Deseronto Archives

Horace Alexander Thompson signed up at Camp Barriefield on this day in 1915. He had been born on April 14, 1896 in Deseronto, the son of Elizabeth (née McCormack) and David Thompson.

On enlisting, Thompson gave his occupation as student. He was five feet five and three-quarter inches tall, with a light complexion, blue eyes and brown hair.  His regimental number was 510085. His service record shows that he went overseas on the SS Scandinavian on October 1st, 1915 and served with the Canadian Army Service Corps. He was admitted to hospital in May with a broken right wrist after an injury received when cranking the engine of a car. He arrived in France in September 1916. In March 1917 he returned to England to take up a commission as a lieutenant. He was treated for an infection in January 1918. In June 1918 he returned to France to join the 3rd Battalion. He was injured by a gas shell in September and sent to England to recover, where he remained until the war ended.

On November 12th, the day after the war ended, Thompson was arrested for creating a drunken disturbance in a hotel. His record shows that he was tried in January 1919 and dismissed from the forces.

Thompson returned to Canada as a civilian on the SS Cretic in March 1919. He is found living with his parents at the time of the 1921 census in Thomas Street, Deseronto, working as a mechanic. John Boyd, Thompson’s grandson, tells us that he worked for Bell Canada and worked in Chicago for a time and that he served in the Second World War. He retired to Green Point, Prince Edward County and later lived in Ottawa, where he died in around 1971.