838678 Pte. Henry Ernest Durant, or "Harry" as he was known, was born to Rodney and Anne Durant on December 2nd, 1897. The eldest and only son of the couple, Harry grew up in Meaford, Ontario, and was a woodworker at the time he attested to the 147th Battalion on December 6th, 1916 - just days after his 18th Birthday.
Billeted locally over the winter the unit left for training at Camp Niagara in the Spring of 1916. As the conditions in the Camp were wanting the unit moved to the new training facility of Camp Borden in late June. In September the unit received their orders to proceed overseas, but due to an outbreak of diphtheria they were detained in Amherst, Nova Scotia, for over a month. The unit finally sailed for Great Britain, on November 14th 1916.
On January 1st, 1917, the 147th Battalion ceased to exist when it became the nucleus for the 8th Reserve Battalion, whose task it was to supply reinforcements to the 58th Battalion and the 4th C.M.R. Harry was taken on strength of the 4th C.M.R. on January 21st, 1917, in the build up for the Battle of Arras, which saw the Canadian Corps storm Vimy Ridge on April 9th, 1917.
Harry continued to serve with the unit through the remainder of the war, but was wounded on October 25th, 1918, during the 'Pursuit to Mons'.
Harry's wounds appear to have been severe enough to have taken him out of the war as was struck off strength of the 4th C.M.R. before his comrades, on January 21st, 1919.
Biography credit: George Auer.