Morykwas, Alexander AKA Marquis, Alex: Service no. 141024

CVWM Page

Digitized Service Record

Source: Unknown

Under age. He was 16 years old when he died.

Attested with the names Alexander Marquis AKA Alexander Morykwas.

Find-A-Grave

Family Search: Private Alexander Morykwas was born in 1900, in Austria as the son of Jacob Morykwas and Katrina Morykwas. He immigrated to Quebec City, Quebec, Canada in 1907. He registered for military service in 1915. In 1915, at the age of 15, his occupation is listed as clerk. He died on 3 October 1916, in Courcelette, Somme, Picardie, France, at the age of 16.

British War Medal archived at the Canadian War Museum.

Note that this soldier was wounded during the accidental explosion of a grenade during a training demonstration by Lieutenant William Ormiston Brown. An account of the accident can be found here.

Immigration form from visit from Canada to Buffalo, New York, 1913.
wounded-by-grenade-accident
31829_B016753-00284
“Killed in Action”

Listed at the CWGC and the CVWM as being 16. Attestation papers say he was born in 1897 so was at least 18 at time of death but if you look at the scan of the burial record of this soldier you will see that the original record has been covered by a rectangular paper with a notation possibly correcting the age of the soldier. Was Alexander Morykwas AKA Alexander Marquis a child soldier who was actually 14 to 15 years old when he joined.

The name is Polish in origin and this soldier indicated a different name on his attestation papers, that he was born in Welland, Ontario, Canada and his religion was Wesleyan.

Close up of CWGC Capture
doc5664352
Original document. Note the lower left corner of the document and compare it to the close up of the document above.

Canadian Virtual War Memorial

The following reference was found in Guarding Niagara: The Welland Canal Force 1914 – 1918 on page 96. A simple entry, last name, first name, and no service number.

Morykwas Alexander: Service no. 141024 page 1
Morykwas Alexander: Service no. 141024 page 2

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Blog at WordPress.com.

Up ↑