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These are the stories of Kenora participants in the First World War.
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Sapper Sydney Ernest Wood was married and the father of a young son when he enlisted with a railway unit in February 1917. Five months later he was severely wounded in Belgium and he was invalided home to Canada in December 1917. Sydney was born on 2 February 1885 in Deptford, London, England. His parents,… Read More »
Private John Arthur Presley was born in Clarence Creek, Russell County, Ontario. His parents were Joseph Presley, a farmer, and Jane Conn. Joseph and Jane were both Irish and born in the Clarence Creek area. John grew up there and he was one of at least ten children. At some point he moved west and… Read More »
Four months after their success at Vimy Ridge the Canadian Corps fought at the Battle of Hill 70, suffering almost 6,000 casualties in the ten day operation. One of the fallen was Private Alexander McLeod. Alexander was the son of Duncan McLeod and Mary Munro of Keewatin, Ontario. Duncan was born in Stornoway on the… Read More »
William Norman Boquist was born on 09 October 1895 in Bodo, Nordland, Norway. His parents were Gustaf and Marie Boquist. At the age of nine, William and his mother immigrated to Canada to join his father who was working as a contractor in Rat Portage (Kenora), Ontario. They left Liverpool aboard the Tunisian on 06… Read More »
Private Fred (Aza) Leroux was the son of Louis Leroux and Odile Daoust/Deault of Saint Joseph parish, Soulanges County, Quebec. Fred was born on 3 May 1885 in Pointe-des-Cascades, Soulanges County. He was baptized two days later as Joseph Aza Herouine Leroux, the son of Louis Leroux, a farmer, and Odile Deault. In other parish… Read More »
Private Frank Greenwood was the son of William and Eleanor Ann Greenwood of Kenora, Ontario. William was born in Saltford, Somerset, England and Eleanor (née Shattell) was from Rotherhithe, London. They were married in 1877 and their first nine children were born in the London area: William, Alfred, Arthur, Eleanor, Anne, Jessie, Gertrude, Harold and… Read More »
Lance Corporal William Ernest Richards joined the 52nd Battalion in August 1915 and served overseas in England, France and Belgium, returning to Canada in March 1919. William was the son of William Thomas Richards and Mary Saunders of Kenora, Ontario. William Thomas was born in Pembroke, Ontario and his wife was from Timmins. They had… Read More »
Captain John Owen Leach enlisted with the first Canadian contingent in September 1914 and three months later he was commissioned as an officer in the British army. He went on to serve with the Royal Flyings Corps and the Royal Air Force and earned both the Military Cross and the Air Force Cross. John was… Read More »
Melville Edmison Brownlee was born on 17 August 1892 in Rat Portage (later renamed Kenora), Ontario. His parents were Charles and Bridget (née Shea) Brownlee who were first found on the 1891 Canada census for Algoma, Keewatin South with both listed as having been born in Ontario. Charles was working as a barber. The couple… Read More »
Private Everett Sutherland Dusang was called up for service in February 1918. He trained in Canada for almost a year then served for four months in Russia with the Canadian Siberian Expeditionary Force, returning home in May 1919. Everett was the oldest son of Albert James Dusang and Caroline Laura Gill of Kenora, Ontario. Albert… Read More »
