Personal Details | |
Date of Birth | March 22, 1889 |
Place of Birth | Saint André-Avellin, Quebec |
Country | Canada |
Marital Status | Single |
Next of Kin | Joseph Charlebois (father), Kenora, Ontario |
Trade / Calling | Farmer |
Religion | Roman Catholic |
Service Details | |
Regimental Number | 4070332 |
Service Record | Link to Service Record |
Battalion | 1st Depot Battalion, Manitoba Regiment |
Force | Canadian Expeditionary Force |
Branch | Canadian Infantry |
Enlisted / Conscripted | Conscripted |
Place of Enlistment | Winnipeg, Manitoba |
Address at Enlistment | Kenora, Ontario |
Date of Enlistment | December 11, 1917 |
Age at Enlistment | 28 |
Theatre of Service | Canada |
Prisoner of War | No |
Survived War | Yes |
Death Details | |
Date of Death | August 17, 1976 |
Age at Death | 87 |
Buried At | Lake of the Woods Cemetery, Kenora, Ontario |
Plot | 56E-32-3 |
Private Emile Charlebois of Kenora, Ontario was called up in November 1917, at age 28. He served for seven months with the 1st Depot Battalion, Manitoba Regiment.
Emile was the youngest son of Joseph Charlebois and his second wife Azilda Picard. Joseph married Azilda in October 1884 in Saint André-Avellin, Quebec, a small village north of Papineauville, where he was a farmer. He had two daughters with his first wife and with Azilda he had four more children: Philippe (1886), Marie Aldée (1888), Emile (22 March 1889) and Honorius (1891). Emile’s mother died in 1892 when he was three years old and his father was married a third time in 1893 to Georgianna Levert.
In the early 1900s Joseph, Philip and Emile left Quebec and moved to the Kenora area in northwestern Ontario. They lived near Black Sturgeon Lake in the township of Jaffray Melick and in the 1911 census Joseph and Philip were listed as farmers. Conscription was introduced in Canada in the summer of 1917 and single men age 20 to 34 were required to register by November. Emile failed to register and he was called up on 11 November as a defaulter. He had his medical exam in Winnipeg on 11 December and due to a medical condition he was classified as C3, suitable for service in Canada only. He was assigned to the 1st Depot Battalion, Manitoba Regiment. He served with them until July 1918 when he was struck off strength and ‘Returned to Registrar’s Records.’ His brother Phillip Charlebois had enlisted early in 1916 and he was killed in France in March 1918.
Emile returned to the Kenora area when his service ended, going back to farming at first then later finding work in the logging industry. He married a local girl, Nellie Brinkman, on 2 January 1926 in Winnipeg and they had one son, Gilbert Henry. Nellie died in August 1947 in Toronto and she’s buried in Lake of the Woods Cemetery in Kenora. Emile’s second wife was Doris Fife (née Anderson) and he had a stepson Ronald and two stepdaughters, Lorna and Marguerite. Emile belonged to the Salvation Army and the Senior Citizens Film Club. He passed away in Lake of the Woods District Hospital on 17 August 1976, at age 87. His wife Doris died in 1995 and his son Gilbert in 2007. They are all buried in Lake of the Woods Cemetery in Kenora. Emile was in an unmarked grave but a veteran grave marker was provided by the Last Post Fund in October 2018.
By Becky Johnson