Gunner Ervin Hendry was born the only child of Arthur and Alfaretta (nicknamed Freda) (nee Newcomb) Hendry on November 11th, 1898, in North Brookfield.  He listed his occupation as Farmer and attended church as a Baptist.

 

      Ervin enlisted on April 13th, 1916, just five months after his seventeenth birthday.  The conversation with the recruiter cannot be deduced more than one hundred years later, but the enlistment papers clearly show his true birthdate, but with the “Apparent Age” filled as “18 Years” in the recruiter’s handwriting.  The recruiter would have been easily confused because Ervin was a strapping young man of 5 feet 11 ½ inches (182 cm) with brown eyes and brown hair.

 

      Ervin was assigned to the 58th Howitzer Battery (14th Brigade) of the Canadian Field Artillery as a Gunner (Private equivalent) and was assigned Regimental number 326923. 

 

      Gunner Hendry sailed from Halifax on SS Metagama on September 11th, 1916, and arrived in Liverpool, England on September 22nd, still two months shy of his 18th birthday.  He proceeded to the European mainland with his Brigade on August 22nd, 1917, disembarking at Havre, France.  His records give little detail of the engagements with the German Army, other than that the Brigade operated in northern France and Flanders.

 

      On November 4th, 1918, Gunner Hendry was admitted to a military hospital in Boulogne suffering from Influenza.  He declined over the next week and on November 13th, he perished of Broncho-Pneumonia.  In a rarity, his records are precise in defining his cause of death as Pneumonia, caused by Influenza.  The Armistice ending World War One was signed on Gunner Hendry’s 20th birthday just two days before his death.  Gunner Hendry’s parents noted in his obituary “He was a fine type of manhood and the only support of his mother and father.  It was confidently expected that now the war is over he would be returning home, but God’s plan is not our plan”.

 

      Gunner Hendry bequeathed his estate to his mother Alfaretta, and she was also awarded the War Service Gratuity to Dependents of Deceased Soldiers amounting to 180 dollars.  Gunner Hendry’s father, Arthur received the Memorial Plaque and Scroll, and Alfaretta was awarded the Memorial Cross Medal (also known as the Silver Cross). 

 

      Gunner Ervin Hendry is interred at Terlincthun British Cemetery near Boulogne, France, at Plot 10, Row E Grave 26. His headstone bears the inscription “MY SAVIOUR HAS MY TREASURE AND HE WILL ALWAYS WALK WITH ME”.  Gunner Hendry’s parents erected a memorial headstone on their plot in the North Brookfield Cemetery, and are interred nearby.  He is also remembered on the Honour Roll of congregation members of the North Brookfield United Baptist Church who served “In the Great War”.

 

      Gunner Ervin Newcomb Hendry is commemorated on page 427 of the World War One Book of Remembrance.  He is also listed on the Caledonia Cenotaph, although incorrectly listed as “Irwin”.

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Online References

War Grave Search – https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/4025683/ervin-newcomb-hendry/

Local Grave Search - https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/276756682/ervin-newcomb-hendry

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/55975471/ervin-newcombe-hendry

Canadian Virtual War Memorial - https://www.veterans.gc.ca/en/remembrance/memorials/canadian-virtual-war-memorial

Canadian Census  - https://recherche-collection-search.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/Home/Record?app=census&IdNumber=34692073&ecopy=z000046725

First World War Personnel Records Database (file download size 21.6 Meg) - https://recherche-collection-search.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/Home/Record?app=pffww&IdNumber=456448&ecopy=389188a