Deseronto Archives

Cecil Earnest Crawford enlisted on this day in 1916 in Bancroft. He was born on July 20th, 1891 in Tyendinaga, the son of John Crawford, a Mohawk, and Elizabeth (née Sager). Cecil Earnest married Hattie Matilda Hennessy on December 23rd, 1914 in Bancroft. They had a daughter in 1915.

Crawford joined the 155th Battalion with the regimental number 636686. He had a fair complexion, brown eyes and dark brown hair. His service record shows that he arrived in England on October 28th, 1916 and was transferred to the 21st Battalion.

On the first day of the Battle of Vimy Ridge (April 9th, 1917) Crawford was badly injured by a shell. He was in hospital in England for two months while he recovered, but was not able to resume active service. He left England for Canada on November 6th, 1917 and was discharged from the army on February 20th, 1918 as being unfit for further service. In May 1918 he was admitted to Queen’s Military Hospital in Kingston for an operation on an abscess which had formed on his injured right hip.

In 1921 Cecil and Hattie were living in Tyendinaga. By then they had a second daughter, born in 1920. Cecil died in Detlor, Ontario in 1975.