165 The Royal Canadian Legion MANITOBA & NORTHWESTERN ONTARIO COMMAND www.mbnwo.ca PARKER, Lewis Allen “Lou” WWI Lou was twenty years old and living in Cartwright, Manitoba when he enlisted in the Canadian Army on January 13, 1917. Precise particulars are unclear. Regimental Depot – M.R.D.; Reserve unit 18th Res. Bn. and Field Unit – 44th Bn. are mentioned in available documents. His daily rate of pay was $1.10; $33.00 monthly. Assigned pay as a married man was $45.00 a month. He was married to May Laver on March 31, 1916. It is not known for certain where he trained before going overseas, but there is every likelihood that he spent time training at Camp Borden, Ontario. Presumably, he underwent some training in England before being sent into action in France. There is evidence that he was stationed at Epsom and Seaford, following his return to England from the Continent. A pay book was opened for Private Parker on September 1, 1918, with a note that this was a new book. The old pay book remained on file in London. He returned to Halifax, Canada on the Cunard White Star Liner on January 16, 1919. He most probably came back to his hometown of Cartwright and remained there until October 1929, when he moved to Minnedosa to manage the old livery barn where the Co-op store now stands. At this juncture in his life, he would have been 32 years old. The Parkers would have been raising their family when the move to Minnedosa was made. Later, he and Harry Buchanan ran the livery stable at the north end of Minnedosa, the site of the Community Centre. He worked for local farmers during the summer and harvest, one of the farmers being the late John Jury. Lou Parker delivered mail on R.R.3 for over 25 years, until the day of his death in 1961. He also spent several years working for the Manitoba Highways Department. Lou and May raised a family of three daughters and one son: Marion (Bowen), Eunice (Erickson), Beverley, and Allen. He was predeceased by his son P/O (P) John Allen, RCAF, killed in action over the Baltic Sea off Denmark on February 15, 1944. His wife, May, died on June 13, 1986. PARKER, Walter Edwin WWI &WWII Walter Edwin Parker was born on November 30, 1887, in Shelsley, Kings, Worcestershire, UK, the eldest of six children. He came to Canada for the first time in May 1911, to work on a farm, possibly with a Peter Crerar, but left to enlist in the British Expeditionary Force in 1914 when World War I broke out in Europe. He served in the Army Veterinary Corps and was posted to Gallipoli and finally Egypt/Palestine. During his service, he contracted malaria. In 1920, he married Eleanor Millward in the United Kingdom and they immigrated to Canada in 1921 where they stayed with the A. Robertson family in Basswood. Walter and Eleanor had come to Canada on the Overseas Settlement Program, and Walter was given 160 acres to homestead and an additional 160 acres as a soldier grant. They settled east of Onanole, and their original two quarter sections were the SW and SE ¼ of 12-19-17. They had one son, Harold, born on June 23, 1928. When Eleanor passed away on July 2, 1928, Walter had to leave infant son Harold, initially in the care of Edith Curwen and later, with Emma and Frank Lang in Basswood, where Mrs. Lang raised Harold like one of her sons. Walter was a founding member of The Royal Canadian Legion Erickson Branch and was a School Trustee for Whirlpool School. In 1940, he enlisted as part of the Veterans Guard and he guarded German Prisoners of War all over Canada, including Lethbridge, Alberta; Neys, Ontario; and Seebe, Alberta. After the war, Walter was employed as groundskeeper/gardener at Riding Mountain National Park. Walter passed away in Erickson on September 5, 1963, leaving son, Harold, Harold’s wife Maryon, and grandsons, Jim Parker and Douglas Dowsett. Walter is buried at Basswood Cemetery next to his wife, Eleanor and Emma Lang.
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