Lest We Forget Private Gordon MacDonald Crowe

Private Gordon MacDonald Crowe was a strapping young man, topping 6' in height and one of six children of Edgar Prior Crowe and Helen Wright Holesworth.  He was born on January 24, 1893 in Halifax, Nova Scotia.  He was my fifth cousin, twice removed.

Gordon was quiet and bookish and on completing school, became a bookkeeper.  On December 6, 1915, he joined the Canadian Expeditionary Force and was a member of the 25th Battalion, Canadian Infantry, Nova Scotia Regiment.  He had a fair complexion, blue eyes and light brown hair.  He was a member of the Church of England.

The Nova Scotias', as they were called, aquitted themselves with honour at the Battle of Vimy Ridge but it was at the subsequent Battle of Hill 70 that Gordon lost his life.  Although his remains were never recovered, he is memorialised on the Canadian Vimy Memorial at Vimy Ridge and in the Chapel of Remembrance in Ottawa.

Posthumously, he was awarded the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.  His mother received the Silver Cross Decoration from a grateful nation.