Elmer Eugene Pringle signature

On this day in 1917 Elmer Eugene Pringle, a munition worker, signed up in Toronto. He was born in Deseronto on October 17th, 1889, the son of Ezra Pringle and Annie Elizabeth (née Watson). On his attestation paper Pringle gave his date of birth as October 19th, 1890. The family had moved away from Deseronto by 1901, when they were living in Tay Township. Elmer’s father, Ezra, died in Fesserton in 1907, while Annie died in Toronto in 1913. Elmer’s brother Ernest had enlisted in 1916. Like Ernest, Elmer gave their sister, Edith Evans, as his next of kin.

Elmer joined the 70th Battery of the Canadian Field Artillery with the regimental number 341269. He was five feet six and a quarter inches tall, with a fresh complexion, blue eyes and brown hair. His service record shows that he arrived in England on December 7th, 1917 on the troopship Megantic. He joined the 4th Brigade of the Canadian Field Artillery in France in April 1918. On September 2nd he received a gunshot wound to the left cheek below his eye, which took out part of his left molar jaw bone. He was sent to England to recover and returned to Canada in December 1918. In January 1919 he was discharged as medically unfit in Toronto. An x-ray taken on January 18th showed that there was still a piece of shrapnel in his jaw:

Elmer married Mae Kidd in Toronto on September 11, 1926. A note on his service file states that he died on January 13th, 1955.