Moss, Stanley: Service no. 226623

Source: January 1917 War Diary research.

Stanley Moss was born in Birkenhead, England, 25 February, 1887, the sone of Mrs. G. (Martha) Smith of Garden Street, Gananoque. He worked as a labourer in the area before the war.
He enlisted 15 November, 1915 in the Canadian Expeditionary Force at the age of 18 “for the duration of hostilities” and served in the infantry, 18th Battalion (Western Ontario Regiment). Unlike in the British Army, Canadian soldiers were no necessarily assigned to a unit which came from their local area, although many Gananoque men served in the 21st Battalion which was largely recruited from Kingston and surrounding area. Late in the wary, entire battalions that were being kept in Britain to form a fight infantry division were broken up to provide replacements for infantry battalions that had suffered severe casualties.
Private Stanley Moss trained in Britain, served in France from September 1916 and fought at the Somme. After only a few months in the front line, he died of leukemia at a hospital in France. He was the brother of Driver Hugh Moss who was killed in action 0n 27 September, 1918, only six weeks before the war ended. The Great War claimed the lives of 64,772 Canadians. Most men died as a direct result of enemy action; however, disease and accidents were responsible for the deaths of 7,796 men. The figure compares favourably with the US army. It suffered 50,280 deaths but lost 65,380 men to disease and accidents.
Two other Gananoque brothers also died during the Great War. Privates Vernor and William Street were killed 15 September, 1916 at the Battle of the Somme. Corporal William Gibbins was killed at Passchendaele, Belgium, 30 October, 1917, and his brother Lance-Sergeant Ellis Gibbins on 8 August 1918 at the Battle of Amiens, France. Acting Bombardier C. Millard Wright was killed in the 2 September 1918 in the final weeks of the war, and is brother Captain F. Ellis Wright died in Normandy 3 September, 1944…
Private Moss is commemorated on Page 298 of the First World War Book of Remembrance and is buried in FOSSE No. 10 COMMUNIAL EXTENSION military cemetery, north of Arras, France.
“Here dead we lie because we did not choose
To live and shame the land from which we sprung,Life, to be sure, is nothing to lose,
But young men think it is, and we were young.”
A.E. Houseman
Dedicated in his memory by the congregation of Christ Church (Anglican), Gananoque.