Kenora Great War Project

 

Personal Details
Date of BirthJanuary 12, 1893
Place of BirthNorthumberland
CountryEngland
Marital StatusSingle
Next of KinMother: Emily Green - Keewatin, Ontario
Trade / CallingLabourer
ReligionChurch of England
Service Details
Regimental Number199172
Service Record Link to Service Record
Battalion94th Battalion
ForceCanadian Expeditionary Force
BranchCanadian Infantry
Enlisted / ConscriptedEnlisted
Address at EnlistmentKeewatin, Ontario
Date of EnlistmentMarch 13, 1916
Age at Enlistment23
Theatre of ServiceEurope
Prisoner of WarNo
Survived WarYes
Death Details
Date of DeathFebruary 16, 1956
Age at Death63
Buried AtLake of the Woods Cemetery, Kenora, Ontario
PlotEC 28E-18-1

Green, John Bennett

John Bennett Green was born in Morpeth, Northumberland,  England on January 12, 1893.   John was the son of David Green and Rachael (Emily) Bennett.   David and Rachael (Emily) also had  5 daughters.   His sisters were Mrs. W. F. Collings, Elfreda (Mrs. A. Beckworth), Mrs. J. R. Cherry, Edith and Mrs. F. Donahoe.

At 19 years old, John immigrated to Canada coming directly to Keewatin.    He travelled as a steerage passenger aboard  the ship  Corsican  leaving Liverpool and arrived at the Port of Quebec on August 3, 1912.   Next he made his way by train  travelling 1/2 way across  Canada to Keewatin.  John arrived first with his mother and 2 sisters following the next year. Emily was listed as a widow.   John was an electrician by trade and was hired on at the Lake of the Woods Flour Milling Company.

Answering the call for more men to volunteer, John signed his attestation paper in Kenora on March 13, 1916 and was placed with the 94th Battalion.  After a short time in training at Val Cartier, Quebec, his unit embarked for England aboard the S.S. Olympic.  Upon his arrival on 6 July 1916, John was transferred to the 17th Reserve Battalion.  He headed to France on 24 August 1916 with the 28th Battalion, arriving at his unit in the field on 16 September.  In June of 1917 John was attached to the 6th Canadian Trench Mortar Battery. Two months later on 15 August, at Lens, he was wounded (shrapnel to the back).  John was admitted to hospital in Camiers and then transferred to England.  On 2 September 1917 he was placed on the ‘dangerously ill’ list and underwent an operation to remove shrapnel and drain fluids.  His left lung had been struck.  Twenty days later his condition began to improve and he was removed from the dangerously ill list. He was transferred to hospital in Eastbourne and in December to hospital in Liverpool.  John was invalided to Canada on the 29th December 1917 aboard the Araguaya.  He was admitted to military hospital in Winnipeg on 17 January 1918 for further treatment.  John was discharged on 31 March 1918 due to being medically unfit for further military service.

Returning to Keewatin, John went back to work at the flour mill. Enlisted men held their positions in the mill to return when their war service was completed; John Bennett Green worked 43 years at the flour mill in his home town of Keewatin.  He married Agnes J. Allan (known as Nancy) on Sept. 14, 1922 in Keewatin.  Nancy was the daughter of Robert Allan and Annie (Gordon) Allan.  John and Nancy made their home in Keewatin on Superior Street.   They had  4 children; Joseph, Edward, Josie (later marrying Joseph T. Larkin) and Carol Ann (still at home when her father passed away).

At 63 years old John Bennett Green died suddenly at his home in Keewatin on February 16, 1956.   He is buried in the Elmwood Circle Block of the Lake of the Woods Cemetery in Kenora, Ontario.   He left behind to mourn his loss his wife Nancy and his 4 children.   Also mourning the loss of John were his 5 sisters.   Nancy lived till 1986 and was laid to rest with her husband.

John B. Green  is commemorated on  3 plaques –   For King and Country-Municipality of Keewatin,  the Roll of Honour-Lake of the Woods Milling Company and on a Roll of Honour-St. James  Church in Keewatin.

By Linda Pelletier

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