Dorken, George: Service no. 675021

Digitized Service Record

Source: Originally found during search of his brother, Dorken, John Ernest:  Service no. 675020, and subsequently researched and added from post at 18th Battalion Facebook Group.

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Summary of Service[i] for Private George Dorken, reg. no. 675021

Date	Event	Remarks
October 17, 1897	Born	Born at London, England.
January 5, 1916	Enlists	Enlisting at Woodstock, Ontario with the 168th Battalion. He is 18-years old and stands 5’6” tall. He is a compositor and indicates that his mother, Emily Dorken living at 292 Admiral Street, Woodstock is his next-of-kin. He had previous militia experience with the 22nd Regiment (Oxford Rifles). He is recorded as having a fair complexion, blue eyes, and light brown hair. He weighs 136 pounds.   Note, that his brother, Private Ernest John Dorken, reg. no. 675020, enlisted on the same day.
May 18 to 22, 1916	Granted Furlough
October 1916	Assigns Pay	Assigns pay of $20.00 per month to his mother, Mrs. Emily Dorken.
October 7 to 10, 1916	AWL	AWL per DO 75, October 11, 1916.
November 1, 1916	Embarks	Embarks from Canada for England from Halifax, Nova Scotia.
November 11, 1916	Disembarks	Disembarks at Liverpool, England and is transferred to the 12th Battalion, West Sandling.
December 4, 1916	TOS	TOS 12th Battalion, West Sandling.
January 4, 1917	Transferred & TOS	Transferred & TOS to the 4th Reserve Battalion, West Sandling.
April 13, 1917	TOS	TOS with 18th Battalion.
April 16, 1917	Arrives	Arrives from 4th Reserve Battalion to the CBD at Havre, France
May 12, 1917	Joined Unit	Joined 18th Battalion in the field.
May 28, 1917	Brother Killed	His brother, Private Ernest John Dorken, reg. no. 675020, is killed in action on this day. His body is never identified, and he is commemorated at the Vimy Ridge Memorial. Private Dorken may have been one of the men of a “covering party” that was engaged in protecting a wiring party. During a German barrage element of these parties retired and it was found that three men were missing. An attempt to find these men was made but to no avail. The men where not found. See the War Diary for more details.   It is not known of the brothers were involved in the same action.
December 29, 1917	Granted Leave	Granted 14-days leave to England.
August 8, 1918	Wounded	Wounded with a GSW to the back. Sent to No. 1 CFA and then onto a CCS. The War Diary relates:   “In contrast to the clear evening previous, the morning of the 8th found a heavy fog in evidence, obstructing all view of the German line and proposed objective. Zero hour had been set to 4.20 a.m. An hour previous all Coys. had taken up their assault positions. Half an hour before the commencement of our bombardment, German artillery of heavy calibre laid down a light barrage on our position, particularly heavy fire being directed on the wood to the South-West of VILLERS-BRETTENEAUX. First impression was that our attack had been anticipated, but his shelling ceased just prior to the opening up of our guns.No preliminary bombardment was indulged in. At 4.30 sharp [our] barrage fell on the German Front line and the Battalion jumped off immediately. The disposition of the Companies was as follows:- “C” Coy. in 2 platoon frontage was responsible for the Right Flank and contact waves with the 1st Canadian Division; “B” Company in center on a 2 platoon frontage; “A” Company with similar frontage on the left connecting up with the 19th Cdn. Battalion; “D” Company in Support. The objective lay some 200 yards to the East of MARCELCAVE and the quarry adjoining it.   Operating under a magnificent barrage, and closely co-operating with the tanks, whose support to the infantry was one of the finest features of the day, the Battalion had [reached] the extreme limit of its objective at 7.45 a.m. Casualties where light, partly due to the fog barrier and the admirable manner in which are advance was conducted.   Lieut. Ferguson was wounded in the jumping off. Captain Michell was wounded in the first half mile of the advance along with Captain Wigle; Lieut’s Faulkner and Sheridan a short time later.   Amongst the material captured at MARCELCAVE were five 5.9 Hows., and three 2.2 mm Guns, in addition to a great deal of signal equipment and valued Surgical and Medical Stores.   The Battalion pushed on past the quarries and established a line of defence about 300 yards beyond. Throughout the [affair], considerable opposition was encountered, chief of which lay in the form of well secreted machine-gun nests. The work of Captain T.H.C. Rayward in disposing of some of this [formidable] opposition was very exemplary to all ranks.   Casualties to the extent of approximately 30 killed and 120 wounded were sustained in the advance. 56 O.R’s arrived as reinforcements. 2 O.R’s proceeded on leave.”
August 9, 1918	Admitted	Admitted to No. 6 General Hospital.
August 12, 1918	Transferred	Transferred to England aboard the AT Guilford Castle.
August 13, 1918	Admitted	Admitted to No. 15 Canadian General Hospital, Taplow, England. Posted to WORD
October 30, 1918	Discharged and On Command	Discharged and On Command with 1st CCD at Witley Camp.
November 14, 1918	Ceased to be On Command	Ceases to be On Command and SOS to the 4th Reserve Battalion.
February 10, 1919	SOS	SOS to MD No. 1 in preparation to being shipped to Canada. At Witley Camp. Transferred to MD Wing No. 1, Kinmel Park Camp.
February 20, 1919	SOS	SOS proceeding to Canada.
March 3, 1919	Posted and Granted Furlough	Posted to Casualty Company and granted furlough with subsistence pay until March 19, 1919.
March 20, 1919	Dental Examination	Dental exam.
March 21, 1919	Medical Examination	Examined at London, Ontario. GSW by shrapnel ball. Had a right inguinal hernia that was corrected by surgery. This existed prior to enlistment.
March 24, 1919	Discharged	Discharged at London, Ontario.
September 2, 1922	Change of Address	Change of Address Card indicates he is living at 292 Admiral Street, Woodstock, Ontario.
October 10, 1956	Deceased	Deceased this date. He is buried at The Anglican Cemetery, Woodstock, Ontario.

