Donald John Gault signature

Donald John Gault, a bank clerk, was conscripted into the Canadian Expeditionary Force at Camp Barriefield in Kingston on this day in 1918. He was born in Deseronto on November 2nd, 1898, the son of Thomas Dell Gault and Mary Emma (née Solmes).

Gault joined the 1st Depot Battalion of the Eastern Ontario Regiment with the regimental number 3060708. He was five feet ten and a half inches tall, with a fair complexion, blue eyes and fair hair. His service record notes that he was transferred to the 75th Battery of the Canadian Field Artillery in Petawawa on August 1st, 1918 and subsequently to the 2nd Canadian Artillery Tank Battalion on September 30th. He arrived in England on October 18th, 1918 on HMTS Victoria. He left England just over a month later, on November 22nd, arriving back in Canada on November 29th, 1918. He was demobilized in Kingston on December 31st.

In 1921 Donald was back with his mother and three younger brothers in Prince Street, Deseronto, working as a lumberman. He was still in Deseronto in 1936, married to Alice Cameron. On July 9th of that year their infant son David Cameron Gault died.

Gault also served in the Second World War, enlisting in Toronto on May 16th, 1941 and serving overseas between November 1941 and November 1945. He lived in Deseronto for the rest of his life. He died on February 9th, 1979 and was buried in Deseronto Cemetery.