Private John Christopher "Jack" Jamieson—Died of Illness October 19, 1945

 John Christopher “Jack” Jamieson was born in Halfway Cove, Guysborough County, on May 26, 1900, the son of John Patrick and Margaret Ellen “Maggie” (Murphy) Jamieson. John Patrick was the son of John and Janet Eliza (Delaney) Jamieson, while Maggie was the daughter of Christopher and Elizabeth (George) Murphy. Both of Jack’s parents were Halfway Cove natives.

Private John Christopher "Jack" Jamieson (193rd Battalion Photo)

According to a brief entry in his Second World War service file, Jack completed Grade IV before leaving public school in 1910. For several years prior to the First World War, he “worked in [the] woods.” In the spring of 1916, military recruiters made their first visit to Guysborough town, seeking enlistments for the 193rd Battalion. On March 1, 1916, Jack commenced training with a local detachment and formally enlisted with the unit at Guysborough on April 1, 1916. His military attestation lists his birth year as 1898, despite the fact that he was almost two months shy of his sixteenth birthday at the time.

Jack trained with the 193rd at Camp Aldershot throughout the summer of 1916. Briefly admitted to Rockhead Military Hospital, Halifax, on October 5 with a skin condition, he was discharged one week later, just in time to board SS Olympic with his comrades for the voyage overseas. The vessel arrived in the United Kingdom (UK) on October 18 and the 193rd’s personnel travelled by train to Camp Bramshott, England.

Significant casualties during the Canadian Expeditionary Forces’ September and October 1916 service at the Somme created a significant shortage of infantry reinforcements. In response, military authorities dissolved several units that had recently arrived in the UK and re-assigned their personnel to battalions in France.

The 193rd was among the battalions selected for dissolution. As one of its younger recruits—on paper, he was 18 years old at that time—Jack was transferred to the 185th Battalion (Cape Breton Highlanders) on December 29, 1916. By coincidence, that same day he was diagnosed with pleurisy and “the mumps.” Admitted to an isolation unit at Camp Aldershot on January 3, 1917, Jack spent one month in hospital before returning to duty. On May 27, 1917—the day after his supposed nineteenth birthday—he proceeded to France for service with the 25th Battalion (Nova Scotia Rifles). Jack was actually 17 years old at the time.

The first of several volunteer infantry units recruited in Nova Scotia during the war, the 25th Battalion was authorized on November 7, 1914, and mustered its ranks in Halifax the following spring. Its initial personnel left Nova Scotia aboard HMTS Saxonia on May 20, 1915. Upon arriving overseas, the unit was assigned to the 2nd Canadian Division’s 5th Brigade, where it served alongside the 22nd Battalion (Quebec’s famous “Van Doos”) and the 26th Battalion (New Brunswick).

The 25th crossed the English Channel to France in mid-September 1915 and served in Belgium’s Ypres Salient for almost one year before relocating to France in late summer 1916. On September 15, 1916, its soldiers participated in a successful attack on the village of Courcelette, France, the unit’s first Battle of the Somme assignment. Following the end of fighting in mid-November, the 25th spent the winter of 1916-17 in sectors near Lens, France. On April 9, 1917, its personnel participated in the Canadian Corps’ capture of Vimy Ridge and saw action in the Second Battle of the Scarpe later that month.

The 25th was in the midst of a period of rest and training at Gouy-Servins, France, when 17-year-old Private John Christopher Jamieson joined its ranks on June 16, 1917. Two months later, Jack was in the line with the 25th when the unit played a key role in the Battle of Hill 70, near Lens, France. On August 15, 1917, its personnel participated in an infantry advance near Cité St-Laurent, withstanding a ferocious German counter-attack after reaching their objectives. The 25th suffered three Officer and 50 “other rank” (OR) casualties during the fighting.

In late October 1917, the 25th relocated to Passchendaele, Belgium, where its soldiers took part in the final assault on the Belgian town, carried out from November 5 to 8, 1917. Initially, it appeared that Jack came through both major battles without injury, On January 8, 1918, however, he was admitted to No. 7 Canadian Stationary Hospital for treatment of “ICT [inflammation of connective tissue] Legs.”

While an entry on a Medical Case Sheet in Jack’s service file states that his “back and leg [had been] burned by mustard gas at Lens,” the 25th’s war diary makes no mention of gas exposure during the August 1917 battle. It does, however, describe personnel encountering gas shells at Passchendaele on November 5, 1917, and in the front trenches near Méricourt, France, later that same month.

On January 9, 1918, Jack was transferred to No. 7 Canadian General Hospital, Étaples. France. The following day, he was invalided to England and admitted to the Chester War Hospital, Chester. A Medical Case Sheet completed at the time of his admission stated that Jack was experiencing “pain in calves and legs and lumbar muscles,” the after-effects of mustard gas burns.

Jack’s admission to hospital in England also appears to have triggered an investigation into his actual age. A note at the top of a “”Casualty Form,” dated January 24, 1918, states that his “correct date of birth” as recorded on a baptismal certificate was May 26, 1900, and that he was “not to be sent Overseas [i.e., back to France or Belgium] until 19 years of age.”

Several other documents in Jack’s First World War service file provide details on the nature of his wounds. His “cellular tissue” had been “inflamed through gas,” but the “condition [was] healing” within days of hospitalization. By mid-January, his situation was “much improved…. Blisters on hips and buttocks healed and in good condition.” While Jack continued to experience pain in his legs, massages brought considerable relief.

On April 3, 1918, Jack was transferred to Military Convalescent Hospital, Woodcote Park, Epsom, where he remained for one month. Discharged from medical care on May 3, he was posted to No. 2 Canadian Corps Depot (CCD) and awarded two weeks’ sick leave. During that time, he experienced a “sudden onset of pain and contraction of leg muscles.” He immediately reported to the “surgeon at Infirmary Chester” and was re-admitted to Chester War Hospital for treatment of myalgia in mid-May.

