838053 Pte. Victor Stanley Croft was born on December 4th, 1894, in Wiarton, Ontario. Of the six children born to William and Margaret, Victor was their oldest.
838254 Pte. William Henry Croft was born on August 3rd, 1897, also in Wiarton. Of the six croft children, William was the second oldest.
The Croft family eventually moved to Meaford, where 21 year old Victor and 18 year old William were working as labourers when they attested into the 147th Battalion in Owen Sound. Victor signed up on November 27th, 1915, and William a little over a week later, on December 8th, 1915.
Billeted locally over the winter the 147th Battalion mobilized in Owen Sound in the spring of 1916 and left for training at 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 and by this time Victor had been assigned to the Unit's Headquarters' Staff, and William was in "B" Company under Captain W. D. Mercer.
Due to an outbreak of diphtheria the regiment was detained in Amherst, Nova Scotia, for over a month. They finally sailed for Great Britain on November 14th, 1916, on the S.S. Olympic, sister ship to the ill-fated 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.
On April 22nd, 1917, Victor was taken on strength of the 4th C.M.R. in a draft of reinforcements replacing the casualties inflicted at the Battle of Vimy Ridge. William followed eight days later, on the 10th.
Victor saw service with the 4th C.M.R. until October 1st, 1917, when he transferred to the Brigade Trent Mortar Battery. He went on to see the war to its end, and was stuck off strength with the 4th C.M.R. on January 21st, 1919.
William survived the horrors of Passchendaele, but was wounded on November 1st, 1917, during a German air raid on Tay Camp, located well to the rear of the front lines. Like his older brother, William served and survived the remainder of the war and was stuck off strength from the 4th C.M.R. on March 22nd, 1919.
Biography credits: George Auer