June 20, 2026. Since Pieter began the On The War Memorial Trail research project in 2014, we’ve met many families of those who served in one or more wars. Brenda Graves of North Tryon, Prince Edward Island, explained that her paternal grandfather served in WWI and then served in the Veterans Guard of Canada until his death during WWII.
Cyrus Joseph GALLANT was born in Piusville, Prince Edward Island on March 21, 1897, the son of Joseph ‘Joe Smoke’ and Marie Marguerite (nee Bernard) Gallant. He worked on the family farm until he was conscripted under the Military Service Act and sent for a medical exam in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, on November 29, 1917. However, he wasn’t drafted until months later.
After relying exclusively on volunteers for the first few years of WWI, the Canadian government passed the Military Service Act in August 1917 to make military service compulsory for male citizens aged 20 to 45. (See https://www.warmuseum.ca/firstworldwar/history/life-at-home-during-the-war/recruitment-and-conscription/conscription-1917/)
…..Cyrus enlisted in the 1st Depot Battalion…..
Cyrus Joseph Gallant. (Photo courtesy of Brenda Graves)
In 1917-1918, when it was difficult to recruit enough men for infantry battalions, depot battalions were organized in Canada to obtain personnel who would then be sent to various Canadian Reserve Battalions in England.
Cyrus wasn’t drafted until July 4, 1918, when he enlisted with ‘H’ Company, 1st Depot Battalion, Nova Scotia Regiment, in Charlottetown, and began his basic training.
Per Nova Scotia’s Part In The Great War, compiled and edited by M. S. Hunt, the 1st Depot Battalion had been organized “….on September 25, 1917, for the purpose of looking after the draftees under the Military Service Act…”
However, due to “…destruction of property caused by the Halifax Explosion in December 1917….” quarters for military personnel were in short supply, which is likely the reason why Cyrus didn’t have to enlist until months after passing his medical exam. (See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halifax_Explosion)
…..Cyrus left Canada for England…..
On August 2, 1918, Cyrus was transferred to the 102nd Draft Battalion Nova Scotia, one of 1,700 men to be sent overseas. An account in Nova Scotia’s Part In The Great War noted that the men “…paraded at 8 PM on August 3, 1918; the roll was called, documents checked, etc. The men were then dismissed and ordered to parade and entrain at 4:30 AM on August 4th….”
After leaving Halifax, Nova Scotia aboard SS Ixion, the ship arrived safely in Liverpool, England on August 15, 1918, with the men disembarking the following day.
Map showing routing from Liverpool to Bramshott. (Map source: Google Maps)
From Liverpool, the men travelled 396 km (246 miles) towards Bramshott, where they were transferred to the 17th Reserve Battalion of the Canadian Infantry on August 22, 1918. Bramshott Camp was a massive training facility for the Canadian Army, with thousands of soldiers living there. The camp included hospitals, an open-air theatre, and an extensive network of corrugated iron and wooden huts.
The 17th Reserve Battalion was a training and reinforcement depot based in England. Its primary role was to train newly arriving soldiers, and dispatch them to combat battalions.
By the time Cyrus arrived in England, just a few months before WWI ended on November 11, 1918, his time with the 17th Reserve Battalion never went beyond training. Instead of being sent to a frontline unit he stayed in England until returning home.
Map showing routing from Bramshott to South Ripon. (Map source: Google Maps)
The Battalion remained in Bramshott until January 12, 1919, when it moved to South Ripon, a distance of 413 km (257 miles), from where soldiers would be demobilized and started returning back home to Canada.
…..Cyrus returned back to Canada in 1919…..
HMT Mauretania with geometric dazzle camouflage scheme designed by Norman Wilkinson (Photo source: New-York Tribune December 8, 1918, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=84709365)
On June 28, 1919, Cyrus was on his way back to Canada aboard HMT (Hired Military Transport) Mauretania. He was officially discharged on July 3, 1919 in Charlottetown.