On June 5, Jack was transferred to the Canadian Red Cross Special Hospital, Buxton. Medical records during his time there indicate that he was experiencing a “dull aching pain in [his] back, hips, thighs and legs.” Jack spent almost two months in Buxton before returning to No. 2 CCD in late July. A note written at that time described his “general condition [as] good. Slight limbo-sacral rigidity and tenderness, scars of gas burns over buttocks and back of legs.”

As Jack was no longer fit for front-line duty, he was temporarily posted to the Nova Scotia Regimental Depot on September 13, 1918. Two days later. he was assigned to the Canadian Forestry Corps (CFC) Headquarters at Sunningdale. Before month’s end, Jack joined the ranks of 105th Company, CFC, which harvested and processed timber near Wool, Dorset, England. 

Jack spent the next two months with the 105th Company. All timber harvesting ceased after the November 11, 1918, Armistice and CFC units quickly processed the remaining logs before winding down operations. Jack returned to Base Depot, CEF, on December 5, 1918. An assessment at that time stated that he could “walk five miles and is fit for manual labour,” but also indicated that he was “at present not fit for hard work due to myalgic pains.”

In mid-December, Jack was transferred to the Canadian Discharge Depot, Rhyl, Wales, where he awaited orders to return to Canada.  On January 18, 1919, he left the UK aboard HMT Aquitania and arrived in Halifax one week later. On February 17, 1919, Jack was officially discharged as “medically unfit” and returned home to Guysborough County.

Jack’s exact whereabouts at the time of the 1921 Canadian census are unknown. The only child living in the family home with John Patrick and Ellen was his younger brother William “Bill,” age 16. Later developments suggest that he may have headed to Gloucester, Massachusetts. Whatever his immediate post-military circumstances, on June 8, 1922, Jack married Harriet Viola “Hattie” Carter, daughter of George C. and Ellen (Keay) Carter, Oyster Ponds. Their first and only child, Alonzo George, was born in Oyster Ponds on April 15, 1923.

Three months after Alonzo’s birth, Hattie and her infant son left Yarmouth, NS, aboard a vessel bound for Boston, Massachusetts. Their final destination was Gloucester, where Jack was residing at that time. Hattie’s parents, George and Ellen, and her 31-year-old brother Wilbert also relocated to Gloucester that same year. 

Several years after Hattie and Alonzo arrived in the United States, Jack returned to Nova Scotia. His wife and young son, however, remained in Massachusetts. At the time of the 1930 United States census, Alonzo was residing in Gloucester with his grandparents, George and Ellen Carter. The Canadian census conducted the following year indicates that Jack was living in Guysborough with his parents while employed as a “surveyor” in “steam railroad construction,” i.e, the Guysborough Railway.  Jack’s younger brother Bill also worked as a labourer on the ill-fated project.

Some time after returning to Guysborough, Jack established a common-law relationship with Sarah Gertrude “Sadie” Dickie, daughter of James and Dolena (Ross) Dickie, Cook’s Cove. Sadie subsequently gave birth to two sons—John James (DOB February 6, 1936) and George Clair (DOB October 25, 1939). By the early 1940s, the family appears to have relocated to Pictou, where Jack was employed as a “frame setter” in the Maritime Foundation Shipyard, Pictou, for almost two and a half years prior to enlisting with the Veterans Guard of Canada.

In the midst of the feverish war activity that swept the country from 1939 to 1945, many First World War veterans were eager to serve their country. Although too old for active combat, those deemed “fit” were considered capable of service in Canada in some capacity. While his enlistment occurred during the conflict’s late stages, Jack was one of thousands of former soldiers impacted by the patriotic fervour of the war years. On January 5, 1945, he enlisted with the Veterans Guard of Canada at Halifax, NS.

On May 23, 1940, the Canadian government announced the formation of the “Veterans Home Guard” (VHG), modelled on the British Home Guard that was already operating in the United Kingdom. The objective was to utilize the country’s First World War veterans to guard military properties across the country, allowing younger men to serve overseas. In particular, veterans could relieve members of the Canadian Provost Corps—the Canadian Army’s military police—from guard duty at internment and prisoner of war camps established across the country during the war’s early months.

The age limit for service was initially set at 50, but later expanded to 55 years of age. Candidates were expected to meet the army’s basic physical standards and served under the same obligations as active combat enlistments. The Department of National Defence initially approved the formation of 12 Companies, each consisting of 250 men. Men were required to wear battle dress and carry weapons while on duty.

While approximately 25,000 First World War veterans volunteered before the end of the year, many were rejected based on age or medical requirements. In September 1940, the force’s name was changed to Veterans Guard of Canada (VGC). By the following spring, the VGC consisted of approximately 6,500 men divided into 29 Companies, while another 4,000 men were part-time volunteers in reserve Companies across the country.

The VGC also protected critical infrastructure and wartime industries. The aluminum smelting operation at Arvida, QC, was one such location. After Japan entered the war in December 1941, VGC Companies assisted with coastal defence and guarded RCAF bases in British Columbia. Its personnel also protected airfields in Newfoundland and several select Companies guarded Canadian Military Headquarters in London, England, conducted garrison duty in the Bahamas, and protected bauxite-laden ships in British Guiana.

Perhaps the Guard’s most important role was the supervision of 26 internment and prisoner of war camps, a responsibility it assumed in May 1941. Over the course of the war, approximately 34,000 German POWs were interred in Canada. VGC personnel operated the guard towers, carried out inspections and supervised daily activities at the camps, many of which were located in remote areas.

