Kenora Great War Project

 

Personal Details
Date of BirthApril 7, 1894
Place of BirthHusГҐ, Jämtland
CountrySweden
Marital StatusSingle
Next of KinMrs Kristina Lund, mother, Pellatt, Ontario
Trade / CallingLabourer
ReligionLutheran
Service Details
Regimental Number913068
Service Record Link to Service Record
Battalion30th Company
ForceCanadian Expeditionary Force
BranchCanadian Forestry Corps
Enlisted / ConscriptedEnlisted
Address at EnlistmentPellatt, Ontario
Date of EnlistmentMarch 1, 1916
Age at Enlistment21
Theatre of ServiceEurope
Prisoner of WarNo
Survived WarYes
Death Details
Date of DeathDecember 10, 1954
Age at Death60
Buried AtCampbell River Cemetery, Campbell River, BC

Lund, Lars Bernhard

Lars Bernhard Lund was born on 7 April 1894 in the village of HusГҐ in the parish of Kall in Jämtland, Sweden. His father Johan Gustav was also from HusГҐ, the son of Marta Göransdotter. He was raised by foster parents Jonas Wiksten and Ingeborg Mosesdotter, assuming the surname of Wiksten. After their deaths, Johan changed his surname as well as his children’s to Lund. Lars’ mother Kristina Bergström was from Г…re in Jämtland although the couple married on 1 June 1884 in HusГҐ. At the time of the marriage Kristina had a daughter, Anna Matilda, who was born in 1882. Children born to Johan and Kristina were Ingeborg (1884), Johanna Gustava Karolina (1888), Per Olof (1890), Lars, Katarina Ottilia (1896), Johan Magnus (1898) and Karl George Teodor (1901). Sadly Karl died in February of 1902. Over the years in Sweden Johan’s occupation was listed as arbetare (worker) and brukstorpare (utility crofter).

Anna Matilda was the first to immigrate to Canada, leaving Sweden in April of 1903. Johan, Kristina and the remaining children left Kall on 22 August 1904, with Kristina and the children found on the passenger list of the Tunisian that arrived in Montreal on 16 September. It is likely that Johan was also onboard. The family was headed to Rat Portage (later renamed Kenora) in northwestern Ontario. A number of Swedish immigrants made their way to this area, settling in the town or farming in outlying areas. The Lunds, along with a few other Swedish families, were to farm in the township of Pellatt, an area northwest of Kenora. Sadly, Johan and daughter Gustava died in January of 1907, both interred in the Lake of the Woods Cemetery, Kenora.

With occupation given as labourer and his mother Kristina in Pellatt as next of kin, Lars signed his attestation papers on 1 March 1916 with the 197th (Vikings of Canada) Battalion. The battalion was being raised among the Scandinavians of western Canada with men of Scandinavian birth or descent answering the call of their adopted country. With the battalion, Lars embarked from Halifax aboard the Scandinavian on 26 January 1917.

Once in England Lars was transferred to the 11th Reserve Battalion and then on to the Canadian Forestry Corps at Sunningdale on 10 March. He arrived in France on 24 April to serve with the 30th Company (No 1 District, Central Group), appointed Acting Lance Corporal the same day. The Canadian Forestry Corps provided lumber for the Allied war effort by cutting and preparing timber in the UK and Europe during the war. Forestry units also cleared terrain for the construction of installations such as airfields and runway, prepared railway ties, as well as lumber for the creation of barracks, road surfaces, ammunition crates, trench construction, and so on. These units were sometimes called on to perform as infantry.

Lars was granted a ten day leave to Paris in late October of 1917, reprimanded upon his return for while on leave ‘Drunk’. In November he reverted to the rank of Private at his own request. In early November Lars was admitted to the No 51 General Hospital in Г‰taples (vdg), discharged for duty on 27 December and rejoining the unit on 3 January 1918. In early October Lars was granted a fourteen day leave in France and that December he was appointed Corporal. With the end of the war Lars returned to England in mid January 1919 and embarked from Liverpool for Canada aboard the Celtic on 10 March. Lars was discharged from service in Port Arthur on 23 March, intended residence given as Kenora.

On 9 June 1919, in Kenora, Lars married Tekla Edwina Englund. Tekla, the daughter of John Englund and Margreta Westin, was born on 26 September 1900 in Alnö, Västernorrland, Sweden. Her father immigrated to Canada first, followed by Tekla, her mother, and her siblings, arriving in Montreal on 22 November 1913 aboard the Empress of Britain on their way to Kenora. Lars and Tekla farmed on Muriel Lake in Pellatt, giving birth to two daughters, Bernice and Bertha. In the late 1920’s or early 1930’s the family moved to Vancouver Island where Lars found work in the logging industry. A Voters list of 1935 had the family living in Englewood in the northern part of the island with Lars working as a boom man. They later lived near Bloedel, a community about 15 kilometres north of Campbell River, where Lars worked in Camp 5 on Brewster Lake. Camp 5, created in 1942 on the shore of Brewster Lake, was a railway logging camp. It housed about 500 people, including 40 families, and even had its own school. Some self-sufficient logging camps on Vancouver Island evolved into communities, like Camp 5 at Brewster Lake.

Lars died on 10 December 1954 in Lourde’s Hospital in Campbell River. At the time of his death he was survived by his wife Tekla, daughters Bernice Lund and Bertha Bowen, and two sisters Mrs Sidney Speight of Kenora and Anna Orr of Pellatt. He was predeceased by his brother Per in 1917, sister Ingeborg Logan in 1938, mother Kristina in 1946, and brother Magnus in 1951, all interred in the Lake of the Woods Cemetery in Kenora. Daughter Bernice died in 1983 and Tekla in 1987, also interred in the Campbell River Cemetery.

By Judy Stockham

gravemarker photo: Northern Vancouver Island Cemetery Records, Campbell River, British Columbia, Canada: Campbell River Genealogy Society
obituary: Kenora Miner and News


« Back To Soldier Biographies