Solomon Maracle's signature

Solomon Maracle was born July 22nd, 1895, the son of William Edward Maracle and Julia Ann Williams (who had died in 1912), who were Mohawks.

Solomon enlisted in Belleville on this day in 1915. His gave his occupation as machinist and was described as five feet eight inches tall, with a dark complexion, dark eyes and dark black hair. He joined the 39th Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force with a regimental number of 454929. He arrived in England on September 5, 1915.

His service file shows that Maracle suffered multiple injuries on May 20th, 1918 when a bomb was dropped from an aircraft when he was working as an orderly for the Canadian Army Medical Corps in Etaples, France. He was invalided home to Canada on December 17th of that year, travelling on the hospital ship Essequibo (pictured below) and was discharged on March 3rd 1919 as being medically unfit for further service.

HMHS Essequibo

HMHS Essequibo, from the Casgliad Y Werin Cymru/People’s Collection Wales site