At its peak in June 1943, the VGC consisted of 451 officers and 9,806 other ranks. A total of more than 15,000 First World War veterans served with its 37 regular and three special-duty Companies during the war. A May 1945 assessment estimated that the Guard had “directly or indirectly” ensured the provision of the equivalent of a full infantry division for overseas service.

Following his January 5, 1945, enlistment, Jack was “taken on strength” by No. 6 District Depot, Halifax, “for V. G. of Canada.” On January 24, he was assigned to No. 33 Company, VGC, which was stationed in Port Arthur, ON, at that time. The Company had carried out guard duties in the Bahamas from June 1942 to September 1943, at which time it was relieved by a special detachment of Pictou Highlanders soldiers.

The details of No. 33 Company’s duties in the Port Arthur (Thunder Bay) area are unclear. The Lake Superior town contained port facilities and power stations, and a critical bridge across the Nipigon River was located 120 kilometers to the northeast, suggesting that the Company’s personnel may have guarded these strategically important locations.

Jack spent only two weeks in Port Arthur before receiving a transfer to No. 18 Company, VGC. His new unit was perhaps a more familiar environment, as No. 18 drew its personnel from Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia. At the time of Jack’s transfer, the Company was stationed in Grande-Ligne, 50 kilometers south of Montreal, QC, where Camp 44, a prisoner of war facility had been established on the grounds of the Feller Institute, a pre-war boarding school and farm.

In early 1943, the Department of National Defence assumed control of the Feller Institute site and transformed its facilities into an internment camp. A barbed wire fence was erected around its grounds and six guard towers built along its perimeter. A tall wooden fence was also installed along a nearby highway to block the view of passers-by,

Camp 44’s first POWs—372 German officers and 92 “other ranks”—arrived from nearby Camp Farnham in June 1943, with a second group of 100 officers and 30 other ranks from the United Kingdom entering the facility the following month. Officers were accommodated in a four-storey building, which also included a kitchen, dining area, recreation room, library and performance space. A large gymnasium and small hospital were located nearby.

Among other activities, POWs organized a 40-member symphony orchestra, two dance bands and several chamber music ensembles. Sports were popular as well, the facility expanding to include three fields, the largest of which was built by the prisoners themselves. Track and field, tennis (indoor and outdoor), football (soccer), basketball and boxing were among the many recreational activities available to detainees. Groups of up to 100 POWs were also permitted to walk the camp’s farm grounds “on parole.”

The Camp also offered a wide variety of educational courses to POWs. Visiting professors from McGill University delivered lectures on Canadian subjects to responsive audiences. A large library provided access to a wide variety of contemporary magazines and newspapers. POWs also planted food crops in the facility’s fields, tended to several cattle, pigs and chickens, cultivated private garden plots and kept several bee hives.

Jack carried out guard duty at the Grande-Ligne facility for four and half months. Granted a two-week furlough on July 2, 1945, he likely returned home to visit his young family. Perhaps in response to a request to serve closer to his family, Jack was “attached for all purposes” to Camp B/70, located in Ripples, NB, shortly after returning to duty. During the Great Depression, the small, rural community had housed an “unemployment relief camp” close to the local train station and within the confines of the Acadian Forest Experiment Station.

Camp B/70 was situated near the community of Minto, 30 kilometers east of Fredericton. The area’s forest provided work opportunities for its detainees. Its first occupants were approximately 700 German and Austrian individuals of Jewish descent, many of whom had fled to the United Kingdom to escape persecution. Uncertain of their loyalty, the British government asked Canada and Australia to accommodate the refugees.

Initially designated Camp B and later re-named Camp 70, the Ripples facility was the only internment camp established in the Atlantic region during the war years. In the spring and early summer of 1940, Department of National Defence officials oversaw the relief camp’s conversion to a facility capable of accommodating 600 individuals. Its first occupants—the previously mentioned German and Austrian detainees—arrived in August 1940.

Witin a year, officials determined that the men were not a security threat. Given the choice of returning to the UK or remaining in Canada, many decided to travel to England and enlist for military service. Others obtained sponsors and worked in a variety of fields—medicine, arts and business—in Canada and the United States.

In July 1941, Camp B transitioned to a German internment camp, accepting a group of approximately 600 civilian detainees from Camp K (Kananaskis, AB). Many were later released on parole, only those deemed “high risk” remaining in custody. Re-named Camp 70 in September 1941, the facility accepted groups of German and Italian civilian detainees and German merchant seamen throughout the remainder of its operation.

As with other facilities, detainees could access a wide variety of educational courses offered at varying levels. Merchant seamen were provided with instruction in a range of areas relevant to their employment. The detainees converted a large recreation field on the grounds into a football field and organized teams. During the winter months, the field was converted into a skating rink. Men also participated in track and field events, weight-lifting, boxing and other sports. Several music ensembles were organized, their instruments provided by the YMCA and International Red Cross.

Detainees also cultivated a large area within the grounds, providing the camp with a supply of fresh fruit and vegetables. Other internees carried out maintenance tasks and harvested firewood in the nearby woods as a fuel supply for the camp’s stoves and boilers. A group of Italian merchant seamen considered low security risks was later transferred to Ontario, where the men maintained railway lines in several areas. A small group of internees with strong pro-Nazi sentiments were transferred to a facility that housed like-minded individuals in Western Canada.

By November 1944, transfers and releases had reduced the camp to fewer than 200 individuals. Numbers continued to decline as the war in Western Europe came to an end, leading to the facility’s closing on August 31, 1945, at which time its remaining detainees were transferred to Camp 23, Monteith, ON.

Jack reported to Camp 70 on July 25, 1945, as operations were winding down. Two weeks later—August 11—he was admitted to the camp’s hospital for treatment of an unknown health issue. At mid-month, he was transferred to Fredericton Military Hospital, suggesting that his condition was serious. On October 1, 1945. Jack was officially “struck off strength” of No. 18 Company, VGC, “while a [hospital] patient.”

