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These are the stories of Kenora participants in the First World War.
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Staff Sergeant Frederick Charles Cornell enlisted twice, the first time in January 1915 at age 17. He served in England for a year and he was invalided back to Canada in 1917 due to illness. Frederick was the only son of Joseph and Elizabeth Cornell of Brandon, Manitoba. He and his twin sister Helen Elizabeth… Read More »
William Guernsey was born on 31 January 1889 in Stuartburn, Manitoba. His parents were William Robert Guernsey and Frances Fuller who had come to Manitoba from England in 1882. William was one of thirteen children born to this couple. By 1901 the Guernsey family was living in Rat Portage (Kenora), Ontario. In the 1911 Census… Read More »
Percy William Garrood was born on 26 January 1876 in Croydon, Surrey, England. His parents were George Garrood and Elizabeth Jeale. Siblings included: George A. (b. 1870), Charles J. (b. 1872), Sydney G. (b. 1874), Lillian A. (b. 1880), Harold (b. 1883), Arthur (b. 1887) and Ethel Caroline (b. 1888). Percy’s mother died in 1888… Read More »
John Henderson was born in Scotland and working as a locomotive fireman with the Canadian Pacific Railway in Kenora when he enlisted with Kenora’s first group of 45 volunteers, joining the 98th Regiment and going to Valcartier as part of Canada’s initial war commitment. On his attestation papers he noted four years service with the… Read More »
Private Cecil Roy Welfley enlisted with Lord Strathcona’s Horse in 1916 and served for three years in Canada, the UK and France. Cecil Roy was born in Rat Portage (Kenora), Ontario on 5 November 1896. Usually known as Roy, he was the only son of Frederick Henry Welfley and Frances (Fanny) Dodsworth. His father was… Read More »
The Battle of the Somme lasted from 1 July to 18 November 1916 and resulted in over a million casualties for all the forces involved. The Germans refer to the battle as ‘the blood bath’ and the Somme has been called the graveyard of armies. On the first day alone the British army suffered 57,000… Read More »
Courtland Campbell McReynolds was born on 23 May 1889 in Balaclava, Grey County in Ontario. His parents William Decker McReynolds, a fisherman on the Great Lakes, and Eliza Catherine Campbell were both from the area, marrying on 10 July 1888 in Balaclava. Children born to the couple were Courtland, Louis Guy (1892), Georgina Elba (Joy)… Read More »
Sapper Jack Breeze enlisted in Winnipeg in February 1916 and served overseas with the Canadian Engineers. He was wounded at the Vimy Front in the spring of 1917 and invalided to Canada later the same year. Jack was the oldest son of John Breeze and Mary Ann Edwards of Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. John and Mary… Read More »
Private Thomas Joe enlisted in Kenora, Ontario on 30 May 1916, signing up with the 141st (Bull Moose) Battalion. The battalion had been organized in December 1915 and it was being recruited in the District of Rainy River. Thomas was from Rat Portage Reserve, on the outskirts of Kenora, and a number of other First… Read More »
