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Michael Dawe

About a decade ago, the house at 5313 47^th Avenue was demolished. What’s now all but forgotten is that for many years, this modest little residence was the home of one of the giants of Red Deer’s educational community, Joseph Welsh.

Joseph Welsh was born in 1889 in Gloucestershire, England, near the city of Bristol. He went to Thornby Grammar School and then taught at a boys’ school in Hereford.

In 1914, when the First World War broke out, Mr. Welsh tried to enlist in the Grenadier Guards. He was turned down because he was 5 foot, 11 ? inches tall, instead of the required 5 foot, 11 ½ inches.

He then enlisted in the First Battalion of the Herefordshire Regiment. In 1915, he was sent to the Mediterranean Front and was wounded by a Turkish sniper during the Battle of Gallipoli.

After a long convalescence in Malta, Mr. Welsh rejoined his regiment in August 1916 during the battle for the Suez Canal. For the next sixteen months, he was part of the great advance of the British Army across the Sinai Desert into Palestine.

In December 1917, he was given the assignment of escorting a draft of reinforcements to Beersheba and Hebron. On December 24^th, his party started their way down the road to Bethlehem.

It had been raining almost incessantly for a week, but as Mr. Welsh and his comrades approached the town, the sky suddenly cleared. They could then see the white walls of Bethlehem, gleaming on a distant hill.

Given the fact that it was nearly Christmas Eve, the group broke in a chorus of Christmas carols and hymns. They pressed ahead rapidly, and reached the outskirts of Bethlehem at dusk.

To their great disappointment, they were informed by a senior officer that there was no place for them in the town. Instead, they were ordered to find whatever shelter they could in the surrounding hills.

To add to the misery, the heavy rains returned. It was so wet that the group was unable to find enough dry wood to start a fire and prepare a meal.

Consequently, the cold, wet and hungry men huddled under a few stunted olive trees for the night. Mr. Welsh later wrote “it was hard to realize that the hill-side on which we huddled together for warmth might well have been the one above which, on the first Christmas Eve, the Heavenly Host had sung the immortal words: “Glory to God on the highest, and on earth Peace, Goodwill to Men”.

“…the hill-side on which we huddled together … might well have been the one above which, on the first Christmas Eve, the Heavenly Host had sung the immortal words: “Glory to God on the highest, and on earth Peace, Goodwill to Men”.

            Christmas Day, however, brought “tidings of great joy” as the men received news that warm, dry quarters had been arranged for them in Jerusalem. They quickly marched down the road to Jerusalem, singing the old hymn “O Come All Ye Faithful”. Their speed was made even more rapid by the fact that there was a “spattering on the nearby rocks and stones of bullets fired by enemy snipers lurking in the nearby hills.”

They reached Jerusalem with a setting sun glowing red on the horizon. They got wonderful new billets, were provided a Christmas feast and were awarded two days leave from duty. In the words of Mr. Welsh, “Happy Christmas! Never have I experienced one half as happy or as memorable”.

“Happy Christmas! Never have I experienced one half as happy or as memorable”.

Mr. Welsh was later wounded a second time on the Western Front in France. He recuperated in a hospital run by Canadians. He was so impressed by the treatment he got that, after the War, he decided to immigrate to Canada.

He worked at odd jobs, but then decided to become a teacher again. After teaching at Berrydale near Olds and then at Hill End near Penhold, he started with the Red Deer Public School District in September 1923. He became principal of Central School and continued with the Public School District for 31 years. He was noted for his exceptional teaching abilities, firm discipline and impeccable grammar.

Mr. Welsh retired in 1954 and Joseph Welsh Elementary School was later named in his honour. He passed away on January 7^th, 1969. He was predeceased by his wife Violet Hunt, who died in 1924. He had one son Bill.

Read about Christmas in 1887 or Christmas in 1957 – or both!

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