1066169 Pte. Sandford Breadner was born on July 2nd, 1898, in Euphrasia Township, Grey County on the outskirts of Markdale, Ontario.
Born to Robert and Sara Breadner, Sandford was the second oldest of their six children and was working on the family farm when war was declared.
When the 248th Battalion C.E.F. was authorized Sandford volunteered for the Canadian Expeditionary Force, attesting to the new battalion on February 7th, 1917, stating he was born in 1898. Through what may have been a sense of adventure, patriotic duty or because he was the second son within the family enlisting, he fibbed about his age by a year, as the Census of 1911 has his year of birth listed as 1899.
Sailing with the unit in May 1917, Sandford was reassigned to a Reserve Battalion once the 248th arrived in England. He was taken on strength of the 4th C.M.R. in the field on November 9th, 1917, in what was probably a reinforcement draft to take the place of the casualties inflicted on the unit at Passchendaele.
Sandford saw service with the 4th C.M.R. during the German spring offensive of 1918 and fought with them during the final 100 days, and was struck off strength of the 4th C.M.R. on January 24th, 1919.
Private Sandford Breadner passed away in Edmonton Alberta, on August 5th, 1923, on account of tuberculosis attributed to his military service. His service is remembered on the Markdale Cenotaph.
Biography details credit: George Auer