Source: Mentioned in a letter by Pte. F.A. Kidd, reg. no. 775512.
Family Search: When Lance-Corporal James Joseph McDevitt was born on 25 March 1875, in Belfountain, Caledon, Peel, Ontario, Canada, his father, William McDevitt, was 43 and his mother, Susanah McDonnell, was 30. He lived in Peel, Ontario, Canada in 1911 and Caledon, Peel, Ontario, Canada in 1922. He registered for military service in 1916. In 1916, at the age of 41, his occupation is listed as farmer in Caledon, Peel, Ontario, Canada. He died on 13 May 1935, in Belfountain, Caledon, Peel, Ontario, Canada, at the age of 60, and was buried in Belfountain, Caledon, Peel, Ontario, Canada.
Lance-Corporal James Joseph McDevitt. Regimental no. 778532.
This man enlisted with the 126th Overseas Battalion on 4 January 1916, at Brampton, Ontario.
He was a farmer living in Caledon, Ontario.
He embarked at Halifax, Nova Scotia, for England on 14 August 1916, arriving at Liverpool on the 24th aboard the SS Empress of Britain.
He was appointed as an Acting Lance-Corporal on embarkation and had to revert to Private on 15 October 1916, in preparation for his departure to a new battalion.
He was transferred to the 116th on 15 October 1916 and was moved to Bramshott Camp. He was then transferred to the 18th Battalion and arrived at the Canadian Base Depot, Harve on 29 November 1916, and arrived “in the field” with the 18th Battalion on 3 December 1916.
On 5 May 1917, he suffered a pyrexia of unknown origin, generally the flu, and was sent to No. 4 Canadian Field Ambulance. His condition warranted transportation and care in England, and he was sent to England aboard the H.S. St. Patrick on 14 May 1917.
Recovered, he returned to the 18th Battalion on 11 December 1917 and almost a year later was granted a 14-days leave to the United Kingdom effective 18 November 1918. He returned from his leave on 8 December 1918.
He returned to England and was posted to the Western Ontario Regimental Depot, Military Police at Witley Camp, effective 14 March 1919.
He embarked on the RMS Scotian at Liverpool on 5 May 1919, and was discharged due to demobilization on 24 July 1919, at Toronto, Ontario.
History of the 18th Battalion CEF, "The Fighting Eighteenth" 