Name: Wallace W. Holmes Rank: Lieutenant Service Number: 1261131 (Gunner at enlistment) Service: Canadian Field Artillery Mentioned in Despatches London Gazette (July 11, 1919) Date of Birth: June 28, 1895 Place of Birth: Glace Bay, Cape Breton Co., Nova Scotia Date of enlistment: May 11, 1916 Place of enlistment: Amherst, Cumberland Co., Nova Scotia Address at enlistment: Belloni, Cape Breton Co., Nova Scotia Age at enlistment: 20 Height: 5 feet, 10 ½ inches Complexion: Light Eye Colour: Brown Hair Colour: Light Brown Occupation: Student, Engineering, Acadia College Marital Status: Single (at enlistment) Religion: Baptist Next of Kin: William L Holmes (Father), Belloni, NS (on enlistment) Date of Discharge: February 14, 1919 (on demobilization) Re-appointed Lieutenant 6th Battalion, Canadian Garrison Regiment (April 3, 1919) Medical Discharge (September 15, 1919) Date of Death: March 30, 1926 Age: 30 Cemetery: Chegoggin Cemetery, Chegoggin, Yarmouth Co., Nova Scotia Wallace W. Holmes was the son of William Lawrence Holmes (1855-1949) and Alice Lydia (Ball) Holmes (1855-1932). Wallace married Muriel Elizabeth Cann on May 23, 1920. Muriel was born in Chegoggin, Yarmouth, Co., NS. His siblings were Oliver Wilbur Holmes (1877-1942), Robert Appleton Holmes (1879-1956), Caroline Emma "Carrie" Holmes Spencer (1881-1963), John Church Holmes (1884-1886), Thomas Ernest Holmes (1886-1914), Herbert Russell Holmes (1890-1913), and Alice Lydia Holmes (1892-1982). Wallace enlisted in May 1916 with the 14th Field Artillery (Howitzer) Brigade Ammunition Column and following initial training in Canada, he embarked Halifax, NS on September 11, 1916, and disembarked in Liverpool, England on September 22, 1916. He proceeded to France on March 21, 1917, and taken on strength with the 5th Brigade. On May 19, 1917, he was severely wounded by shrapnel to his right thigh and was hospitalized in France until June 10, 1917, and in England at the General Hospital in Nottingham and the Canadian Convalescent Hospital at Woodcote Park until July 13, 1917. He was then posted to the Canadian Artillery Regiment Depot at Witley Military Camp in Surrey, England. On April 5, 1918, he was appointed Lieutenant and proceeded to France and was posted to the 9th Brigade. In France he served with the rank of Captain while commanding a section of the Canadian Artillery between January 22, 1919, and February 27, 1919. Lieutenant Holmes returned to Canada and was discharged on demobilization on February 14, 1919. His service continued and he was re-appointed Lieutenant with the 6th Battalion on April 7, 1919, at Amherst, Nova Scotia. The 6th Battalion of the Canadian Garrison Regiment was part of the larger Canadian Garrison Regiment, formed in April 1918 to manage garrison duties within Canada. The 6th Battalion was organized in Military District 6 and disbanded on September 30, 1919. On September 2, 1919, a medical review determined that his myocarditis (inflammation of the heart muscle) first identified in April 1917 during service in France constituted a permanent disability and that he be medically discharged from service permanently unfit for general service. He was struck off strength September 15, 1919, by reason of being medically unfit. He served in Canada, England, and France with the 14th Howitzer Brigade Ammunition Column, Canadian Field Artillery (CFA), the 55th Battery, CFA, the 13th Brigade, CFA, 15th Brigade, CFA, 5th Brigade, CFA, CARD, 9th Brigade CFA, and 3rd Canadian Divisional Ammunition Column, and the 6th Battalion of the Canadian Garrison Regiment. (Wallace’s middle name on his enlistment record is listed as ‘Wilfred’, however, the majority of the other records list his middle name as ‘Wetmore’) Wallace Holmes died in Yarmouth Co., NS, on March 30, 1926, his death attributed to his wartime service. He is buried in the Chegoggin Cemetery, Chegoggin, Yarmouth Co., Nova Scotia.

Sources: findagrave Library and Archive Canada