| Rank | Private |
| Service # | A22282 |
| Unit # | Essex Scottish Regiment |
| Resident | Apt. 28th, Victoria Blk., Chatham |
Born to Thomas and Emily Harriet (nee Young) Martin in Coventry, England. His father Thomas was living in Wallaceburg where Thomas Jesse was a labourer when he enlisted. Attestion: 18/01/1915 at Chatham, ON. to 33rd Bn.
17/08/15 Thomas embarked the SS Hesperian at Montreal, PQ., part of battalions 2nd draft, arriving in Liverpool, England 28/08/15 and proceeded to Shorncliffe and absorbed into the 9th Reserve Batt. He would be transferred to the 21st Bn 5/01/16 and arrived in France part of a draft of 227 reinforcements arriving at Canadian Base Depot, Rouelles. He joined the 21st Bn. No. 8 Platoon of “B” Company on 18/01/16 and from there would be on a Lewis Gun course on June 24th.
Thomas would become ill with Tonsillitis and admitted to No. 5 Canadian Field Ambulance (CFA) 21/12/16 and would be discharged on the 27th in time for a trench raid at Calonne 17/01/17 during which he would be severely wounded by shrapnel in his right arm and admitted to No. 4 CFA, the shrapnel had fractured his right elbow and wrist and was transferred to No. 4 General Hospital, Camiers and from there invalided by the Hospital Ship Grantully Castle to England and was admitted to 3rd Southern General Hospital Oxford on 1/02/1917. He would be transferred to the Canadian Convalescent Hospital at Woodcote Park, Epsom, England on 20 April, then to Granville Canadian Special Hospital, Ramsgate on 23 June until 25 August when he was transferred to Princess Patricia Canadian Red Cross Hospital, Ramsgate 25 Aug, 1917.
Between 30 August and 16 February, 1918 Thomas would visit Canadian Convalescent Hospital at Woodcote Park, Epsom; Manor War Hospital, Epsom; Canadian Convalescent Hospital at Woodcote Park, Epsom before boarding the Hospital Ship Llandovery Castle* in Liverpool to be invalided to Canada.
The ship would arrive in Halifax, Nova Scotia 1 March, 1918 and Thomas was disembarked to board a train for London, Ontario and Convalescent House where he would remain until 30 June, 1918 when the Medical Board in London noted that because of limited movement in his right arm and wrist in addition to weakness in that area he was deemed “Medically Unfit” and on 12 August Thomas Jesse Martin 400584 was discharged from the CEF.
He and his wife, Grace Candlish Taylor were married in Toronto and were, in the 1921 Canadian Census, living at 399 Jones Ave., Toronto, ON. Thomas died in Wallaceburg, ON. 2/01/1983 and is buried in the Riverview Cemetery, Wallaceburg, with his wife Grace.
* The Hospital Ship Llandovery Castle would be sunk by the Gernan submarine U-86 on 27 June, 1918, at the time the ship carried 258 aboard. When HMS Lysander reached the sight of the sinking only 24 were rescued, only 6 CAMC personel and none of the 14 Nursing Sisters.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
| Sources | RG150, Accession 1992-93/166, Box 5997-39, LAC, IODE(P), CDP (15/01/15, 29/01/15), WN (2/11/16), NRT, 21st Battalion.ca |
| Birthplace | London, Ontario |
| Marital Status | Married |
| When Enlisted | May 1940 |
| Next of Kin | Wife- Mrs. Alice Martin |
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