Sapper Harold William "Theodore" Sawler was born September 21st, 1900 to Rufus James and Margaret (nee Faulkenham) Sawler.  The family moved from Riverport to Brookfield Mines in 1910.  Theodore (as he was known) had an older sister Effie Anne, and five younger siblings, Arthur “Douglas”, Jennie, Genevieve, Mabel, and Avis.  The family was Lutheran and operated a small farm.

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      Sapper Sawler was member of the Royal Canadian Engineers Militia, and his Regimental number was 1213. “Sapper” refers to a combatant soldier who performs a wide variety of combat engineering duties.  Sapper Sawler wore the rank of Private.

 

      During the spring of 1918, he was assigned to operate and maintain the coastal-defence searchlights at the Electric Light Station at Sandwich Point near Herring Cove.​  The powerful electric searchlights swept the harbour approaches at night to locate and illuminate hostile ships so the coastal artillery could engage them.  The Halifax searchlight network was completed early in the First World War as part of the harbour’s outer defences.  Sandwich Battery itself mounted two heavy 9.2-inch guns and two 6-inch guns and remained fully crewed during the war.

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      On April 2nd, 1918, Sapper Sawler reported sick to the medical tent at York Redoubt, where the men from the Sandwich Point Battery were housed.  The Medical Officer diagnosed him as suffering from measles and ordered that he be transported to the hospital.  He “was sent on a stretcher properly covered with blankets to York Pier, where he was handed over to the boat”, to be taken across Halifax Harbour to Bellevue Hospital on Spring Garden Road.  The Bellevue doctor’s notes are brief and state “he was admitted with measles.  Rash was typical: patient suffering from severe bronchitis and tonsillitis”.  He responded poorly to treatment and developed severe Bronco-pneumonia on April 11th.  Sapper Sawler’s condition worsened over the next three days and he perished on April 14th.  A Board of Enquiry noted that the measles “were contracted while on duty, and that the patient received proper Medical Attention”.

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      Sapper Sawler’s remains were brought back to Caledonia by train on April 17th, along with those of Private Leslie Hebb, who had also died of pneumonia. 

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      At 17 years and eight months old, Sapper Sawler was the youngest soldier from North Queens to perish in any of the wars of the twentieth century.  Sapper Sawler’s father Rufus received the Memorial Plaque and Scroll, and his mother Margaret was awarded the Memorial Cross Medal (also known as the Silver Cross).  

 

      Sapper Sawler is interred at the Pleasant River (Lakeview) Cemetery, with a Military Memorial headstone.  He is also remembered on the Honour Roll of congregation members of the North Brookfield United Baptist Church who served “In the Great War”.

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      Sapper Harold William Theodore Sawler is commemorated on page 497 of the World War One Book of Remembrance.  He is also listed on the Caledonia Cenotaph.

 

NO SIGNATURE DUE TO LACK OF RECORDS

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Note that Sapper Sawler is listed as Private Sawlor (misspelled) on the Caledonia Cenotaph.  When the Canadian Engineers recorded his death, they used the rank of Sapper, and it is recorded as such on his headstone and in the World War One Book of Remembrance.  Both designations are correct usage.

             

Online References

War Grave Search – https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2755423/theodore-w-sawler/

Local Grave Search - https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/192269444/theodore-w-sawler

Canadian Virtual War Memorial - https://www.veterans.gc.ca/en/remembrance/memorials/canadian-virtual-war-memorial/detail/2755423?Theodore%20Sawler

Canadian Census (1921) - https://recherche-collection-search.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/Home/Record?app=census&IdNumber=68038655&ecopy=e002913475

First World War Personnel Records Database (file download size 3.88 Meg) - https://recherche-collection-search.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/Home/Record?app=pffww&IdNumber=630255