This soldier is recorded as the first soldier to be killed due to enemy action.
Source: War Diary – (Excerpt from the War Diary) …A quiet day. At about 4 PM #53227 Private W.W, Frew, while filling sandbags in support was shot by a stray bullet which plowed through the base of his skull, killing him instantly.
“Killed in Action”
Whilst in charge of a working party and directing his men from a traverse of the Support Trenches, in the vicinity of Kemmel, he was hit in the neck by a stray bullet and rendered unconscious. His wounds were attended to, but he succumbed in about half an hour without regaining consciousness.
Former Toronto Man Killed
Special to the StarLondon, Ont., Oct. 15. – Word was received to-day that Lance-Corporal W. Frew of Lansdowne, formerly of Stanley Barracks, Toronto, have been killed in action in France. He was a member of the King Edward Coronation Contingent and sergeant-major of the 56th Lisgar Rifles for some years.
The beginning of World War 1 aroused strong feelings of patriotism as young men in the community volunteered to serve in the Armed Forces. Among them was W.W. Frew, who had spent four year in the village as a tinsmith. he became the first Wheatley [Ontario] to give his life and his name appears at the top of the list on the local Cenotaph.
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