Clarence Merritton Giffin signature

Clarence Merritton Giffin, a railway clerk, signed up in Windsor, Ontario on this day in 1916. He was born in Maitland, Ontario, the son of William Ernest Giffin and Margaret Grace (née McMullen) on September 16th, 1898. In 1901 the family were in Belleville and in 1911 they were in Deseronto, where William was working as a druggist. Clarence attended Deseronto High School.

Clarence Giffin joined the 63rd Depot Battery of the Canadian Field Artillery with the regimental number 334088. He was five feet five inches tall, with a fair complexion, blue eyes and black hair. His service record shows that he arrived in England in December 1917 on the SS Megantic and went to France on April 2nd, 1918. In July he reported sick and he spent the rest of the war in various hospitals, suffering from nephritis. He was invalided home to Canada on the hospital ship Essequibo in January 1919 and discharged as medically unfit for service on May 12th, 1919.

In 1921 Giffen was back in Windsor with his parents and sisters, working as a salesman. He moved to the United States and died in Rocky River, Ohio, in 1974.