Source: News article. The Brussels Post. December 3, 1914. Page 1.
Find-A-Grave
Family Search: When Private Joseph Harold Klein was born on 11 January 1896, in Seaforth, Huron, Ontario, Canada, his father, Michael Klein, was 37 and his mother, Ellen Ann Blake, was 38. He had at least 2 daughters with Violet Vivian Mott. He lived in Peace River, Alberta, Canada in 1926 and Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada in 1931. He registered for military service in 1914. He died on 11 October 1967, in White Rock, British Columbia, Canada, at the age of 71.
Note that this man is listed under the 1915 nominal roll as having a regimental number of 53657. This number is assigned to Private Willie Bramford.
SERGEANT J. H. KLEIN TO TELL OF HUN ATROCITIES
Will Speak at Epworth M. E. Church Sunday Night.
SERVES WITH EIGHTEENTH CANADIAN BATTALION
Will Relate Simple and Direct Story of What He Has Seen “Over There.”
A veteran of the seething, volcanic western war front, Sergeant J. H. Klein will stand on the platform at Epworth M. E. church, and tell Marion people what he knows about the great war, from nearly two years’ personal experience, Sunday evening, July 7.
An empty sleeve tells eloquently what Sergeant Klein has sacrificed. Though not yet twenty-two, he served twenty-one months in the Eighteenth Canadian battalion, “Over There” fighting in front-line trenches at Ypres, the Somme, Vimy Ridge, St. Alois and other places. Wounded several times and told by the surgeons that he could not live more than eight months with his wounds, his indomitable fighting spirit has triumphed over physical weakness and he is traveling through America, telling people why they should bend every effort to beat the Hun.
It is declared that Sergeant Klein has seen more of the German atrocities than the average fighter. He says:
“I have nothing but absolute facts to present to the citizens of Marion. My story is simple and direct and I try to tell as best I can, what I witnessed with my own eyes, without exaggeration. Things as they happen over there need no exaggeration.”
Nelson Westcott, Percy Rolph, Jas. Klein, and Jas.Spearpoint, volunteers from Seaforth for the 2nd Canadian Contingent, were giving a rousing send-off Monday evening when they returned to London. A procession headed by the Citizens’ Band and made of of No. 3 Company Thirty-Third Regiment, the Collegiate Cadets, the Home Guard and autos paraded down Main street which was lined with hundreds of cheering citizens. Short addresses were made by Mayor Ament, Col. Wilson, and others, after which the Mayor presented each of the volunteers wrist watches, the gift of the town and also with useful articles from the Red Cross. They were also given their share of the money collected here for the soldiers and the remainder will be sent to the men now at the front.
Source: The Brussels Post. December 3, 1914. Page 1.
Notes: Nelson Westcott, Percy Rolph, and Joseph Harold Klein survived the war. Private Klein lost an arm. Private Spearpoint was killed in action on August 29, 1918. He is listed to have died serving with the 8th Battalion. This is yet to be confirmed.
History of the 18th Battalion CEF, "The Fighting Eighteenth" 