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250th Battalion, CEF
The battalion was referred to as the Screaming Eagle Battalion in a newspaper story in January 1917 which highlighted the menu being served to the battalion in training:
The article further noted that the bugle band played while meals were being served "but there is a difference of opinion whether this is a pleasure or not."7
In February 1917 the battalion created a second company to accommodate the rising number of recruits.8
The unit was absorbed by the 249th Battalion (a Saskatchewan battalion) at Valcartier on 10 October 1917.11 The unit had brass and bugle bands while in Canada.12
Individuals from the 250th Battalion scattered through the CEF. Private C.A. Barkway went to England and joined the 1st Canadian Mounted rifles and was later killed in Flanders.13
Official disbandment came by Privy Council Order 1727 of 12 July 1918.14 The unit was not perpetuated by any Militia units after the 1920 Otter Commission reorganizations.15
Another notorious veteran was Russell Dumas, who in 1920 was found to be operating a medical practice under the name Dr. Gordon Mayo, insinuating his practice was related to the famous Mayo Clinic. Dumas was not a doctor. He had come to Winnipeg from Toronto in 1914, been acquitted of killing one woman in a bungled operation, and later convicted of manslaughter after Mrs. Joseph Josephs died after undergoing another illegal operation. Dumas was given a five year penitentiary sentence from which he was paroled in 1916 after nine months. He enlisted in the 250th Battalion and eventually made it to France as an NCO in the Canadian Army Medical Corps.19
Insignia The cap badge illustrated above appears in the Babin catalogue as E-251. The badge shown is an officers variant, other ranks would likely have worn plain bronze badges without the white metal components. The eagle is a traditional Polish symbol. Battle Honours No battle honours were awarded to the 250th Battalion, CEF. Notes
Archival Holdings
The following holdings at Library and Archives Canada may be useful for further research on this unit:
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A
French bulldog born in trenches at Ypres was brought back to
Winnipeg by Quartermaster Sergeant Jackson and became the
mascot of the 250th Battalion.9 When the 221st
Battalion departed Winnipeg, 200 men of the 250th Battalion
were present at the depot to help "maintain order" among the
large crowd of civilians present to see the unit off. The
250th Battalion's band was also on hand to provide music
along with the 174th Battalion band.10
A
strange postscript to the battalion's history was the trial
of William H. Elnech, a 19-year old man accused of murder in
1920. He had enlisted in the 250th Battalion at the age of
16, and later saw action on the Western Front, being wounded
twice and gassed. During the battalion's short life,
Lieutenant-Colonel Hastings had assembled a group of new
recruits, including Elnech, and told them he would help them
out of any trouble to the best of his ability. Elnech took
him at his word when he found himself penniless three years
later and possibly headed to the gallows for murder for a
killing he admitted perpetrating. Elnech and two others
attempted to rob William Deforge, a former officer of
Military District 10, and Elnech ended up shooting him to
death. Elnech confessed but claimed the killing was
accidental. He sought out the former
C.O. to represent him in court, which he did, and the jury
returned a verdict of manslaughter instead.16 He
was sentenced to 25 years in prison with concurrent
sentences for robbery and shopbreaking.17
Hastings went on to assist Lieutenant-Colonel Dan McLean,
former commander of the 101st Battalion, in a re-election
campaign in Winnipeg's 1929 civic election. He was defeated
by Ralph Webb, DSO, MC, former mayor of Winnipeg (1925-1928)
and former commanding officer of the 47th Battalion.18