Name: David William Roy Regimental Number: 86002 Rank: Corporal Battalion: Canadian Field Artillery, 3rd Brigade Date of Birth: December 28, 1884 Place of Birth: Yarmouth, NS Date of Enlistment: January 2, 1915 Place of Enlistment: Fredericton, New Brunswick Age at Enlistment: 30 Height: 5 feet, 7 inches Complexion: Dark Eye Colour: Brown Hair Colour: Black Prior Military Experience: 9 years in Field Artillery Trade: Postal Clerk Marital Status: Single Religion: Church of England Next of Kin: Louis Joseph Roy (Father) Yarmouth, NS Date of Death: September 25, 1916 (Somme) Age at Death: 32 Memorial: Vimy Memorial, Pas de Calais, France Commemorated on Page 157 of the First World War Book of Remembrance Displayed in the Memorial Chamber of the Peace Tower in Ottawa on April 10 David William Roy was the son of Louis Joseph Roy (1851-1924) and Annie Jane (Woods) Roy (1859- 1954) of Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. A brother, Louis Joseph Roy (Service Number: 326893) also served during WWI with the 58th Howitzer Battery in France. David Roy had considerable experience with the 29th Field Battery Yarmouth, NS and had gained the rank of Battery Quartermaster Sergeant. He left Yarmouth for Fredericton, NB on November 9, 1914 and enlisted with the 24th Brigade, Canadian Field Artillery. He was assigned to the 3rd Brigade, Canadian Field Artillery in France on May 28, 1915 and on June 6, 1915 was taken o strength with the Brigade in France. On February 11, 1916 he returned to England and was attached to the Divisional Signal School. He rejoined his unit in the field on April 6, 1916. In a letter to his father, David wrote he was in the best of health and in beautiful quarters … a captured German trench. Corporal Ray was killed in action west of Pozieres, during the battle of the Somme. He was buried behind the firing line; however, his remains were never found or identified and his name is listed on the Vimy Memorial, France. The Rector of Holy Trinity Church spoke of David Roy: “When the war brokek out he was laid up in his house on account of some injury to his knees. I went to see him and I well remember the deep grief and mortification because this ailment threatened to keep him from enlisting. To his great joy; however, the knee got better. at once he joined the army and soon was in France …” The Masons of Yarmouth met on November 25, 1917 to honour David Roy killed one year earlier. Rev. Dr. Hill, Pastor of St. John’s Presbyterian Church, Cliff St., Yarmouth spoke that he knew David best as a soldier as they had attended a military summer camp together for militia training. “He was a good, efficient soldier, Battery Quartermaster Sergeant since 1912, and when I heard he had crossed to France I knew that if death should overtake him it would find him at his post of duty. And so it proved, for while receiving messages on the telephone near the guns he loved so well, he was instantly killed, this making the supreme sacrifice …”

David William Roy

Sources: Library and Archives Canada (Attestation Paper) Canadian Virtual War Memorial Additional Information: “A Monument Speaks” A Thurston; 1989 (pp 291-294)