Kenora Great War Project

 

Personal Details
Date of BirthDecember 13, 1894
Place of BirthNorman, Ontario
CountryCanada
Marital StatusSingle
Next of KinA Jolin, father, Lebret, Saskatchewan
Trade / CallingLabourer
ReligionRoman Catholic
Service Details
Regimental Number781803
Service Record Link to Service Record
Battalion2nd Canadian Mounted Rifles
ForceCanadian Expeditionary Force
BranchCanadian Infantry
Enlisted / ConscriptedEnlisted
Place of EnlistmentMoose Jaw, Saskatchewan
Date of EnlistmentJanuary 16, 1916
Age at Enlistment21
Theatre of ServiceEurope
Prisoner of WarNo
Survived WarYes
Death Details
Date of DeathMay 15, 1954
Age at Death59
Buried AtSaint Peter's Roman Catholic Cemetery, New Westminster, BC

Jolin, Norman Joseph Camille

According to his British Columbia death record, Norman Joseph Camille Jolin was born on 15 December 1894 in Norman, Ontario, a village a couple of kilometres west of Kenora in northwestern Ontario. His father Achille (Archie) Jolin was from St Henedine, Quebec while it appears that his mother Emma Bernard was born in Minnesota although she lived with her family in Selkirk, Manitoba and Norman. The couple married on 1 July 1889 in Rat Portage (later renamed Kenora). For the 1891 census Archie, Emma, and baby Mary Anne (Annie) were living in Norman with Archie working as a carpenter. Children likely born in Norman were Annie, Rosie, Pearl, and Olive before the family moved to the Mikado Mine on Lake of the Woods where Archie found work as a miner. Two children were registered as born at the mine, Patrick Mikado (baptized Pacifique Patrice)(March-May 1900) and Pacifique Achille (aka Patrick) (1901). By the time of the 1906 census the family was living in Lac du Bonnet, Manitoba although Archie was working in St Boniface in Winnipeg. By 1911 the family was in Winnipeg where Archie was working as a labourer in a stoneworks and Norman was working in a stoneyard. Additions to the family, born in Manitoba over the years, were Maria, Stella, Amanda, and Nora. By the time of the 1916 census they had moved to Lebret, Saskatchewan with Archie working as a shell maker at an ammunitions factory.

With occupation given as labourer and his father Archie in Lebret as next of kin, Norman signed his attestation papers with the 128th Battalion in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan on 16 January 1916. He gave his date and place of birth as 13 December 1896 in Kenora. He arrived in England aboard the Grampian on 24 August and transferred to the 2nd Canadian Mounted Rifles that November, arriving at the unit on 2 January 1917.

2nd Canadian Mounted Rifles Major Battles / Battle Honours: Mount Sorrel; Somme 1916; Flers-Courcelette; Ancre Heights; Arras 1917, 1918; Vimy 1917; Hill 70; Ypres 1917; Passchendaele; Amiens, Scarpe 1918; Hindenburg Line; Canal du Nord; Cambrai 1918; Valenciennes.

Norman was granted a fourteen day leave to the UK in November of 1917 and was awarded a Good Conduct Badge on 10 January 1918. He attended a two week platoon course in February. On 13 March Norman was admitted to the No 22 General Hospital in Camiers suffering a gunshot wound to the face. Two days later he was transferred to the No 6 Convalescent Depot in Etaples and then on to the No 5 Convalescent Depot in Cayeux. He was discharged to Base Depot in Etaples in early May. By August Norman was back with the 2nd Canadian Mounted Rifles and granted a two week leave to the UK just days after the Armistice. In February of 1919 he returned to England and embarked from Southampton for Canada aboard the Olympic on March 17th, discharged from service on April 1st.

After the war Norman returned to Lebret but he was eventually to make Winnipeg his home. On 12 February 1927, in Winnipeg, Norman married Leonie Cariou. Born in 1900 in the Beckenham area of Saskatchewan, Leonie was the daughter of Corentin and Ursule (née Captaine) Cariou who had immigrated from France to the area to farm and eventually ended up in Lebret. Leonie’s brother Henry went overseas with the 188th Battalion, transferred to the 46th Battalion, and was killed in action on 1 November 1918. His military will named his sister Leonie as beneficiary and his medals and decorations were sent to her.

Norman worked as a civil engineer with the federal government in Winnipeg, retiring in 1947. He and Leonie had two children, George (1927-1988) and Arlette (1930-1964). He served as an engineer, rank of Flight Sergeant, with the RCAF during WW2 and was a member of Branch No 2 of the Canadian Legion. Norman and Leonie moved to New Westminster, BC in 1951. He died in the Shaughnessy Hospital in Vancouver on 15 May 1954. He was predeceased by his mother Emma in 1926 and father Archie in 1931, both in Winnipeg. At the time of his death he was survived by his wife, his son George and daughter Arlette Hamilton, brother Patrick, and seven sisters, Mrs J (Olive) Hallett, Mrs L (Stella) Gaudette, and Mrs J Irvine, all of New Westminster, Mrs A Mclure in Vancouver, Mrs A (Maria) Brown of Seattle, Mrs C (Pearl) Stewardson and Mrs A Prevost, both of Saskatchewan. His wife Leonie died on 6 May 1999. Along with other family members, Norman and Leonie are interred in Saint Peter’s Roman Catholic Cemetery in New Westminster.

by Judy Stockham

Jolin-Norman-2

Norman’s grave marker photograph by SusanR on findagrave.com
Leonie’s grave marker photograph by MargaretS on findagrave.com
Obituary provided by Mike Melen

 


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