I read today in Canada's Anglo-Celtic Connections that more World War I service files have been uploaded at Library and Archives Canada, so I decided to see if some of my distant Desgroseilliers relatives’ files were among them. I was pleasantly surprised to see that Ovide’s file was finally online. He was the youngest brother of my maternal great-grandfather Albert Desgroseilliers (1879-1957).
After a quick read, here are some highlights of my great-great-uncle Ovide’s file (34 images):
Name: Ovide Desgrosseilliers (index) / Ovide Desgrossiellier (his signature).
Birth date and place: 26 April 1884 Embrun, Ontario, Canada.
Height: 5’ 7”.
Marital status: Wife (Anna Maurice) and two young children (Carmel and Guy).
Enlistment date and place: 3 April 1916 Sturgeon Falls, Ontario, Canada.
Previous military service: 3 years, 97th Regiment.
Rank: Promoted from Private to Sergeant on 1 May 1916.
Battalion: 163rd Battalion (F.C.) C.E.F.
Theatre of war: Arrived in Bermuda on 29 May 1916. He remained there until his discharge a few months later, and was never sent to the Western Front (France).
Discharge: He was deemed “medically unfit for further service” and discharged on 22 November 1916 (presumably due to a condition known as orchitis).
For more information about Canadian WWI service files, read the introductory articles and then search the soldiers' database. Note that the digitisation of these files is an-ongoing project. LAC states on its website that: “As of today, 181,338 of 640,000 files are available in the database. Latest box digitized—box: #2490, name: Devos.”
Copyright © 2015, Yvonne Demoskoff.
No comments:
Post a Comment