Kenora Great War Project

 

Personal Details
Date of BirthDecember 14, 1883
Place of BirthPartick, Lanark
CountryScotland
Marital StatusSingle
Next of KinMrs. Jane Ritchie Anderson of Glasgow, Scotland
Trade / CallingButcher
ReligionPresbyterian
Service Details
Regimental Number439618
Service Record Link to Service Record
Battalion52nd Battalion
ForceCanadian Expeditionary Force
BranchCanadian Infantry
Enlisted / ConscriptedEnlisted
Place of EnlistmentKenora, Ontario
Date of EnlistmentAugust 6, 1915
Age at Enlistment29
Theatre of ServiceEurope
Prisoner of WarNo
Survived WarYes
Death Details
Date of DeathMay 20, 1971
Age at Death85
Buried AtLincoln Memorial Park, Portland, Oregon
PlotCascade section, Lot 287

Anderson, Robert

Robert, ‘Scotty’, Anderson was working as a butcher at Frank Gardener’s Meat Market in Kenora, Ontario when he enlisted with the CEF on 06 August 1915. On his attestation papers, Robert recorded 15 December 1885 as his birthdate, Glasgow Scotland as his birthplace, and his mother Jane Ritchie Anderson of Glasgow as his next of kin. However according to his Scotland birth registration, the son of William (master butcher) and Jane (Ritchie) Anderson, he was born on 14 December 1883 in Partick, Lanark. Partick is now part of present day Glasgow. His parents had married in 1867. Robert was attached to the 52 battalion and spent a short time at Grisley Camp in Port Arthur before embarking for England with the unit on 19 November 1915.

Robert arrived in England on 03 December 1915 and then went to France with the 52nd in February of 1916.  Just over three months later, in early June, he was wounded by a shell explosion. He spent time in hospital in France and England receiving treatment for shell shock. On 25 September 1916 Robert was discharged in England being unfit for further service. In a letter to friends in Kenora he stated that he planned on spending the winter in Glasgow and that he intended to return to Kenora in the spring.

Immigration records indicate that Robert returned to Canada in June of 1920, but he was on his way to El Centro, California to work as a butcher. He married Jessie Simpson on 27 April 1921 in El Centro. They had two children – William (b. 1922) and Mary (b. 1932). At some point the family moved to Portland Oregon and it was there that Robert applied for naturalization in 1941.

Robert Anderson died on 20 May 1971 in Portland. He is buried in Lincoln Memorial Park, Portland, Oregon.

Anderson-Robert-2 Anderson-Robert-3

Grave marker photograph provided by Pamela ID#46880279, findagrave.com.


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