Deseronto Archives

On this day in 1915, Harold Podger enlisted in Lethbridge, Alberta. He was born in Deseronto on December 3rd, 1891, the son of Robert Podger and Almeda Irwin. The family were still in Deseronto at the time of the 1901 census, but had moved away by 1911, at which time Robert was working at a foundry in Oshawa.

Podger joined the 113th Battalion with the regimental number 736158. He was described as five feet ten inches tall, with a ruddy complexion, blue eyes and dark brown hair. His service record shows that he sailed from Halifax on the SS Tuscania on September 25th, 1916 and served in England with the 17th Battalion and the Nova Scotia Regimental Depot. He was admitted to hospital in 1917, suffering from arthritis.

The family story is that he met his future wife while in hospital in London. He married Florence Edith Oakley in London on March 30th, 1918. He was demobilized on September 16th, 1919 in Halifax. The couple moved to the US in April 1920 and lived in Flint, Michigan and Syracuse, New York. Podger died in Syracuse in June 1942.