Ross Cameron Watson signature

Ross Cameron Watson, a machinist, was called up in Toronto on this day in 1918. He was born in Deseronto on July 18th, 1895, the son of Dexter Wellington Watson and Harriet (née Stafford). By 1901 the family had left Deseronto and were living in North Bay.

When he was drafted, Watson was living in Medland Street, Toronto and he gave his mother’s address as Farnham, Quebec. He joined the 1st Depot Battalion of the 1st Central Ontario Regiment with the regimental number 3036547. He was five feet five and a half inches tall, with a fair complexion, grey eyes and fair hair. His service record shows that he was treated in hospital while in Niagara for influenza and a gastro-intestinal infection. Watson became a member of the Canadian Expeditionary Force to Siberia, leaving Vancouver on the SS Teesta on December 22nd. He was promoted to the rank of sergeant while in Vladivostok on February 24th, 1919.

Ross returned to Canada on the SS Monteagle in April 1919 was demobilized in Montreal on May 24th. He married Mary Ulala Stewart in Lanark, Ontario, on August 27th, 1919.