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Pte. John Albert Collier
Canadian Expeditionary Force 5th Brigade Machine Gun Coy.
from:572 Wentworth Street, North, Hamilton, Canada
Jack Collier was born in London, England and emigrated to Canada in the care of the Salvation Army in 1910. He enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Force on 18th of August 1915, embarking aboard the S.S. Adriatic with the 86th Machine Gun Battalion for Britain on 19th May 1916. He was initially stationed at the Canadian Machine Gun Depot, Risborough Barracks, in Shorncliffe, Kent and then later at Crowborough, Sussex. He was sent to the Canadian Machine Gun Pool at Camiers, France on 18 April 1917 and served with the 2nd Division's 5th Brigade Machine Gun Company for 4 and a half months.
Jack was severely gassed near Cite St. Pierre, near Lens on 21st of August 1917 during the Battle of Hill 70. He was returned to Britain for treatment and convalescence before being transferred to the 11th Battalion, Canadian Engineers for the duration of the War, serving in France for an additional 20 months. Jack embarked for Canada from Liverpool on 8 August 1919 along with his English bride and their six-week old daughter.
When WWII broke out, Jack guarded Canadian port and electrical facilities in the service of the Ontario Provincial Police and later enlisted in the 35th Company of The Veterans' Guard of Canada, escorting German P.O.W.s from Britain to Canada and serving as a guard at several P.O.W. camps in northern Ontario, Canada.
