Harold Charles Marsden's signature

Harold Charles Marsden joined up on this day in 1914. He was born on November 16th, 1897 (he gave 1896 on his attestation paper) in Deseronto, the son of Charles Marsden and Carrie (née Hagadorn). Marsden’s occupation when he enlisted in Valcartier was jeweller.

He was five feet six and a half inches tall, with blue eyes and dark hair. He joined the First Brigade of the Canadian Field Artillery with the regimental number 40458. His service record shows that his unit sailed on October 3rd, 1914. He was promoted to corporal in March 1915 and served in France from May 1915 with the Canadian Field Artillery. He was hospitalized from January to July 1916 with an infection, and was reduced to the ranks for drunkenness in September of the same year. In July 1917 he was in hospital again, suffering from impetigo. In August he was admitted to hospital with a cyst on his jaw. He spent the rest of the war in England and attained the rank of sergeant in May 1919.

Harold left Liverpool on the SS Belgic in August 1919 and was demobilized in Halifax on August 23rd. He moved to California with his mother, his sister Jane and his brother-in-law, George Mark. Between 1920 and 1930 he married Mary Rose Alumbaugh. The couple had two children.