As the days passed, Jack’s condition appears to have worsened. At 1145 hours October 19, 1945, Private John Christopher Jamieson died in Fredericton Military Hospital. A “circumstances of casualty” form identified the cause of death as “coronary thrombosis”—formation of a blood clot inside a blood vessel within the heart. The condition usually results in a “myocardial infarction,” commonly known as a “heart attack.” Jack’s remains were transported to Guysborough, where he was laid to rest in Evergreen Cemetery on October 22, 1945.

An entry in Jack’s service file, made following his passing, states that his death was “not due to service.” Canadian Pension Commission document, dated March 16, 1946, concluded that cause of death—coronary thrombosis and degenerative myocarditis—was “pre-enlistment, aggravated during service in Canada, but the aggravation did not arise out of, nor was it directly connected with military service” and was “not attributable to [his earlier] CEF service.”

Jack’s father John had died in Guysborough at age 75 on April 27, 1938, the result of “acute cystitis”—a sudden bladder infection—and pyelonephritis—a urinary tract infection. He had also suffered from chronic myocarditis for years. Jack’s widowed mother Margaret Ellen remained in Guysborough, passing away “at home” on May 15, 1955, also the result of coronary thrombosis.

Sarah Gertrude Sadie (Dickie) Jamieson, Jack’s common-law wife, spent her later years in Guysborough. where she died on June 22, 1994. John James Jamieson, Jack and Sadie’s older son, pursued a career in the Canadian Armed Forces, spending much of his time in uniform at CFB Summerside, PEI. He later retired to Ottawa, ON, where he passed away on November 14, 2015. George Clair Jamieson, the couple’s younger son, lived and worked in Pictou County and pre-deceased his older brother. 

Harriet Viola “Hattie”, Jack Jamieson’s first wife, remained in the United States for the rest of her life. Hattie married after Jack’s death and raised a family of two daughters in Gloucester, MA. She passed away there on November 13, 1985.

Jack and Hattie’s son, Alonzo George, enlisted with the United States Army at Boston, MA, on December 10, 1943. Married with one child at the time, Alonzo applied for United States citizenship in March 1944 while training at Fort McClennan, Alabama, and spent the remainder of the war in uniform. No further details are available on his military service.

Upon returning to civilian life, Alonzo returned to Gloucester, where he and his wife, Eleanor Louise “Sis” Carter, raised a family of two children. At the time of the 1950 United States census, Alonzo was employed as an auto parts salesman. He passed away in Gloucester on November 3, 1977, eight years before his mother’s passing. Only 54 years old at the time of his death, Alonzo was laid to rest in Beechbrook Cemetery, his final resting place marked by an official United States of America military headstone.

Private Loren Stanton O'Hara—Died of Illness September 18, 1945

 Loren Stanton O’Hara was born in New Harbour, Guysborough County, on November 16, 1903, to George Washington and Sarah Jane (Humber) O’Hara. Loren’s birth year is a matter of debate. A later military document gives the year as 1902, while the 1911 Canadian census lists the date as 1904. While his service files record his first name as “Loren,” the 1911 and 1921 Canadian censuses refer to him as “Lorne.”

Loren Stanton O'Hara

Loren’s father George was the son of Edward O’Hara and Marjorie Henderson, New Harbour, while his mother Sarah was born in Bellburns, Newfoundland, the daughter of Jesse Abe Humber (1845 - 1927) and Ipsey House (1848 - 1905). George earned a living at sea and likely met Sarah through his work. The couple were married in Bartletts Harbour, Newfoundland, on September 6, 1893. According to the marriage register, 23-year-old George was working as a ship’s steward in Bartlett’s Harbour, while 16-year-old Sarah was living in nearby Daniel’s Harbour.

At an unknown date, George and Sarah relocated to New Harbour, where their first child, George Vincent, was born on October 10, 1899. A second child, Marjorie Emma May, arrived on July 1, 1900. Over the next 10 years, another five children joined the O’Hara household—Loren Stanton; Ernest Reginald (DOB June 26, 1906); Oliver Gordon (DOB December 26, 1908); Spencer Cecil (DOB October 30, 1911); and Rufus Milford (DOB December 9, 1914). One son, Marshall, died in infancy at an unknown date. A daughter Martha, born around 1920, also died at a young age.

Loren attended public school from age eight to 14, leaving after completing Grade VI “to earn [a] living as [a] fisherman.” In the spring of 1917, he left home and made his way to Halifax, where he underwent a medical examination on McNab’s Island on May 25, 1917, and joined the ranks of the 63rd Regiment, Halifax Rifles, a local militia unit. Loren was no older than 15—quite likely younger—at the time of his enlistment. He stood five feet, four inches and weighed 134 pounds.

Over the next 12 months, Loren was “absent without leave” (AWL) on several occasions. On May 23, 1918, he was transferred to the 6th Battalion, Canadian Garrison Regiment, which was stationed in Wellington Barracks, Halifax. In early July, Loren was admitted to hospital with a case of the measles. He remained under medical care until August 30, when he was discharged “with a recommendation for light duty.”

On November 6, 1918, Loren formally attested for military service with the Canadian Expeditionary Force. Before month’s end, he returned to the ranks of the 6th Battalion, but appears to have once again left the barracks without permission, On July 31, 1919, he was “struck off strength” as a “deserter,” only to be “apprehended” in mid-November. After a brief period of detention, he was formally discharged from military service on December 24, 1919, and returned to his parent’s residence in Sherbrooke, Guysborough County.

