Chester Farm Military Cemetery

The Search For A Photo Of James Lymon Cameron Moves To YouTube

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CIMG8667 Sep 9 2017 Chester Farm Military Cemetery Pieter by grave of James Lymon Cameron

Pieter by the grave of James Lymon Cameron at Chester Farm Military Cemetery in Belgium.  (Photo credit: Daria Valkenburg)

February 27, 2021.  When you visit a war cemetery maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, you are always struck by how peaceful and well-kept the cemetery is.  It doesn’t matter which country the war cemetery is in, the impression is the same…. row upon row of neatly maintained graves.

The sad part is that overwhelmingly the graves are of young men, all buried far from home.  In most of the smaller cemeteries we visited, we were the only ones there.  When Pieter began his research to find out about the men listed on the Cenotaph outside the Borden-Carleton Legion, his hope was to have a photo of each man, to go with the story he was able to unfold.

In the case of WW1 soldier James Lymon CAMERON, a photo has never been uncovered.  Born December 30, 1892 in Victoria-By-The-Sea, Prince Edward Island, he was the son of Edward H. Cameron, a carpenter, and Susan Estelle Harrington of Hampton.

The family moved around due to Edward’s work, and when James Lymon enlisted in 1915, he was living in Vancouver.  Sadly, he was killed by enemy fire on July 24, 1916, and is buried at Chester Farm Military Cemetery, 5 km south Ypres in Belgium.

The cemetery is located on a turnoff from a busy town onto a country road, but once inside the gate, you are in a quiet environment, with cows grazing in a field right behind the cemetery wall. It reminded me of the view from our own home here on Prince Edward Island.  Only the colour of the cows differed!

CIMG8674 Sep 9 2017 Chester Farm Military Cemetery surrounded by cows

Cows surround the walls of the Chester Farm Military Cemetery in Belgium.  (Photo credit: Daria Valkenburg)

Pieter laid flags down at the grave and we marked the visit by writing in the visitors’ book.

CIMG8675 Sep 9 2017 Chester Farm Military Cemetery Daria writes in the guest book

Writing in the visitors’ book at Chester Field Military Cemetery.  We were accompanied by Pieter’s Belgian cousins on this leg of the war memorial tour.  (Photo credit: Pieter Valkenburg)

“…If only we had a photo…” Pieter sighed.  Now, after years of an unsuccessful search for family or friends, he’s taken his appeal for a photo to YouTube, in the hope that a viewer might come forward:


Pieters saying

You can read more about James Lymon Cameron and our visit to the Chester Farm Military Cemetery here: https://bordencarletonresearchproject.wordpress.com/2017/10/23/a-visit-to-chester-farm-military-cemetery/

Thank you to post-production editor Wendy Nattress, who made this YouTube video a reality. If you have photos or information to share about James Lymon Cameron, please email Pieter at dariadv@yahoo.ca or comment on the blog or send a tweet to @researchmemori1.

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© Daria Valkenburg

On The War Memorial Trail….A Visit To Chester Farm Military Cemetery

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October 22, 2017.  After we paid our respects to Arthur Robinson at La Laiterie Military Cemetery in Belgium, we made our way to Chester Farm Military Cemetery, 5 km south of Ypres, where another WWI soldier, James Lymon CAMERON, is buried.  The cemetery, one of three in the area, is in a farming area.

CIMG8660 Sep 9 2017 Directional sign to Chester Farm Military Cemetery

Directional sign to Chester Farm Cemetery. Note the John Deere dealership. We are in a farming area, only 5 km south of Ypres. (Photo credit: Pieter Valkenburg)

Chester Farm was the name given to a farm about 1 km south of Blauwepoort Farm, on the road from Zillebeke to Voormezeele.  The names of these two places may be almost unpronounceable, but we encountered them over and over again as scenes of many fierce battles.

CIMG8662 Sep 9 2017 Chester Farm Military Cemetery stone marker

Stone marker on gate of Chester Farm Military Cemetery. (Photo credit: Daria Valkenburg)

The cemetery opened in March 1915 and has 420 Commonwealth burials, 7 of them unidentified.  It’s in a beautiful location, surrounded by cows.  It seems fitting for an Islander to be in such a rural location.

CIMG8671 Sep 9 2017 Chester Farm Military Cemetery with cows in backgroung flags by Camerons grave

Chester Farm Military Cemetery, surrounded by cows. Pieter had already placed flags on the grave of James Lymon Cameron. (Photo credit: Daria Valkenburg)

Private James Lymon Cameron was born December 30, 1892 in Victoria, Prince Edward Island, the son of Edward H. Cameron, a carpenter, and Susan Estelle Harrington of Hampton.  The family was Roman Catholic and worshipped at the church in Kelly’s Cross.

With such a background on the island, it was a mystery to us why no one seemed to know the family, until Pieter’s research revealed that the family must have moved around quite a bit for Edward’s work.  In a 1900 US census, the family was living in South Bend City, in the state of Washington, and James Lymon’s sister Ethel was recorded as having been born in New Hampshire in 1889.  He had an older sister Lucy who was born on Prince Edward Island, but was not listed in the 1900 census, suggesting that she was no longer alive, and a younger brother Otto, who was born on Prince Edward Island.

In a 1921 census from Vancouver, another younger brother, Edward, is recorded as having been born in the USA around 1906.  Ethel is living with her parents and brother.  She is recorded as married with the last name Gilbert, but her husband is not with her.

At the time that James Lymon enlisted on March 18, 1915 with the 47th Battalion (BC) CEF, the family was living in Vancouver, and he was employed as a marine oiler.  By October 1915 he was on his way to Europe, and transferred twice, first to the 30th Reserve Battalion, and then to the 7th Canadian Infantry Battalion (1st British Columbia).

On July 24, 1916, he was killed by enemy shell fire at ‘The Bluff’ at Ypres Salient during The Battle of The Bluff near St. Eloi.  The Bluff is a mound near St Eloi, south-east of Ypres, which was created from a spoil heap during the digging of the Ypres–Comines Canal before the war.

CIMG8666 Sep 9 2017 Chester Farm Military Cemetery Pieter by grave of James Lymon Cameron

Pieter by the grave of James Lymon Cameron at Chester Farm Military Cemetery. (Photo credit: Daria Valkenburg)

The war diary of the 7th Canadian Infantry Battalion for July 2, 1916, explained what happened in three terse lines:  “Bombardment of Front Line. Headquarters Shelled. Our retaliation effective.”

Unfortunately, this is all we know about James Lymon Cameron.  We don’t even know what he looked like.  If you can add any further information or provide a photo, please let us know.

In the next blog entry we visit Menin Gate in Ypres. Comments or stories?  You can share them by emailing us at memorialtrail@gmail.com or by commenting on this blog.

© Daria Valkenburg

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