145 natured, jovial gentleman. Uncle Norway died in Port Hope in 1964, not long after his west coast trip. My Auntie Bea’s brother, Charles Hutton Crowdy, married Lorraine Welch of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, at Holy Trinity Church in Quebec City. Shortly after the wedding, Charles enlisted in the Canadian Infantry on 12 August 1914 and trained at Valcartier, Quebec. In September 1914, he shipped with the 13th Battalion of the Royal Highlanders of Canada, affiliated with the Black Watch, on the Cunard Liner Alaunia from Quebec City to Plymouth, England. During his preparatory stay in England, Charles was transferred among various army units and received a promotion from Lieutenant to Captain. In April 1915, he crossed from Folkestone to Boulogne to rejoin the 13th Battalion which on April 16th was posted to the front lines near St. Julien, northeast of the medieval town of Ypres in Belgium. Ypres proved one of the most lethal theatres in the entire war and Charles was about to experience it. The second Battle of Ypres saw the German’s first use of chlorine gas as a weapon. On April 22nd, clouds of gas were noticed by the front-line troops. With no gas masks, the troops were The Bourlon Wood Canadian Memorial.
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