838080 Pte. Gilbert Reginald Gilmore was born on December 14th, 1897, in Meaford, Ontario, the youngest of three children born to Gilbert and Emma Gilmore.
Growing up in the community of Epping, the eldest child, Samuel, remained on the farm whilst Reginald became a stenographer and bookkeeper. Come the call, the seventeen year old Reginald initially joined the two independent infantry companies being raised for overseas service by the 31st Regiment. Assigned to the new battalion he attested to the 147th (Grey) Battalion on November 29th, 1915 and was assigned to "A" Company under Captain Corrie.
His brother Samuel would do likewise on January 3rd, 1916, and be assigned to "D" Company, which was being billeted in Meaford, while Reginald was housed in Owen Sound. The unit centralized in Owen Sound in May of 1916 for final administration before departing 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. While undergoing training in Camp Borden, the youthful Gilbert was punished on a few occasions, for offences against military laws. His punishments totalled 17 days confinement to base and the forfeiture of 14 days' pay. 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. While undergoing training in England Reginald fell ill, which delayed his departure to the front until April 22nd, 1917, when he was taken on strength of the 4th C.M.R. This is when Samuel and Reginald parted ways, for Sam would be taken on strength of the 58th Battalion later in the year. Now serving in different units the two brothers may not have seen each other again until after the war. Neither brother escaped unscathed but they both survived the carnage of the Great War.
Reginald served with the 4th C.M.R. through Hill 70 and travelled with them to the Ypres Salient when the Canadian Corps was transferred there to take part in the Third Battle of Ypres; a battle that became better known for its final objective: Passchendaele. It was on October 26th, 1917, the opening phase of the 4th C.M.R's assault on the western slope of Belleview Spur, that Reginald was wounded. Taking several fragments of shrapnel to his right thigh, the wound became Reginald's "blighty", as it took him out of the remainder of the war.
Medically evacuated to England, Reginald served out the remainder of the war serving in the 1st C.O.R. The monotony of serving in a holding unit may have been too boring for him or it may have been just his way of bringing in the New Year, whatever the reason Reginald was given 10 days Field Punishment No. 2 for drunkenness on January 2nd. 1919.
838080 Private Gilbert Reginald Gilmore was struck off strength of the C.E.F. on April 6th, 1919. Returning to Grey County Reginald married Gwendolyn Bush and latterly passed away on October 30th, 1961, at sixty-two years of age. Both Reginald and Gwendolyn are buried in Meaford's Lakeview Cemetery.
Credit and many thanks go George Auer for the above biography.