Guysborough Enlistments - September 14 & 15, 1916

1. September 14, 1916:

James Adam McLane was born at Sherbrooke, NS on April 30, 1899 to Adam Dean and Flora Blanche (McCutcheon) McLane. James enlisted with the 193rd Battalion at Halifax, NS on September 13, 1916, departing for England with the Nova Scotia Highland Brigade exactly one month later.

After arriving overseas, he was transferred to No. 39 Company, Canadian Forestry Corps when the 193rd Battalion was disbanded, and crossed the English Channel to France with his new unit of May 19, 1917, serving with the Canadian Forestry Corps’ Central Group (Normandy) throughout the war’s duration.

While James returned to Sherbrooke after the war, he lived at Lomita, California and Meriden, Connecticut during the mid-1920s, eventually returning to Sherbrooke at sometime during the following decade. James also worked with Galt Textiles, Galt, Ontario for an unknown period of time.

James never married, retiring to Sherbrooke in the late 1950s. James Adam McLane passing away at his Sherbrooke home on May 3, 1962 and was laid to rest in Riverside Cemetery, Sherbrooke, NS.

2. September 15, 1916:

Thomas Herbert Chapman was born at Torbay, Guysborough County on April 3, 1886. Thomas’ father, Thomas Harrison, was born at Liverpool, England and was an employee of Commercial Cable Company, Canso, at the time of Thomas Herbert’s birth. Thomas Harrison married Eliza Harriet Cunningham, a native of Guysborough, NS, in 1878 Thomas Herbert was the third of the couple’s four sons, the second youngest of six children.

Thomas Herbert enlisted with the 162nd Battalion at Niagara, ON on September 15, 1916. Employed as a “submarine cable operator” prior to enlistment, Thomas Herbert also served with the 63h Regiment (Halifax Rifles) for an unspecified period of time prior to joining the Canadian Expeditionary Force.

Several months after arriving in England, Thomas Herbert was transferred to the 18th Battalion (Western Ontario) on May 28, 1917, joining the unit in the field on June 15, 1917. He suffered a shrapnel wound to his finger, hand and right thigh while working in the line with a carrying party near Bouvigny, France. Briefly hospitalized for treatment, Thomas Herbert rejoined the 18th in the field before month’s end.

On the day following the battalion’s withdrawal from the Passchendaele, Belgium battlefield, Thomas Herbert was hospitalized a second time for treatment of trench foot. Invalided to England, he spent eight months with reserve units, finally rejoining the 18th Battalion in France on August 31, 1918.

Thomas Herbert, promoted to the rank of Corporal five days prior to his return to the line, served the remainder of the war with the 18th Battalion, returning to England in early April 1919 and to Canada two months later. He was officially discharged from military service at Halifax on July 10, 1919.

Thomas Herbert immediately departed for Suva, Fiji, where he had secured employment with the Pacific Cable Board. Officials subsequently delivered his British War and Victory service medals to Sydney, Australia. No further information is available on his later life.