LEST WE FORGET 245 MIDDLER, William Harper WWI Sergeant William Harper Middler was born on September 12, 1891, at Hill of Forest, Aberdeen, Scotland. His mother was Ann Middler. He arrived in Canada in 1902 and was a single farmer living near Glenside when he enlisted, at the age of 24, with the 128th Overseas Battalion in Outlook on December 24, 1915. Along with his comrades in the 128th Battalion, he departed from Halifax on August 15, 1916, for the battlefields of Europe. He served in France with the 2nd Canadian Mounted Rifles. On April 10, 1917, he suffered a gunshot wound to his left leg and knee. The 2nd Canadian Rifles Battalion was fighting near Villiers au Bois as part of the offensive which began a day earlier to capture Vimy Ridge. During the battle, Private Middler was injured by gunshot. Altogether, Midler served 4 ½ months in France. He received his discharge papers, at the age of 27, in Regina on February 13, 1919. In 1919, William Middler married Evangelina Bentley in the city of Moose Jaw. Their son William George was born on September 16, 1920, in Wadena. Sergeant William Harper Middler died on January 23, 1963, and is buried in the North Battleford Municipal Cemetery. MILLS, Leonard WWI Leonard was born on September 19, 1895, in Durham, England. His father was Charles William Mills and his mother was Ellen (Nellie) Elizabeth (Hughes) Mills of Watford, England. The family consisted of five children with Leonard in the middle. In 1911, Leonard got on a ship bound for Canada saying he was a “farmer” with a stated destination of Shepard, Alberta. He had appendix surgery in 1914. According to his attestation papers, he enlisted on August 3, 1915 in Birtle, Manitoba with the 78th Battalion listing his occupation as farmer and his address as Winnipeg, Manitoba. The 78th Winnipeg Grenadiers was an infantry battalion authorized on July 19, 1915 and embarked for Great Britain on May 20, 1915 aboard the Empress of Britain. After training in Bramshott, the 78th disembarked in France on August 13, 1916 where it fought as part of the 12th Brigade, 4th Canadian Division. Leonard struggled with foot problems (fallen arches resulting in being flat footed plus a left foot disability). In February 1918, Leonard was transferred to Canadian “B” Engineers Unit and was awarded a Good Conduct Badge on May 18, 1918. He was hospitalized in July 1918 with influenza and was transferred back to the 78th in September 1918. Leonard was appointed Lance Corporal on October 14, 1918. Private Mills was granted a fourteenday leave to England on December 28, 1919 and he was deprived of his Lance Corporal stripe because he overstayed his leave. He sailed to Canada aboard the Adriatic on May 31, 1919 and was discharged in Winnipeg on June 12, 1919. He planned to live in Regina at the time of his discharge. He had become friends (in the 78th Battalion) with Stanley Browning from the Woodleigh area (near Wapella). Leonard’s sister, May, married Stanley in Winnipeg in 1920. Leonard is mentioned in the Wapella History Book as a World War I veteran residing in the Woodleigh district. On the 1931 census, Leonard is listed as single and still living with Stanley and May Browning and their son, Leslie. The Brownings moved to England in 1935. It is unknown if Leonard Mills stayed in Canada after that.
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