838864 Pte. John William Clinton was born to William and Elizabeth Clinton on September 27th, 1897, in Maxwell, Ontario. John, one of five Clinton children, was single and working as a laborer when hostilities broke out.
With the raising of the 147th (Grey) Battalion William joined the cause, attesting to it on February 15th, 1916, and was assigned to "D" Company, which was under the command of Captain Robert Pollock.
Billeted locally over the winter, the 147th Battalion mobilized in the spring of 1916 and departed for the training grounds of Camp Niagara. While at Camp Niagara John took it upon himself to go Absent-Without-Leave. His absence lead him to be declared a deserter and he was struck off strength of the 147th Battalion.
When the 248th Battalion C.E.F. was authorized John obviously had a change of heart and rejoined the C.E.F. retaining his original service number he became a member of the 2nd Greys as they were often called. Sailing with the unit in May of that year he was reassigned to a Reserve Battalion once the 248th arrived in England.
John was taken on strength of the 4th C.M.R. on November 16th, 1917, in what was probably a reinforcement draft to take the place of the causalities inflicted on the unit at Passchendaele on October 26th.
Seeing service with the 4th C.M.R. during the German spring offensive of 1918 and into the battles of the Final 100 days, John was wounded on August 25th, during the Battle of Amiens, and then wounded a second time during the Battle of Cambrai, on October 11th, 1918.
Private John William Clinton, having shrugged off his indiscretion in 1916 and proved his mettle, was struck off strength of the 4th C.M.R. on April 25th, 1919.
Biography credit: George Auer