Читать книгу Gun Digest 2011 онлайн

106 страница из 495

On June 24, 1916, Private Bluethner was recommended for promotion. Corporal Bluethner was wounded on October 30, 1917. Although the records do not specify the nature of the injury, or where he was when it occurred, The 5th Canadian Mounted Rifles Battalion suffered an exceptionally high casualty rate during the costly campaign of Passchendaele, in Flanders, which took place from July 31 to November 10, 1917. The odds are very strong that Corporal Bluethner was wounded in this protracted engagement. Presumably, the injury was fairly minor, as nothing in his files indicates that he was hospitalized.

On January 1, 1918, Corporal Bluethner was promoted to sergeant. He was promoted to the rank of lieutenant on August 6, 1918. On November 8, 1918, Lieutenant Bluethner sustained a bullet wound in his right thigh. Once again, the injury apparently was not serious enough to cause him to be removed from the roster, and he was listed as remaining “at duty.”

The war officially ended November 11, 1918. The 5th Canadian Mounted Rifles remained in France until February 13, 1919, when they proceeded to England. On March 8, 1919, Lieutenant Bluethner departed Liverpool, aboard the H.M.S. Carmania*, for his return to Canada. He was “struck off strength” (discharged) on March 20, 1919, In Ottawa, upon demobilization of his unit.