Hall, Henry Edmund: Service no. 53409

Contributed by Murray Hall from the 18th Battalion Facebook Group. Part of a post card. See image below for reverse of card. Corrected image. Original image below.

“

Trade listed as Farmer. DOB 22-5-80, born Harriston. NOK Mary Harrison, mother. Edmund Hall, father. Enlisted 18th Battalion Fergus 27-10-14 (age 34 years). 5 foot 6 inches. Hazel eyes, dark brown hair. Presbyterian. Lists 8 years service with 30th Regiment. Name is on 18th Battalion Sailing List SS Grampian 29-4-15. Embarked for France with 18th Battalion, 18-9-15. GSW left buttock, 18-9-16. Medical Board 31-5-17, diagnosed Chronic Nephritis, disability is permanent. Returned to Canada aboard Hospital Ship Letitia 11-5-17. Demobilized London, 30-11-17, unfit for further war service. Ontario Marriage Registry, married Alice McGregor, 28-4-20 at Palmerston. Veterans Death Card: died 27-9-56, cause broncho pneumonia, was war service related. NOK Alice Hall, widow, Harriston. Buried Harriston Public Cemetery, headstone photo courtesy B. Gilbert.
File: RG 150, Accession 1992-93/166, Box 3944 – 13.”

Summary of Service[i] for Henry Edmund Hall, reg. no. 53409

Date	Event	Remarks
May 22, 1880	Born	Born at Harriston, Ontario to Mr. and Mrs. Mary Hall.
October 27, 1914	Enlisted	Enlists with the 18^th Battalion at Fergus, Ontario. An unmarried farmer he shows that he has 8-years militia experience with the 30^th Wellington Rifles. ). He is 34-years old and stand 5’6” tall and is listed as having a dark complexion, hazel eyes, and dark brown hair. He practices the Presbyterian faith.
April 1, 1915	Assigns Pay	Assigns $20.00 per month to his mother, Mrs. May Hall of Harriston, Ontario.
April 18, 1915	Leaves London, Ontario	Leaves to embark SS Grampianv at Halifax, Nova Scotia for England.
	Embarks S.S. Grampian	Embarks transport ship at Halifax, Nova Scotia.
April 29, 1915	Arrives England	Arrives with 18^th Battalion at Avonmouth and the Battalion entrains to West Sandling for training with the 2^nd Canadian Contingent (2^nd Division)
May 6, 1915	Forfeits Pay	Forfeits 1-day’s pay for being AWL.
June 29, 1915	Forfeits Pay	Forfeits 7-day’s pay for being AWL.

September 15, 1915	Embarks to France	Along with the rest of the 18^th Battalion and the 2^nd Contingent, he boards a channel steamer for France for service in Belgium
September 18, 1916	Admitted	GSW to left buttock and GSW wound (slight) to left hip. Admitted to No. 2 Canadian General Hospital, Le Tréport France.
September 22, 1916	Transported	Transported from France to England aboard the HS Asturias.
September 22, 1916	Transferred	Administratively transferred from the 18^th Battalion to the CCAC, Folkestone and TOS on September 24, 1916.
September 24, 1916	Admitted	Admitted Alexandra Hospital, Cosham, England.
November 1, 1916	Admitted	Admitted to Canadian Convalescent Hospital, Woodcote Park Hospital, Epsom.
November 14, 1916	Posted	Posted to CCD for PT at Shoreham.
December 30, 1916	TOS	TOS from CCTB to a unit at Hastings.
January 24, 1917		SOS from previous unit and transferred to 4^th Canadian Reserve Battalion and TOS at West Sandling.
January 27, 1917	Admitted	Admitted to Moore Barracks Hospital, Shornecliffe for a kidney problem.
May 11, 1917	Discharged	Discharged Moore Barrack Hospital. He is SOS to WORD in preparation to being invalided to Canada.
May 21, 1917	To Convalesce at Home	To convalesce at home. Being sent to MD 1, London, Ontario.
May 22, 1917	Embarks	Embarks the SS Letitia for Canada.
May 31, 1917	Arrives	Arrives at Quebec City.
June 10, 1917	Medical	Suffering from chronic nephritis due to service.
October 15, 1917	Medically Boarded	Review of medical condition and discharge recommended as unfit for further service.
December 31, 1917	Discharged	Discharged at MD 1, London, Ontario. Proposed residence is Harriston, Ontario. Indicates 2 bullet wounds left hip. Military character “good”.
April 28, 1920	Marries	Marries Alice Harriett MacGregor Hall.
September 27, 1956	Passes	At Westminster Hospital, London, Ontario due to bronchopneumonia.
September 1956	Interred	Interred at the Harriston Cemetery Harriston, Wellington County, Ontario, Canada.

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.
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
PUO	Pyrexia of Unknown Origin
SOS	Struck Off Strength
TOS	Taken On Strength
WORD	Western Ontario Regimental Depot

[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.