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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Dodds, Francis Wilfred Ferguson

Sergeant Francis Wilfred Ferguson Dodds enlisted with the 12th Field Ambulance in March 1916 and served overseas for three years. He returned to Canada in June 1919 and was awarded the Military Medal. Wilfred was the oldest son of James Dodds and Margaret Jane Ferguson of Winnipeg, Manitoba. James was born in the Oshawa area… Read More »

Galloway, Norman Lloyd

Norman Lloyd Galloway was born on 26 January 1893 in Arthur, Wellington, Ontario. His parents were Cyrus and Janet Scott (Small) Galloway who had married on 14 December 1881 in Arthur. Norman had 4 older siblings, Cyrus Leslie, Hubert Scott, William Joseph Osgoode, and Cecil Charles, and a younger sister, Janet (Jennie) Florence. For both… Read More »

Lang, Walter William

Private Walter William Lang of Quill Lake, Saskatchewan enlisted in March 1916 at age 24. He served overseas with the 28th Battalion and he was killed in August 1918, during the Hundred Days Offensive. Walter was the oldest son of George Lang and Catherine Daum. George and Catherine were both born in Woolwich Township, Waterloo… Read More »

Parent, Joseph

Private Joseph Parent was called up for service in November 1917 and sent to France a year later. He returned to Canada in March 1919. Joseph was born in Montreal on 20 March 1892 and baptized the same day as Joseph Octave Napoleon Parent. His parents, Octave Parent and Cécile Plamondon, were married in Montreal… Read More »

Rochester, Ernest Marshall

The Germans used massive amounts of artillery in the First World War and more than half of Allied casualties were the result of artillery fire. Gun batteries were a frequent target, to put them out of action, and both sides developed methods to locate and destroy batteries. Sergeant Ernest Marshall Rochester served with the 30th… Read More »

Esselmont, John Wesley

Private John Wesley Esselmont enlisted in Vancouver in September 1915, at age 20. He was wounded at the Battle of Passchendaele in November 1917 and spent the remainder of the war in Great Britain. John was born on 30 May 1895 in Fort William, Ontario. His father, James Esselmont, had immigrated to Canada from the… Read More »

LaRocque, Hillary Ulric

Hillary Ulric LaRocque was born on 30 January 1894 in Rat Portage (later renamed Kenora) in northwestern Ontario. His parents Augustin LaRocque and Henriette Boivin had married on 14 April 1873 in Ottawa. Augustin had previously married Marie Clare Rochon in St Eustache in 1866 but sadly she died in 1872 in Ottawa, the couple… Read More »

Dunford, George Frederick

George Frederick Dunford was born on 3 November 1878 in Newcastle upon Tyne (aka Newcastle-on-Tyne, Newcastle), Northumberland, England. His father Errington Dunford was from Newcastle while his mother Elizabeth Scott was from Willington Quay, a suburb of Newcastle. The couple married during the third quarter of 1873, marriage registered in the District of Newcastle. Children… Read More »

Wright, David Ernest

Corporal David Ernest Wright enlisted in December 1914 and served in France and Belgium with a trench mortar battery. He was wounded at the Battle of Hill 70 and spent a year recovering in hospitals in England. David was born and raised in a large family in northern Ireland. His father, Reverend John Wright, was… Read More »

Currie, James Campbell

James was the son of Donald Hector (1860-1956)  and Annie J. Currie (1863-1956), of Stackpool, Ontario. Until 1911, they were living in Kenora, Ontario. The  1911 census listed their name as Carrier instead of Currie. In 1891 Donald Hector  was shipping clerk in a lumber mill. In 1901, James lived with his mother and father… Read More »