Kenora Great War Project

 

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The People

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These are the stories of Kenora participants in the First World War.

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Webb, Earl Edward

Earl Edward Webb was born on 24 December 1893 in Keewatin, Ontario, a small town a few kilometres west of Kenora in northwestern Ontario. His parents William Webb and Josephine Zapfe married on 5 November 1880 in Bayfield, Ontario. By the next year the couple was living in Guelph, Ontario, giving birth to son William… Read More »

Basso, Pietro

Pietro (Peter) Basso was born on 15 February 1885 in Italy. He was educated there and served as a private with the Italian army in the Allied Forces during WW1. In 1920, he and his wife, Dosolina (b. 1894 in Azzano, Italy), had a daughter, Ada Marie. In May of 1921 Pietro immigrated to Canada… Read More »

Rowbottom, Charles Frederick

Private Charles ‘Ted’ Rowbottom was living in Kenora, Ontario with his wife and two young children when the war started. He enlisted four months later and served overseas until July 1916, when he was wounded for the second time. His health deteriorated over the next few years and he died in England in July 1919…. Read More »

McMaster, Charles Wellington

Charles was one of those recruits who faked his birth date when he enlisted for the Canadian army but unlike most recruits who fibbed about their ages, he took three years off his life instead of adding them on. He was 37 at the time. The army’s age limits were 18 years to 45 years… Read More »

Healey, William Henry

William Henry Healey joined the Royal Flying Corps in August 1917, at age 22, and served in Canada for one year as an Aircraft Mechanic 3rd Class. William Henry Healey was the son of William and Mary Healey of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. William Sr., a blacksmith, was born in Ontario and his wife in Wisconsin. They… Read More »

Rands, Britton Howard

Private Britton Howard Rands was called up in January 1918 and he served in France with the 78th Battalion. He suffered gas poisoning in September 1918 and returned to Canada five months later. Britton was the only son of Robert Clifford Rands and Elizabeth Fensom. Robert was born in Hullett Township, Huron County, Ontario and… Read More »

Cory, Wilbur Albert

Flight Second Lieutenant Wilbur Albert Cory enlisted in April 1916 and served with infantry units for two years before transferring to the Royal Air Force. He trained as a marine fleet observer and returned to Canada in the spring of 1919. Wilbur was the youngest son of Thomas Augustine Cory and Rachel Maude Dunphy of… Read More »

Roberts, Frederick Owen

Frederick Owen Roberts was born on 10 March 1900 in Keewatin, Ontario, a small town just west of present day Kenora. His father Owen Ellis Roberts, born in 1858 in Bala, Merionethshire in Wales, immigrated to Canada in 1882, arriving in Quebec on 26 June on the Circassian. He settled in Winnipeg where he married… Read More »

Winters, Earl Hersel

Private Earl Hersel Winters joined the 141st Battalion in May 1916 and went overseas in April 1917. He served in England and France for almost two years and returned home with a war bride. Earl was the only son of William Thomas Winter/Winters and Alice Marian Brydges of Kenora, Ontario. Thomas and Alice were both… Read More »

Southworth, Russell Raymond

Private Russell Raymond Southworth enlisted in Victoria, British Columbia in April 1915, at age 19. He served for four years in Canada, the UK, France and Belgium and returned home in March 1919. Russell was born on 15 July 1895 in Keewatin, Ontario. His parents were Charles William Southworth and Fanny May Stowe. Charles was… Read More »