Kenora Great War Project

 

Personal Details
Date of BirthDecember 11, 1889
Place of BirthKenora or Keewatin, Ontario
CountryCanada
Marital StatusSingle
Next of KinMrs. Claudia Pelland (sister), Winnipeg, Manitoba
Trade / CallingEngineer, farmer and bushman
ReligionRoman Catholic
Service Details
Regimental Number2381723
Service Record Link to Service Record
Battalion1st Depot Battalion, Manitoba Regiment
ForceCanadian Expeditionary Force
BranchCanadian Infantry
Enlisted / ConscriptedConscripted
Address at EnlistmentThe Pas, Manitoba
Date of EnlistmentApril 8, 1918
Age at Enlistment28
Theatre of ServiceCanada
Prisoner of WarNo
Survived WarYes
Death Details
Date of DeathMay 21, 1931
Age at Death41
Buried AtRoman Catholic Cemetery, The Pas, Manitoba

Dion, Angus Auguste

Private Angus Auguste Dion was the son of Ferdinand (Frank) Joseph Dion and Emilie Michaud. Ferdinand and Emilie were both born in Quebec. By the early 1880s they were married and living in the Keewatin/Rat Portage area in northwestern Ontario, where Ferdinand worked in a sawmill. They had at least eight children: Wilfred (1883), Josephine (1886), Marie Adele Delia (1887, died at age three weeks), Claudia (1888), Angus Auguste (1889), Ernest (1891), Joseph Ferdinand (1893) and Marie Adele ‘Dora’ (1895). Angus was born on 11 December 1889 in either Keewatin or the neighbouring town of Rat Portage (now called Kenora). Dora was born in Keewatin in October 1895 and the family was living in Rat Portage at the time of the 1901 census. By 1906 they had moved to St. Boniface, Manitoba.

Angus was living in The Pas, Manitoba when conscription started in the fall of 1917. He had his medical on 5 December in Winnipeg and he was called up on 8 April 1918. His occupation was engineer although he also worked as a farmer and bushman. Next of kin was his sister Mrs. Claudia Pelland in Winnipeg. He was assigned to the 1st Depot Battalion, Manitoba Regiment. A week after being called up he was admitted to the Manitoba Military Hospital in Tuxedo Park for treatment for vd. At the end of May he was transferred to the Winnipeg General Hospital and two weeks later he was moved to St. Boniface Hospital, where he spent two months being treated for gonorrheal rheumatism in his legs.

On 14 August Angus returned to the Manitoba Military Hospital and he was discharged to light duty on 11 September. He still suffered from acute arthritis in his left foot and ankle and after just a few days he was back in the hospital. He was given sick leave for two weeks in October. On 21 November a medical board recommended that he be discharged and he was officially discharged from service on 2 December, due to being medically unfit. His brother Joseph Dion had enlisted in May 1915 and he was killed in France in April 1917.

Angus married Rose Anne Lavallée on 2 March 1919 in The Pas. Rose was the daughter of John Lavallée and Virginie Leclair of St. Laurent, Manitoba. She came from a large family and her father died in 1907, when she was about eight years old. Angus and Rose settled in The Pas where Angus worked as a prospector and trapper. According to his obituary they gave birth to seven children: Ernest (Ernie) (1919-1992), Agnes (1920-1984), Irene (1922-1963), Alain (1923-1970), Lionel (1926-2014), Claude (1928-1973, and Roland (1930-1967). It appears that Rose later gave birth to another son, George (1934-2001). Alain, Roland and George all served with Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry and according to his obituary, Lionel served during the 2nd World War, unit unknown.

Angus died in St. Anthony’s Hospital in The Pas on 21 May 1931, at age 41. His occupation at the time was prospector and his wife Rose was the informant for the death registration. She said he’d been living in The Pas since 1915. Rose later married George Allard and died in 1971. Along with George, she is interred in the Lakeside Cemetery in The Pas. Also interred in the cemetery are Agnes, Irene (Crockford), Alain, Claude, Roland, and George.

Angus is buried in the Riverside Roman Catholic Cemetery in The Pas.

By Becky Johnson and Judy Thorburn

The Pas grave marker photographs by Ralph McLean, findagrave.com (South Africa War Graves)
Lionel’s marker by Anonymous, findagrave.com, ID 50795414

 


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