…..Cyrus raised a family in the inter-war years…..
After his return back to Prince Edward Island, Cyrus married Elizabeth ‘Lizzie’ Marie Gallant on November 22 1922 in Bloomfield, and they became the parents of 9 children. Cyrus ran a barber shop in Bloomfield and worked as a labourer.
…..Cyrus enlisted in the Veterans Guard of Canada in WWII…..
Cyrus Gallant in his Veterans Guard of Canada uniform, with his wife Lizzie, in 1941. (Photo courtesy of Brenda Graves. Photo restoration and colourization by Pieter Valkenburg)
On February 1, 1941, when Cyrus enlisted with 6A Company of the Veterans Guard of Canada in Charlottetown, his two youngest children were still toddlers. Mary Delma had been born in June 1938, and Joseph Walter in August 1939.
With a growing family, the pay that Cyrus received as a member of the Veterans Guard would have been very helpful. Volunteers for the Veterans Guard were WWI veterans that had served in Canadian or British forces, were fit, and had been honourably discharged. They received the same pay ($1.30 a day) and allowances as other soldiers. As a local defence force to guard against enemy attacks, and guard duties at internment and prisoner-of-war camps in Canada, Cyrus wouldn’t have been sent overseas. (See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veterans_Guard_of_Canada)
He was posted to Valcartier, Quebec, but in July he ended up in hospital with stomach pains, and spent a month in Saint-Sacrament Hospital in Quebec City.
After his discharge from hospital, he was working at Camp B/70, an internment camp in Fredericton, New Brunswick, when he was hospitalized, again with stomach pains, in January 1942. (See https://powsincanada.ca/pows-in-canada/internment-camps/camp-70-fredericton/)
On February 21, 1942, he was sent to Camp Hill Hospital in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where he was diagnosed as having pancreatic cancer.
Cyrus was discharged from the Veterans Guard on March 2, 1942 for being medically unfit due to carcinoma. He remained at Camp Hill Hospital for post-discharged treatment before returning home, where he died on October 31, 1942, aged 45, at Prince County Hospital in Summerside, Prince Edward Island.
….Cyrus is buried in St. Anthony’s Roman Catholic Cemetery in Bloomfield…
Cyrus was buried on November 2, 1942 in St. Anthony’s Roman Catholic Cemetery in Bloomfield, Prince Edward Island.
Brenda Graves by the grave of her grandfather, Cyrus Joseph Gallant. (Photo credit: Daria Valkenburg)
One cloudy and wet Thursday in May of this year, Brenda and I travelled to St. Anthony’s Roman Catholic Cemetery, located just outside the church, to find her grandfather’s grave. Brenda’s father, Edmund Joseph, was one of the children born to Cyrus and Lizzie.
Lizzie remarried in 1954, to Fred Louie Arsenault. They are both buried in the same cemetery as Cyrus.
NOTE: Various records provide differing birth years for Cyrus. When he enlisted in the Veterans Guard in 1941, he stated that he was born on March 21, 1894. However, the regimental number and information he provided about his WWI service matched his WWI attestation where he stated he was born in 1897. His medical record lists him as aged 44 in 1941, confirming he was born in 1897, not 1894. Finally, his headstone incorrectly lists him as being born in 1898.
….Another soldier from Prince Edward Island in the 17th Reserve Battalion died of illness…
Also in the 17th Reserve Battalion was Bruce Sutherland MCKAY (MACKAY), who contracted scarlet fever during the voyage to England and died a short while later. Your can read his story at https://onthewarmemorialtrail.com/2019/04/22/the-ww1-soldier-who-never-made-it-to-the-front/
Thank you to Brenda Graves for providing photos and information on her grandfather. Pieter’s research efforts to find photos and families of soldiers continue. Do you have a story to tell? Email Pieter at memorialtrail@gmail.com, or comment on the blog.
© Daria Valkenburg
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On The War Memorial Trail Research Project........ with Pieter and Daria Valkenburg 