At the time of the 1921 census, 18-year-old Loren was living in Sherbrooke with his father George, occupation “ship’s cook,” and Sarah. While his 22-year-old brother George was working as a “labourer,” Loren was not employed at the time. Also in the home were siblings May, age 20; Reginald, age 14, Gordon, age 10, Cecil, age eight, Milford, age six, and Martha, age one.

Sometime after 1921, Loren left home a second time and headed west. A later note in his Second World War service file summarized his pre-service employment: “For 22 years he has been a transient labourer. Generally a cook in a lumber camp or on railroads. Averaged three months to a job.” Loren had done “kitchen work” for the 10 years prior to his military enlistment and identified his last regular employer as Madison Brock Lumber Company, Kenora, ON.

On June 6, 1941, Loren enlisted with the Canadian Active Service Force (CASF) at Regina, SK. He was living in the city at the time and identified his mother Sarah. Sherbrooke, NS, as his next of kin. According to a note in his service file, Loren had not been in touch with family since 1924. He was likely unaware that his father George had passed away in Sherbrooke on September 22, 1927.

Before month’s end, Loren was posted to No. 120 (Basic) Training Centre, Regina. On July 7, 1941, he was awarded one week’s pre-embarkation leave. Four days later, he was assigned to the Regina Rifles Regiment, which was encamped at Debert, NS, at the time, awaiting orders to proceed overseas. When Loren failed to report for duty, he was “struck off strength” as an “illegal absentee” on August 9. Five days later, the unit departed for overseas.

Military authorities “apprehended” Loren in Regina on September 24. He departed for overseas in mid-November and arrived in the United Kingdom on November 23, 1941. Five days later, he reported for duty with the Regina Rifles. Approximately 38 years of age at the time, Loren was considerably older than the majority of his comrades. It is thus not surprising that the demands of military training soon led to health issues.

On January 8, 1942, Loren was admitted to No. 5 General Hospital for treatment of “rheumatism.” Discharged from medical care in late February 1942, “having been re-boarded [re-examined by a Medical Board,” he was placed in Category E—unfit for service for at least six months. Soldiers in this category were not fit for active military duties and likely required lengthy medical treatment or recuperation.

Loren was re-admitted to hospital on March 13, 1942. “Re-boarded” as Category C—free of serious illness but only fit for “sedentary work” or “home-based garrison duties”—Loren was assigned to No. 3 Canadian Infantry Reinforcement Unit (CIRU) several days after he entered hospital. Discharged on March 19, he joined No. 3 CIRU’s ranks.

During the late spring and summer of 1942, Loren received two seven-day leaves. On October 21, 1942, he was “granted permission to marry” on or after that date. As there is no record of a change in his next of kin nor any further mention of marriage in his service file, it appears that he never married. Loren remained with No. 3 CIRU until July 3, 1943, when a disciplinary infraction during the previous month resulted in his removal from the Canadian Army’s Permanent Establishment.

On December 20, 1943, Loren was posted to No. 1 Non-Effective Transit Depot as “surplus.” Five weeks later—January 27, 1944—he departed for Canada. Upon arriving in Regina, SK, on February 17, 1944, he was posted to No. 8 Platoon, No. 2 Dispersal Company, and granted one month’s leave. Upon returning to duty. Loren indicated that he was “anxious to continue in the service as a general duty man.” A note in his service file suggested that “he can be employed as a caretaker, fireman, rough painter, etc. He has a friendly manner and may be a handy general duty man, if required.”

Loren was assigned to the Canadian Army’s Base Post Office, Canadian Postal Corps, Ottawa, on May 1, 1944. Over the next six weeks, he was “AWL” on four occasions. A June 19, 1944 assessment of his situation stated that he was “of sturdy build but suffers from rheumatoid arthritis.” While his performance as a”fatigue man” in the United Kingdom had been “satisfactory.” he appeared to have “adopted a non-cooperative attitude” since returning to Canada. While “naturally good-humoured and fairly industrious,” he had become “thoroughly ‘fed up’ and determined to get dismissed from the Army.” 

The report recommended that Loren be returned to No. 12 District Depot, Regina, “for disposal.” On August 5, Loren was “struck off the strength” of Base Post Office, Canadian Postal Corps, and returned to Regina. He was deemed “unable to meet the required military physical standards” on August 25, 1944, and officially discharged from military service.

While Loren appears to have remained in Regina over the next 12 months, details of his circumstances during that time are unavailable. Admitted to General Hospital in late summer 1945, he passed away on September 18, 1945. Medical staff identified the cause of death as “generalized oedema of lungs” and “cardio-renal disease.” Three days later, a “semi-military” funeral took place in Regina Cemetery, where Loren was laid to rest in Soldiers Plot 5, Lot 15, Block C. An official military stone later marked his final resting place.

Military authorities subsequently determined that Loren’s death was “due to service.” On April 11, 1946. a Memorial Bar was sent to his mother Sarah, who was still living in Sherbrooke at that time. Sometime afterward, Sarah married Robert Clooney. On March 9, 1950, Loren’s service medals were dispatched to Mrs. Sarah Clooney, Berwick, Kings County, NS. Sarah (Humber O’Hara) Clooney passed away in Berwick on May 6, 1962.

Photograph of Loren Stanton O'Hara courtesy of William Joby Bond, Toronto, ON.

Private John Dennis Kelly—Accidentally Killed August 19, 1945

 John Dennis Kelly was born in Mulgrave, Guysborough County, on January 24, 1918, the seventh of John Sr.and Bridget Anastasia (Keay) Kellly’s nine children. John Sr. was the son of Matthew and Elizabeth (Kavanaugh) Kelly, while Bridget Anastasia was the daughter of Dennis and Sarah (Breen) Keay. Both of John Dennis’s parents were St. Francis Harbour natives.

