LEST WE FORGET 141 GOSSELIN, Atchez Joseph “Archie” WWI Archie was born on May 20, 1897 (according to his enlistment form) in Biddleford, Maine, USA, to Ulric Frederic Gosselin and Emilie Parent. He was the youngest boy in the family and had nine brothers and four sisters. The Archille Gosselin family was one of the group of French Canadian families who settled in the Broadhemston (near St. Marthe) area. He was drafted and enlisted on January 24, 1918 with the 1st Saskatchewan Depot in Regina. He was transferred to the 249th Battalion and left Halifax on February 18, 1918 aboard the Saxonia. He arrived in England on March 4, 1918 and was taken on strength with the 15th Reserve. He was hospitalized several times with chronic appendicitis until finally having surgery at Bramshott, which postponed going to France. He was assigned to the 46th Battalion in France on November 8, 1918. He was repatriated to Canada aboard the Caronia on March 29, 1919. Archie returned to the St. Marthe area (near Rocanville) and was living with the Ormand family in 1921. He married Victoria Marie Dumas (1929) and they were living in the Cavalier area in North Dakota during the 1940s and 50s. Archie worked as a farm labourer and the couple raised nine children. Archie died on April 22, 1975 at the age of 78 at Lake Elsinore, California and is buried at Elsinore Valley Cemetery in a Veterans’ plot. His wife died in 2011, at the age of 101. An interesting medical comment in Private Gosselin’s file states that his chronic appendix pain was caused by “two toothbrush bristles found in the appendix” during surgery. GRAY-OWEN, Joseph WWI Joseph Gray-Owens was born on July 13, 1880, in the county of Caernarvonshire, Wales. He had three siblings, a brother and two sisters. His parents were Gray and Margaret (Jones) Owen. Joseph married Ethel Maud Davies on April 7, 1907. They lived in Llanllechid and had three children (Donald, Norman and Gertrude) before the family immigrated to Canada in 1912. On November 27, 1915, at the age of 35, Joseph enlisted in Outlook with the 128th Overseas Battalion. He listed his occupation as civil engineer. In England, Joseph Gray-Owen served with the Casualty Company; he also was a map reading instructor. His eyesight was poor when he enlisted, so he never saw front-line service. He was demobilized in Regina on April 15, 1920. After the war the family lived in Regina where Joseph worked as a draughtsman for the provincial government telephone department. He was a member of the Royal Canadian Legion. Joseph Gray-Owen died in hospital in Regina on July 11, 1949, at the age of 72. He is buried in the Soldiers Plot of the Regina Cemetery. At the time, he was survived by two sons and his wife Ethel. Ethel passed away on May 15, 1973, at the age of 89.
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