George Leo Smart signature

George Leo Smart signed up in Deseronto on this day in 1916. He was born in Tyendinaga on April 7th, 1898, the son of Henry Smart and Julia Ann (née Moses), who were both Mohawks. His older brother Harold (Harry) had enlisted in February 1915.

Smart joined the 155th Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force with the regimental number 636959. He was five feet seven and a half inches tall, with a dark complexion, brown eyes and brown hair. His service record shows that he was admitted to hospital in Kingston with measles in June 1916, then sailed from Halifax on the SS Northland on October 17th, 1916. George was transferred to the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry in France on July 1st, 1917. In October he was admitted to hospital suffering from a fever, and in February 1918 he was injured again when he sprained his ankle. He received a gunshot wound to the right wrist on August 14, 1918 in the attack on Parvilliers and was struck off the strength of the battalion two days later when he was sent back to England to recuperate. The injury resulted in a loss of movement and feeling in George’s right hand.

George Leo Smart travelled back to Canada on the SS Caronia, arriving on April 5th, 1919. He was demobilized in Kingston on April 8th. He married Doris Sero in Tyendinaga on Decemeber 14th, 1920.