Private John Dennis Kelly, Mulgrave, NS

John Sr. and Bridget Anastasia were married in St. Francis Harbour on June 27, 1906. The couple settled in Mulgrave, where John worked as a brakeman on the Intercolonial—later Canadian National—Railway. Their first child, Alonzo James “Lon,” was born on May 22, 1907. A second son, Thomas Matthew, arrived on January 4, 1909. Another seven children joined the Kelly household during the ensuing years—Augusta Marie “Gussie” (DOB June 24, 1911); Mary Elizabeth (DOB March 7, 1913); Kathleen Sarah “Kay” (DOB November 2, 1914); Josephine Mary (DOB June 14, 1916); John Dennis; Bernard Ambrose (DOB December 12, 1920); and Daniel Jerome “Danny” (DOB September 4, 1922).

John Dennis Kelly completed Grade IX at Mulgrave Public School before leaving in June 1934 at age 16. After working as a tractor and truck driver in the local community for several years, he obtained a job as a locomotive fireman with Canadian National Railways, Mulgrave, in 1939. That year, John celebrated his 21st birthday on January 24, making him an ideal candidate for military service after the outbreak of war overseas in September 1939.

On January 29, 1941—five days after his 23rd birthday—John underwent a National Resources Mobilization Act (NRMA) medical examination at Mulgrave and was placed in “Category A”—fit for military service. Another year passed before NRMA authorities contacted him. As he had severely sprained an ankle while playing hockey in January 1942, officials recommended that he be “recalled” in three months.

On May 18, 1942, military authorities completed a Certificate of Medical Unfitness for Enrolment at No. 61 (Basic) Training Centre, New Glasgow, placing John in “Category D”—temporarily unfit for service for another three months. Finally, on August 21, 1942, a third medical examination concluded he was fit for military service and recommended he commence training in preparation for posting to a Royal Canadian Artillery anti-tank regiment.

John formally attested for military service at No. 6 District Depot, Halifax, on September 9, 1942. Eight days later, he reported to No. 61 (Basic) Training Centre, New Glasgow for initial instruction. In mid-November 1942, he proceeded to A2 (Advanced) Training Centre, Petawawa, ON, where he commenced artillery training.

While an initial assessment recommended a posting to the Home Defence Establishment (HDE),  John expressed a strong desire “to get Overseas.” In response, military officials recommended “further training in Artillery as a Driver,” after which “he should be returned to [the] Army Examiner for further review.” On January 20, 1943, John qualified as Driver Class III and was awarded a two-week furlough shortly afterward.

During John’s absence, military authorities re-evaluated his circumstances. A note from a Petawawa official described “a history of weak spells” and pains under the heart…,” raising concerns about his suitability for overseas service. While John had expressed a “desire… to serve as a stoker in the Navy,” officials recommended that “he be employed as [a] fireman on HDE [Home Defence Establishment]” and requested that a Medical Board reassess his fitness category.

In early February 1943, John returned to Petawawa, where he awaited a final decision on his military future. Due to a low score on the PULHEMS System—Physique, Upper body, Lower body & Locomotion, Hearing, Eyes, Mental capacity and Stability—a Medical Board placed John in Category C-1—fit only for “home defence” duty—on June 1, 1943. Two weeks later, he was assigned to duty at a “Field Experimental Station” located in Suffield, AB.

Suffield Experimental Station was established to replace a similar British/ French facility that operated at Beni Ounif, approximately 300 kilometres south of Oran, Algeria, until German forces gained control of the French territory in mid-1940. An initial group of British scientists arrived in Alberta in the spring of 1941 and the station commenced operation on June 11, 1941.

During its wartime operation, approximately 600 individuals from a broad spectrum of scientific fields—chemistry, physics, meteorology. pharmacology, veterinary science, mechanical and chemical engineering—conducted chemical and biological defence research in support of the Allied war effort. Their primary focus was the development of countermeasures against the potential use of chemical weapons. During the years after the war, the Station’s work provided the scientific basis for the development of several modern-day chemotherapy cancer treatments.

Canada’s Home Defence Establishment (HDE) provided a detachment of military personnel that guarded the facility and carried out a variety of non-scientific operational tasks. An entry in John’s service file, dated June 14, 1944, assessed his performance during his first year of service there as “efficient, dependable and industrious.” However, the note also indicated that “he had lost interest in the Army since lowered Pulhems [score] prevent[ed] overseas service.”

In fact, John submitted an Application for Discharge from military service on April 4, 1944, requesting a return to employment with the CNR at Mulgrave. While his Commanding Officer, Major R. C. Lister, supported the application, the request appears to have proceeded no further. John was quite likely disillusioned at his inability to serve overseas and failure to receive a discharge, his service file recording several disciplinary infractions during his second year of service at the facility.

On July 4, 1945, John was transferred to No. 29 Company, Veterans Guard of Canada, which was responsible for security at Internment Camp 130, Seebe, Alberta, 330 kilometres west of Suffield. It is not clear whether the change of assignment occurred as a result of John’s disciplinary infractions or the need for additional personnel at the facility.

Guard Tower at Internment Camp 130, Kakanaskis, AB (date unknown)

Situated in the Rocky Mountains approximately 30 kilometers east of Canmore, Internment Camp 130, also known as “Camp K” (Kananaskis), had operated as an “unemployment relief camp” from 1934 to 1936. Temporarily abandoned after that time, the facility accepted its first “civilian detainees” on September 8, 1939, two days prior to Canada’s official declaration of war on Germany.

