LEST WE FORGET 209 KLENMAN, Harry Hart WWI &WWII Harry was born on October 15, 1887, in Montreal, to Abraham and Pearl (Polly) (Ordel) Klenman, who had emigrated from Bessarabia. Abraham Klenman led a trek of Jewish settlers to homestead near Wapella. Harry went to Manitoba Agricultural College and returned home with many new ideas such as growing Red Fife wheat and improving the family’s line of livestock breeds. Harry bought a steam thresher in 1910 which was the first Jewish owned unit. He enlisted in Winnipeg on December 14, 1914 and joined the 16th Light Horse in Brandon. He sailed from Halifax aboard the Vaderland (later named the Southland) on February 23, 1915. He was posted with the 32nd Battalion, the 20th Battalion and the 12th Battalion. He was sent to France with the 2nd Battalion Canadian Infantry on May 5, 1915 and was hospitalized at an Australian Hospital at Wimerieux with a gunshot wound to his hand in late August 1915. His records indicate “he was sniping when he was hit by an enemy and soon after returning to England he was granted a discharge due to ‘special circumstances’.” He was discharged in January 1917. Harry married Mary Elizabeth (Nelson) King who was widowed (husband died in WWI) with children. The couple had four more children, Abraham, Ruth, Pearl (Barbara) and Sylvia. The family lived on the farm near Rocanville and in the St. James/Winnipeg area for a number of years. Harry also enlisted in World War II. He died in 1955 and is buried at the Regina Jewish Cemetery. KNIGHT, Albert WWI Albert was born on July 25, 1884, in Davington, Faversham, England, to John and Emma Frances Mary (Lambkin) Knight. He immigrated to Canada in either 1906 or 1913 and farmed with his brother, John, who had homesteaded near Clearwater, Manitoba. Albert married Matilda Jane Evans (who was born in Wales but grew up in England) in 1914. The young couple were in Rocanville in 1915 where their oldest daughter, Phyllis, was born. (Albert’s wife may have had relatives in the Rocanville area). Albert enlisted with the 221st Battalion in Rocanville on May 13, 1916. While he trained at Camp Hughes, his wife and daughter returned to Clearwater, Manitoba to stay with his brother and his family. Albert’s name appears on the 221st Nominal Roll that sailed from Halifax aboard the Ausonia on April 18, 1917. Albert arrived in England on April 28, 1917 and was sent to France with the 78th Battalion on June 7, 1917. Private Knight was killed in action on October 30, 1917: “whilst ‘digging in’ he was fatally wounded by a German sniper”. He is buried in Passchendaele New British Cemetery in Belgium. Albert was killed a month before his wife had their second daughter, Caroline. His wife and small daughters returned to Tonbridge, Kent, England in 1919. Albert’s name is on the “Tonbridge men who died in WWI”, on the War Memorial in Clearwater, Manitoba and because he enlisted in Rocanville, it is likely that he is the ‘Knight’ on the Rocanville Cenotaph.
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