839083 Pte. Thomas Edmond Dunn was born on August 24th, 1891, in the Algoma District of Ontario, where his father farmed.
The eldest of eight children born to Thomas and Ellen Dunn, Thomas Jr. grew up in the area finding employment as a labourer, prior to moving to Owen Sound. Living in the impoverished neighbourhood of Mud Town, Thomas was working as a timekeeper when he attested to the 147th Battalion on May 10th, 1916, just days before the unit left for 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 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. It was on November 2nd, 1917, in a reinforcement draft, after the regiment's participation in the Battle of Passchendaele that Thomas was taken on strength of the 4th C.M.R.
Thomas continued to serve with the unit through 1917 into 1918, when he was wounded on August 30th, during the Battle of Arras.
Private Thomas Edmund Dunn was struck off strength of the 4th C.M.R. on April 8th, 1919, weeks after the rest of the unit had demobilised, indicating his wound may have been severe enough to warrant medical follow up prior to his official release.
Biography credit: George Auer