The facility initially housed “known and suspected enemy [German and Italian] sympathizers” from Ontario and Western Canada. While set in a picturesque location, the camp was remote and provided few programs for its detainees. Eventually, the majority of its internees were given several opportunities to work—improving and enlarging the camp’s facilities, landscaping the site, and cutting wood for winter fuel—in exchange for a small salary

By July 1941, some of Camp K’s initial detainees had been released following clearance by an investigative board. The remaining men were transferred to camps in Fredericton, NB, and Petawawa, ON. Re-designated Camp 130, the facility re-opened in November 1941 as a “prisoner of war” (POW) camp, following the arrival of 500 German “Enemy Merchant Seamen” from a facility in Red Rock, ON.

While detained in Kananaskis, the new arrivals participated in a variety of recreational activities—football (soccer), ice sports, gymnastics, boxing, wrestling, and music—and later took advantage of courses covering a wide variety of subject areas, offered at a wide range of levels. Many of the men were craftsmen who produced handcrafts—model ships, desk sets, cigarette boxes, etc.—that internees traded with one another and were later permitted to sell to staff and guards. Volunteers also cut firewood in the nearby forests, while select inmates received permission to work on farms in the Brooks, AB, area, approximately 200 kilometers east of Calgary.

In mid-1944, the arrival in Canada of increasing numbers of POWs captured during the Normandy campaign resulted in the camp’s transition to a facility for “combatant officers.” Its remaining civilian detainees were relocated to a camp at Monteith, ON, in July 1944 and were replaced by German officers and a small group of “other ranks” POWs who served as orderlies.

As German POWs arrived in Canada, officials categorized them according to their perceived “political opinions.” Camp 130 received individuals considered “Black,” or pro-Nazi. The recreational and educational activities offered to previous detainees continued throughout the duration of its POW operation. After the cessation of hostilities in Western Europe in early May 1945, interested detainees were hired to clear brush at nearby Barrier Lake, where the Calgary Power Company planned to construct a hydroelectric dam.

A combination of Veterans Guard of Canada (VGC) personnel—approximately 100 First World War veterans—and Home Defence Establishment (HDE) men—a similar number of Canadian Infantry Corps recruits and “young soldiers”— were responsible for security at Camp 130. The facility’s perimeter contained eight guard towers, seven of which were manned by three “other ranks” (OR). One Corporal and five OR were responsible for the eighth position, located at the enclosure’s main gate. With the exception of three Lance Corporals, all personnel on guard duty carried loaded weapons.

Guards worked a 12-hour rotation, relief taking place at the main gate at 0600 and 1800 hours daily. On each occasion, personnel commencing and completing shifts followed strict protocols with regard to ammunition. Each soldier reported for duty with five rounds of ammunition on their person, obtained from a quantity of 20 cartridges stored in their quarters. Guards commencing duty loaded their rifles in the presence of the shift’s Guard Officer and Camp Field Officer.

The rifle bolt was closed and the safety engaged during the loading process, eliminating any possibility of a live round being loaded into the firing chamber. Bullets were placed in a magazine, which was then inserted into the rifle. Each weapon bore a unique serial number recorded at the time of issue, allowing officials to distinguish one soldier’s gun from another’s.

While on duty, all ranks were instructed that “at no time is a round to be moved into the chamber unless any emergency calling for the firing of the rifle arises.” After loading and inspection, the new shift assembled at a flag pole in the yard, formed into two groups, and proceeded along a catwalk to their assigned posts. At each location, one soldier commenced sentry duty on the tower’s upper floor, while his comrades awaited their turn in a room below.

At the end of each shift, soldiers returned to the main gate in two groups and unloaded their weapons under a senior officer’s supervision. Personnel extracted the magazines from their rifles, removed the shells and placed them in their pockets. The bullets were then returned to safe storage in their quarters, where soldiers were required to maintain a supply of 20 rounds “available at all times in case of alarm.” Once unloaded, rifles were inspected to ensure that proper procedure had been followed.

Not all soldiers were “dedicated followers” of the Camp’s military procedures. Lt. James Bateman, No. 29 Company, VGC, noted that the “young soldiers” often exhibited a different attitude with regard to the routines than the older, experienced veterans: “I would say that the new personnel are eager and conscientious but do not seem to realize the importance of carrying out the details of the procedure[,] in spite of checking.”

An incident that took place on the evening of August 19, 1945, provided a deadly example of the perils of guard duty with loaded weapons. At 1800 hours that day, the routine guard shift change commenced as scheduled. Among the soldiers being relieved were Privates John Dennis Kelly, Ian Bruce Mathies, Toronto, ON, and Harry Plumb, Hamilton, ON. All three had recently arrived at Camp 130, although at different times. John and Pte. Mathies had been on duty in Tower 3 with a third soldier, Pte. David Lees. The trio were “standing in a ragged line” with a group of comrades near the facility’s Scout Office, awaiting orders to “fall in” prior to dismissal from duty.

Private Plumb had also completed his shift in Tower 1. He had already unloaded his weapon while in the room below his guard tower and placed it on a two-gun rack prior to the arrival of relief shift. As the soldiers coming on duty entered the room, one of the men told those being relieved to “get [your] rifles the hell out of here,” as no space was available on the rack for the new shift’s weapons.

Private Plumb went to retrieve his weapon from the rack and later recalled having seen “a rifle being taken out of the rack” where he thought he had placed his gun. As he had “tightened the sling” on his rifle, he looked around the room and saw one on a nearby bed. It “looked just like mine… [as] the sling was tight so… I took it out.” He then exited the room and “stepped off the step in front of the tower.” As he descended into the yard, he executed a procedure that soldiers with advanced infantry training had been taught to follow, to ensure that their weapons were not loaded:

“I was facing the outer wire. From habit[,] I raised the rifle to the low port [position - butt stock touching the shoulder, muzzle pointed down at the ground in front of one’s feet], opened and closed the bolt and eased the springs. I was not looking at my breech. We had been taught not to look at the bolt or safety catch when easing springs.”

