19 March 2018

Gilbert Ross Slack: CEF Beechwood

Signaller Gilbert Ross Slack of the 32nd Battery, Canadian Field Artillery, died on 19 March 1918 of a shrapnel wound which had severed his spine. He was buried at Beechwood Cemetery the following day.
A 57 page service file shows he was in France for about a year. The wound was received while serving as a cyclist at the Somme, France, on 25 March 1917. Paralyzed below the wound he spent time in hospitals in France and England before being returned to Canada on the Hospital Ship Llandovery Castle.
His family subsequent took him to New York for consultation with a specialist, but he could not help. He was reported to have maintained a cheerful disposition.
The second son of John Henry Slack and Jennett Baxter Slack he was born 8 October 1895.

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