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Remembrance Day

Nov 5, 2009, 11:48 pm

From MyNews contributor Bill Donaldson: Why remember them? They asked us to! Private Fredrick William Stokes was my Great Grandfather he sent this folded scrap of paper to my grandmother shortly before leaving for France from England it arrived with some returned to sender letters of hers as he had been KIA. What is happening to a father that makes him ask his daughter not to forget him ...

Frederick William Stokes #654708 - Born on May 31, 1875 in Goderich Township, Huron County, to Mr. & Mrs. Sanford Stokes. On enlistment he gave his occupation as "mechanic" and his current address as Goderich where he lived with his wife Agnes. He enlisted at the age of 40 on March 25, 1916 at Goderich with the 161st Huron Battalion and arrived in England on November 11, 1916 aboard the SS Lapland. After landing in England the 161st was posted to Witley and he was transferred to the 1st Battalion of the Canadian Infantry, Western Ontario Regiment. He was killed in action at the age of 42 on September 27, 1918 on the Cambrai Road near Haynecourt. Private Stokes is buried in grave I.A.23 at the Ontario Cemetery in Sains-les-Marquoin.