838033 Pte. George James Campbell was born on July 10th, 1896, in Wiarton, Ontario. Moving to Owen Sound he was working as a mover when hostilities broke out.
With the raising of the 147th (Grey) Battalion George joined the cause, attesting to it on November 27th, 1915, and was assigned to the Battalion's Headquarters staff.
Billeted locally over the winter, the 147th Battalion mobilized in the spring of 1916 and departed for the training grounds of Camp Niagara. 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 the S.S. Olympic, a sister ship to the Titanic.
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. George was taken on strength of the 4th C.M.R. on June 17th, 1917.
George fought in the Battle of Passchendaele, where he was wounded on November 2nd, 1917. A wound that appears to have taken him out of the war, as he was struck off strength of the 4th C.M.R. on September 21st, 1918.
Biography credit: George Auer