The Valour and the Horror

Major Phil Griffin:

In 1939, the Black Watch prepared for war with bayonet practice on the football field of McGill University in Montreal, where many of the men were students. They wore kilts, but the volunteers came from many nationalities; the Scots and Irish were joined by Poles, Ukrainians, and lots of Americans. In London they posed with their honorary Colonel,the Queen of England. The Watch symbolised the best young men Canada had to offer.

One of those was Major Phil Griffin. The British Colombia native was doing his doctorate at McGill when war broke out. In England, Griffin took training very seriously. The men trusted him as a leader. Griffin became a favorite of soldiers like Bruce Ducat of Verdun, Quebec.

DUCAT
He looked like a young college boy, put it that way - a very smart, good looking soldier. Oh he can be tough as nails, but very fair.

VerriËres Ridge was basically the end of the Black Watch, or at least of the Black Watch in Normandy. They lost over 93% of their men. Of the 320 that crossed their original start line, only 15 came back to be counted. Major Phil Griffin was not among them. He died on VerriËres Ridge, leading what was left of his Black Watch Regiment.

The survivors are still bitter about that dark day. They especially resent the attempt by General Simonds and the army to lay the blame for the regiment's death at the grave of young Phil Griffin. The army did not honour him with a medal. The epitaph on his gravestone comes from his family. The top reads:

The bottom reflects the family's defiant pride: