered. They endured severe shelling and subsequent gas attacks over the next several days before finally being relieved.

The victory came at a horrific price. When the roll call was taken the morning after the initial charge, the 16th Battalion, which had started with 816 men, had only 268 men left standing. This heroic sacrifice at Langemarck forged the fierce reputation of the Canadian Corps but resulted in a staggering casualty rate of nearly 70% for the battalion in a single night. The Allied supreme commander, Marshal Ferdinand Foch, later called this assault "the greatest act of the war." 

Jairus survived the battle, though he wrote home that “it was a sad, sad roll call.” The following day, supplies were needed for the men and Jairus volunteered to get them. He was caught by enemy fire and received the severe gunshot wounds that ultimately claimed his life. Jairus was eventually taken to the 4th General Hospital in Lincoln, England where he suffered for eight months. His mother and sister visited him there before his death on December 5, 1915. His body was brought back to Paris and a public service was held in the St. Paul’s Methodist (now United) Church. The funeral was conducted by the 125th Brant Battalion who honoured Jairus full military honours. His selflessness in volunteering to look after his fellow soldiers after already surviving one of the war's most terrifying battles himself is the defining example of his heroic courage. 

Private Jairus Alexander Maus is buried in the Paris Plains Church Cemetery.

Homes of Heroes chose to honour the courage and sacrifice of Jairus Maus for a number of reasons. Our plan this past year has been to research and tell the stories of the men and women from Paris who served in the First World War. Jairus Maus was an easy choice to begin with because he was one of the first to enlist in the war and one of the first from Paris to lose his life. Also, the same selfless heroism and sacrifice shown by Jairus was shown by many of the nearly 150 veterans of WW1 who we have researched so far, even though we may never know the details of many of those veterans who fought and died. 

Jairus also helps us to emphasize another priority we set for ourselves this year. We want to recognize that all of these veterans did not come from the town of Paris alone but from the greater Paris community, from South Dumfries and Brant Townships, for example. As you may already know, one way that Homes of Heroes wants to honour our veterans is to place a sign in front of the homes where they once lived. The response we received last fall from the Paris community, especially from those current homeowners who allowed us to place a sign on their property, was gratifying. We would also like to place signs where veterans from the wider community lived as well, but we do not know the addresses where they lived. But we do know that the memories of men and women in our farming communities are long, and so we are reaching out to those residents, as well as to people in Paris itself, to help us out.

If you know the addresses of any veterans from the Paris community who served in the military, not just from the First World War but from any time in our history, please let us know. Or if you have photos or details of their lives that you can share, please contact us at info@homesofheroes.ca. With the invaluable assistance of researchers at the Paris Museum, we have already uncovered upwards of 500 veterans from the Paris community, but for some we have precious few details. If you can help to fill in those details, please reach out. Also, if you have any questions about the Homes of Heroes project, you can contact us at the same email address. You can also learn about us at our website www.homesofheroes.ca. And keep looking for our articles in the Paris Independent. We will be telling a new story of courage and sacrifice ever other week until Remembrance Day. Paris truly is a home of heroes. Help us to tell their stories.