LEST WE FORGET 203 KENNINGTON, Harry WWI Harry was born on May 21, 1889 (gravestone says 1883) in London, England. He came to Canada in early 1900s and was on the Welwyn census in 1911 and was working as a CPR section man. He enlisted in Winnipeg, Manitoba with the 144th Battalion on December 28, 1915. He sailed from Halifax aboard the Olympic on September 18, 1916. He trained in England from September 1916 to April 5, 1917. He was sent to France on April 21, 1917 with the 8th Battalion Canadian Infantry and spent sixteen months in Belgium and France. On November 10, 1917, he was hospitalized at Le Treport with a gunshot wound to the head. On August 10, 1918 Harry was wounded at Amiens to the left leg (tibia) and shrapnel caused a compound fracture. He spent from October 18, 1918 to March 1919 undergoing treatment in England with a Thomas splint and very septic wounds. He was invalided back to Canada on March 11, 1919 and suffered from drop foot (no power to raise his left foot). Harry took special leave from November 24 to December 9, 1919. He underwent treatment in Winnipeg (removing shrapnel) for months. On February 14, 1920, his record states that he had difficulty walking and had to use an elastic harness that fit over his boot to lift his left leg. He was discharged in February 1920 in Winnipeg as medially unfit. He married Mabel Ethyl Bentley (from England) on April 1, 1925 in Winnipeg. The couple returned to Welwyn, Saskatchewan where Harry worked as a painter and paper hanger and later was caretaker of Welwyn School for a number of years. Two Kennington babies died in infancy and were buried in Welwyn Cemetery. Harry was a charter member of The Royal Canadian Legion Welwyn Branch. The Kenningtons left Welwyn about 1932 and moved to Port Dover, Ontario where they had two sons, Douglas Bentley and Barry Robert Kennington. Private Kennington died on April 19, 1955 and is buried in Port Dover Cemetery with his wife. KIVELA, John Jacob WWI John was born on February 1, 1891, in Bremen, Germany. His parents, Samuel Kivela Sr. and Susanna Myllymaki, were from Finland. They had married in Canada and returned to Finland for their honeymoon which lasted a year. On the way back to Canada, John was born in Germany. The family came west and settled in the New Finland area. The New Finland post office was in the Kivela home until John’s father passed away in 1901. John was the eldest of five children. When he was drafted for military service, he enlisted in Regina with the 1st Depot Battalion – Sask Regiment on December 4, 1917. His younger brother was sent overseas in July 1918, so John was farming the home farm. He was discharged in Regina on January 27, 1919 due to demobilization and never went overseas.
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