Assuming that his weapon was not loaded, Pte. Plumb then squeezed the trigger to ensure that the chamber was empty. To his horror, the weapon immediately discharged. The round struck two soldiers who had just come off duty and were standing close by—Privates John Kelly and Ian Mathies. The bullet  “through [Mathies’] chest wall from side to side,” striking Private John Kelly under his right arm. Both men immediately fell to the ground.

Personnel standing nearby immediately notified the camp’s Medical Officer, Lieutenant H. Krivel, who quickly arrived on the scene. Krivel later recalled that the builet “had passed through {Pte. Mathies’] chest wall from side to side.” He was “gasping for breath and in an extreme state of shock” as he lay on the ground.

Lt. Krivel checked for vital signs, but a “radial pulse could not be felt.” Both shooting victims were hastily transported by stretcher to the camp’s Medical Inspection Room, where Krivel “again examined [Mathies] and found he was dead.” Meanwhile, John had been “covered in blankets and hot water bottles placed around him.” He was also in a state of shock, with no detectable radial pulse and very shallow respiration.

Medical staff immediately started “continuous intravenous fluid” and “the patient started to rally,” John’s pulse and respiration improving. Lt. Krivel later described what followed in testimony given to a Court of Inquiry:

“This improved period lasted only about three-quarters of an hour. His respirations then became progressively weaker…. At 2020 hours, the heart stopped… [and Private Kelly] was pronounced dead.”

Twenty minutes later, the Commanding Officer of No. 29 Company, VGC, dispatched a telegram to Mr. John Kelly, Mulgrave, stating:
 
“Deeply regret [to] inform you that your son… Pte. John Dennis Kelly died at 2020 hours 19 August 1945 as a result of a rifle accident. You will be notified later [with regard to] arrangements for funeral. Body will be forwarded to Mulgrave unless you desire otherwise[.] Please advise.”

On August 21, military officials convened a Court of Inquiry at Camp 130, to investigate the “circumstances surrounding the deaths of… Pte. Mathies, I. B. and… Pte. Kelly, J. D., both of CIC [Canadian Infantry Corps], posted supernumerary [to] No. 29 Company, VGC.” Over a period of two days, the Court heard evidence from 14 witnesses, including Pte. Plumb. Their testimony allowed officials to determine what had led to the tragic incident.

Private Frederick Stokes, one the soldiers coming on duty at Tower 1, stated that he “automatically went to the two-rifle rack” in the room where Pte. Plumb was waiting to be relieved and there were “two rifles in it.” He “automatically took one rifle out, and put it on the bed, and then put my own in its place.” After the shooting occurred, he asked his comrades in Tower 1 “if they had their own rifles, and they started checking the [serial] numbers.”

One of the pair, Pte. S. Saltmarsh, “took his rifle out of the rack[,]… opened the bolt” and discovered that the gun was empty. Pte. Stokes reported that Pte. Plumb “had not left the tower when I changed rifles in the rack.” Stokes did not see Plumb take a rifle, nor could he say “whether or not the rifle I took out of the rack was loaded. I don’t know whose rifle it was.”

Pte. Saltmarsh also confirmed that he had loaded his weapon prior to entering the guard room below Tower 1 and placed it in the gun rack. When he checked his gun after the incident, he discovered that it was empty. Upon examining the serial number, he realized that it was not his rifle. Using the record of serial numbers recorded at the time of issue, officials determined that the rifle in Pte. Saltmarsh’s possession had been issued to Pte. Plumb, while the weapon from which the bullet had been fired belonged to Pte. Saltmarsh.

From his testimony at the hearing, officials also learned that, contrary to regular procedures, Pte. Plumb had removed the bullets from his gun’s magazine while inside the guard tower, not at the main gate with his comrades, in the presence of a supervising officer. Had he followed the required routine, he would have known that his gun was loaded as he exited the room below Tower 1 and the tragic incident would not have occurred.

John’s remains were transported to Mulgrave, where a military funeral was held on August 30. Following the service, he was laid to rest in St. Lawrence Parish Roman Catholic Cemetery, Mulgrave. John Kelly Sr. died in Mulgrave on November 23, 1955, at 78 years of age, while his wife Bridget Anastasia passed away in the home of her son-in-law, Ernest Miller, Stellarton, on March 5, 1963.

John’s younger brother, Daniel Jerome “Danny,” also enlisted during the Second World War, serving in combat in Western Europe with an unknown unit. Upon returning to Canada, Danny settled in Sept Îles, QC, where he worked as a locomotive engineer while raising a family of five children. He passed away there on January 6, 1982, at 59 years of age.

Josephine Mary Kelly, John Dennis and Danny’s older sister, had married John Theodore “Ted” Chisholm, Mulgrave, prior to the war. Ted’s older sister, Ellen Irene, was born in Hadleyville, Guysborough County, on February 28, 1906, and later completed nursing studies. Ellen was a member of the staff at Camp Hill Hospital, Halifax, when King George VI and his wife Queen Elizabeth visited the facility during the couple’s May/June 1939 Royal Tour of Canada.

King George VI and Nurse Ellen Irene Chisholm at Camp Hill Hospital, Halifax, 1939

At an unknown time during her youth, Ellen was diagnosed with “diabetes mellitus.” During the spring of 1943, she fell into a diabetic coma and died of anemia in the Halifax Infirmary, Halifax, on June 3, 1943. Ellen Irene Chisholm was laid to rest in St. Francis Harbour, Guysborough County.

Special thanks to twin sisters Eleanor (Chisholm) Smith and Ellen (Chisholm) MacDonald, Antigonish, NS, daughters of Ted and Josephine (Kelly) Chisholm, Mulgrave. Ellen and Eleanor contributed pictures of their uncle John Dennis Kelly and aunt Ellen Chisholm, and provided background information on the Kelly family.