Lt. Claude Rupert Kormann was born in Toronto, Ontario, on April 24th, 1894.
Sometime after his birth the family relocated to the town of Hanover in Grey County, Ontario. After his formal education Claude began working as a banker in Allanburg, a small hamlet straddling the Welland Canal.
Two days after war was declared the local militia units were called out to form the Welland Canal Force, whose task was to guard the canal and its locks against saboteurs as it was a vital water transportation link joining Lake Ontario and Lake Erie. Lieutenant Kormann, a member of the 44th Regiment, was the Officer in charge of the detachment of 29 men guarding the Allanburg Lock, serving in that capacity for nine months.
Seeking to head overseas, Claude attested to the 6th Overseas Universities Company C.E.F., as a Private, on August 17th, 1916. Montreal's McGill University was recruiting locally, seeking men to replenish the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry (P.P.C.L.I.), who had been decimated at Hill 62, which included the localized battles of Sanctuary Wood and Mount Sorrel, a few months earlier.
In September of 1916, Grey County was authorized to raise a second battalion for the C.E.F. and its Commanding Officer, Lieutenant-Colonel Rorke, had difficulties finding suitable Officer's and N.C.O's for his new battalion, as the cream of the crop had already been sent overseas. It is unclear who initiated his transfer to the 248th Battalion, but Claude had a connection with the County, as his family lived there. His ties to the community made him a welcome addition to the Officer Corps of the 248th and the new battalion became a family affair when his older brother, Harold, attested to it in January 1918.
Sailing with the 248th in May of 1917, Claude would first be absorbed into one of the reserve battalions and then sent in a draft of men to the 4th C.M.R., with whom he was taken on strength on October 1st, 1917. Lieutenant Kormann served with the 4th C.M.R. through Passchendaele, Amiens, and became a casualty just prior to the start of the Battle of Arras.
On August 23rd, 1918, as the 4th C.M.R. was conducting a relief in place, the Germans shelled the area with High Explosive and gas projectiles. The nature of Claude's injuries isn't recorded in the Regimental history but he was struck off strength on August 31st, 1918.
Biography details credit: George Auer