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Wartime Heritage
ASSOCIATION
Remembering Those Who Served
World War I - Yarmouth Connections
Robert Burns Lewis
469319
Private
64th Battalion; 25th Battalion
June 21, 1896 (on attestation) Actual 1898
Yarmouth, NS
August 27, 1915
Sussex NB
Yarmouth NS
19 (17)
5 feet, 5 inches
Fair
Grey
Brown
Single
Student
Roman Catholic
George Murray Lewis (Father) Yarmouth NS
May 25, 1919 (Halifax)
1983
Mountain Cemetery, Yarmouth NS
Robert Burns Lewis was the son of George Murray Lewis and Elizabeth (Moulaison) Lewis of
Yarmouth, NS. His brother Eugene Murray Lewis was killed in action on April 29, 1917, and is listed on
the Vimy Memorial. Both Robert and Eugene enlisted on the same date, August 27, 1915. A second
brother, Donald Clarence Lewis, (b. July 8, 1893) was living in Wakefield, Mass. in 1917.
Robert (Bob) Lewis enlisted on August 27, 1915, with the 64th Battalion at Sussex, New
Brunswick. and trained in Canada until March 1916. He embarked Halifax on the SS Adriatic on March
31, 1916 and disembarked in England on April 9, 1916. On June 28, 1916 he was transferred to the
25th Battalion for service in France.
On September 26, 1916, during the Battle of the Somme, Private Lewis was wounded in the face ,
right eye, and chest and was returned to England for treatment. On recovery from his wounds he was
again taken on strength for service with the 25th Battalion in France on March 28, 1918. He joined the
Battalion in the field June 2, 1918. On August 8, 1918 he as again wounded from gun shots to both
hands.
He returned to England for discharge to Canada on April 8, 1919. He was discharged on
demobilization at Halifax on May 25, 1919.
On June 28, 1921 he married Alice Gertrude Crosby (b. 1899) in South Ohio, Yarmouth Co., NS.
Gertrude was born in Milford, Mass., the daughter of Ernest Crosby (b. Tusket, NS) and Nellie Hatfield.
Robert Burns Lewis had two sons that served during WWII. George Henry Lewis (F/96168) served
with West Nova Scotia Regiment, R.C.I.C. and was killed in action on May 18, 1944. A second son,
Robert Burns Lewis, Jr. (1925-1976) served with the North Nova Scotia Regiment in WWII, in Korea
(1953) with The Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) of Canada (2RHC), and post Korea in
Peacekeeping Operations. He held the rank of Corporal.
Robert Burns Lewis
Name:
Service No
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Battalion/Service
Date of Birth:
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Date of Enlistment:
Place of Enlistment:
Address at Enlistment:
Age at Enlistment:
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Date of Discharge:
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Cemetery:
Source:
Library and Archives Canada
Grave Marker Robert Lewis Jr. (Mountain Cemetery, Yarmouth NS
Robert Lewis Jr.‘s cap badge, NNSR
A grandson of Robert Lewis Burns, the son of Robert Lewis Burns Jr., George Harlow Lewis (1944-2015)
also saw military service post WWII.
“While still a teenager George enlisted in the military. Though he never much talked about that period
of his life, from what he did say throughout the years it can be guessed that George’s military career
took him across the globe and right into danger. His souvenirs were few but substantial: a couple of
medals, his missing two front teeth (removed with the butt of a rifle while marching in the Congo), and a
bullet scar on his right forearm representing his time in Vietnam.”
Three generations of the Lewis family served in the military. A brother and a son of Robert Lewis Burns
were killed in action during two world wars.
