Galloway, Norman Lloyd

Norman Lloyd Galloway was born on 26 January 1893 in Arthur, Wellington, Ontario. His parents were Cyrus and Janet Scott (Small) Galloway who had married on 14 December 1881 in Arthur. Norman had 4 older siblings, Cyrus Leslie, Hubert Scott, William Joseph Osgoode, and Cecil Charles, and a younger sister, Janet (Jennie) Florence. For both the 1881 and 1891 censuses the family was in Arthur, with Cyrus having the occupation of shoemaker.

By 1901, the family had moved to Keewatin, where once again Cyrus was working as a shoemaker. In the 1911 Canada census, the family was living on Bay Street in Keewatin, family members living in the household included  the  parents and children Hubert, William, Norman, and Janet.  At that time Norman was working at the Lake of the Woods Milling Company in Keewatin as a purifier.

Although living in Keewatin, Norman  Lloyd Galloway  signed recruitment papers  in Winnipeg with the 76th Depot Battery CFA on 17 November 1917, occupation at the time given as brakeman for the Canadian Pacific Railway. He embarked from St John, New Brunswick on 19 December 1917 aboard the SS Missanabie. Disembarking in Glasgow on 31 December, he was taken on strength at Witley the next day. In early April of 1918 he proceeded overseas to the Canadian Corps Reinforcement Camp, joining the 9th Brigade Canadian Field Artillery 5 September 1918. Before the month’s end Norman was killed in action.

According to the CEF Burial Registers, Gunner Norman Lloyd Galloway was reported as killed in action. ‘During intermittent shelling by the enemy on the afternoon of the 27th of September 1918 near Bourlon Village, a shell burst adjacent to Gunner Galloway, and a piece which entered his breast caused his death almost immediately.’ His body was never recovered: his name is entered on the  Vimy Memorial at Pas de Calais, France along with the names of over 11 000 Canadians who were posted missing, presumed dead. From the War Diary of the 9th Brigade, Canadian Field Artillery, 27 September 1918: In the attack on the Village of Bourlon and Bourlon Wood there was one Officer killed, 2 wounded, one O.R. [Other Rank] killed and 18 O.R.s wounded, and the Brigade Chaplain was wounded.

Two of Norman’s brothers, Cecil Charles and William Joseph Osgoode, also served in the Great War. Norman’s mother died in Keewatin on 15 April 1921 and his father on 18 March 1946. Both are interred in the Lake of the Woods Cemetery. His brothers Leslie and Osgoode as well as sister Janet stayed in the Kenora/Keewatin area, with both Leslie and Janet marrying and raising families. All are interred in the Lake of the Woods Cemetery. His brother Hubert also married and eventually moved to Victoria, British Columbia where he later died.

Gunner Norman Lloyd Galloway is commemorated on page 412 of the First World War Book of Remembrance in Ottawa, on the Keewatin Cenotaph in Beatty Park in Keewatin, Ontario, on the Kenora Keewatin High Schools Plaque, on the Lake of the Woods Milling Company Roll of Honour plaque, on the Municipality of Keewatin For King and Country plaque, on the Town of Keewatin Roll of Honour, and on the family gravemarker at the Lake of the Woods Cemetery in Kenora, Ontario. The Municipality of Keewatin held an Honour Roll service in August of 1919 where Cecil, Osgoode, and Norman were among those honoured with badges and medals, Norman’s going to next of kin.

by Judy Stockham

 

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