107 The Royal Canadian Legion MANITOBA & NORTHWESTERN ONTARIO COMMAND www.mbnwo.ca KERR, Frederick Howard WWI Frederick was born in 1896 in Neepawa, to John Kerr. At the time of enlisting, he was employed in his father’s store in Neepawa. Cadet Fred H. Kerr went overseas with the Western Universities battalion and took a special military course at Oxford University. He served in England and in France with the 31st and 196th Battalions as a Lieutenant. He returned to Canada in 1919 and co-owned John Kerr & Co. Ltd. and Neepawa Realty co. Ltd. with his brother. He married Irene McHale in 1927 and died in Neepawa on November 13, 1962. KERR, Dr. Hewitt Reid WWII Hewitt was born in Neepawa on May 18, 1901, the youngest son of John, a Neepawa merchant, and Georgina (Hewitt) Kerr. He was a graduate at the University of Toronto Dental College and practiced in South Saskatchewan during the thirties. In 1939, he left the Regina practice and became a Dental Officer with the RC Dental Corps to serve overseas with the First Canadian Division. He served in Britain, Northwest Europe and Germany in January 1940. He was then wounded at Caen while attached to the Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders of Canada, a unit in which quite a number of Neepawa men were serving. He went overseas as a Lieutenant and returned as a Major. After his clinic was shelled in Caen, he received chemical burns that prevented him from resuming full time practice after the war. He practiced as a fly-in dentist to communities in northern Canada during the post-war years, finally settling in British Columbia. He married Mary Elizabeth Robillard of Willowbunch, Saskatchewan, and they had one son, Robert Hewitt. Dr. Hewitt Reid Kerr died on April 24, 1978, and is buried in the Riverside Cemetery in Neepawa, Lot 10, Block 3, Range 4. KERR, James Henry WWI James was born in Neepawa, Manitoba in 1891, to Mr. and Mrs. John Kerr, merchant in Neepawa. Prior to service, he was an accountant for several years at a branch of the Union Bank in Vancouver, BC. He left for overseas with the “Bantam” Battalion of British Columbia and was later transferred. He served with the Seaforth Highlanders which was sent overseas as the 72nd Battalion, one of the first Canadian troops sent to Europe. He was sent overseas as a First Lieutenant which indicates that he had some prior military training. James was reported to have received a severe gunshot wound to the knee and was in the Twenty General Hospital, Dames Camiers, France. J.H. Kerr died on January 25, 1933, in Toronto, Ontario, as a result of wounds he received in the war. He is buried in Mount Pleasant Cemetery.
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