Source: Bruce Remembers.
Indigenous Soldier from the “Cape Croker Reserve” now known as The Chippewas of Nawash Unceded First Nation occupy Neyaashiinigmiing Aboriginal Reserve No.27.
Family Search: When Private Wilfred Adolph Lamorandiere was born on 18 December 1894, in Cape Croker, Neyaashiinigmiing, Bruce, Ontario, Canada, his father, William Ernest Lamorandiere, was 23 and his mother, Margaret Lavalley, was 21. He married Mary Louise Taylor on 8 January 1920, in Bruce, Ontario, Canada. He registered for military service in 1915. In 1915, at the age of 21, his occupation is listed as farmer. He died on 28 December 1943, in Parry Sound, Ontario, Canada, at the age of 49, and was buried in Cape Croker, Neyaashiinigmiing, Bruce, Ontario, Canada.
Drowned.
PL I think his name was Ernest Lamorandier. I’ll have to check. [Update: Ernest Lamorandier hiked 170 miles to enlist in the war. It was said by former chief, Thomas Jones that his were the first boots on the ground at the Invasion of Sicily].
Ernest Lamorandier’s 170 Mile Hike to Enlist “Our Cape Croker Indians have been among the foremost in offering their services to their country and not the least of these was [Ernest] Lamorandier, who is a young Indian who walked from Cape Croker to Wiarton in some of our worst winter weather to enlist. He went to the recruiting officer for this district, but Major Simmie had no other recruits at the time, so advised the Indian to go back and wait another week when he expected to have several men ready to go”.
“But [Ernest] had no money and did not feel like retracing his steps the seventeen miles and coming down again. Mr. Simmie took him in and gave him a meal, and put him up for the night. Finally he decided to hitch-hike to London with a letter in his pocket from Major Simmie. Evidently he arrived O.K. For a letter arrived from Col. Beattie, saying that he had been accepted and we believe he was taken right on and sent overseas and probably is now in England with the First Division”.11.
After Pte. Ernest Lamorandiere, C.R., First Division, now of the Central Mediterranean Forces arrived overseas he won four medals for his athletic prowess. Private Lamorandiere’s father, Wilfred Lamorandiere, who fought in the last Great War, joined the Veterans Guard of Canada, but was recently presumed to have lost his life by drowning the night of December 28th when he disappeared while crossing the ice from Depot Harbor to Parry Sound after the Christmas Holidays.
From: The Chippewas of Nawash and the Italian Campaign of WWII
War Diary of the 18th Battalion CEF 