Acronyms

AWL	Absent Without Leave: Generally, a soldier would be deducted 1-days pay for every day absent. In some cases, the soldier would be confined to barracks. Sometimes it was a combination of both.
A Classification	Medical Board Classification that determined your fitness for duty. A1, A2, A3 and A4 were assigned to different units with the expectation that these men would be able to serve with active combat units. See this link for more information.
B Classification	Medical Board Classification that determined your fitness for duty. B1, B2, and B3 were assigned to different service units such as railway and forestry corps. See this link for more information.
D Classification	See this link for more information.
CAMC	Canadian Army Medical Corp
CB	Confined to Barracks: a punishment for minor infractions.
CBD	Canadian Base Depot. At Etaples, or Harve France. A collection point for reinforcements.
CCD	Casualty Convalescent Depot: a depot at a base where men, in their final stages of convalescing, would be prepared for duty depending on their rating.
CCH	Casualty Clearing Hospital
CCRC	Canadian Corps Reserve Camp
CCS	Casualty Clearing Station: this facility was attached to rail transportation from the front to hospitals on the coast of France
CDC	Canadian Dispatch Camp
CFA	Canadian Field Ambulance/Canadian Field Artillery. Most common usage would be Canadian Field Ambulance.
DAH	Disorderly Action of the Heart
DRS	Divisional Rest Station
GSW	Gun Shot Wound – this was a generic term for all projectile penetrating wounds.
In the Field	This term relates to a soldier arriving at an active-duty unit after transporting from England, to France, and then to his duty assignment. The routing varied from soldier to soldier and could take 2-3 days to several months.
MD	Military District
PUO	Pyrexia of Unknown Origin: This was a term used for any illness that could not clearly be identified and typically was related to influenza symptoms.
SOS	Struck Off Strength
TOS	Taken On Strength
CAMC	Canadian Army Medical Corp
CCH	Casualty Clearing Hospital
CFA	Canadian Field Ambulance
DRS	Divisional Rest Station
GSW	Gun Shot Wound – this was a generic term for all projectile penetrating wounds.
MD	Military District
NYD	Not Yet Determined
PUO	Pyrexia of Unknown Origin
SOS	Struck Off Strength
TOS	Taken On Strength
WORD	Western Ontario Regimental Depot

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[i] The Summary of Service for this soldier is meant as just that, a summary of his service. It is not intended to be an exhaustive biographical relation of his life or his war service. Some information may be deliberately suppressed by the author out of sensitivity to the soldier. Readers are encouraged to reference the actual service records available at the Library and Archives Canada in PDF format if they wish to learn more about this soldier. Such additional information (i.e. hyperlinks etc.) are for informational purpose only and no claim to verification or accuracy is made by the author of this summary.