Remembering World War I Yarmouth Connections

Name: Frank George Giles Rank: Private Service Number: 734423 Service: 112th Battalion, 25th Battalion Canadian Expeditionary Forces Date of Birth: May 19, 1888 Place of Birth: Brookfield, Queens County, Nova Scotia Date of Enlistment: March 20, 1916 Place of Enlistment: Yarmouth, Yarmouth County, Nova Scotia Age at Enlistment: 28 Address at Enlistment: Yarmouth, Yarmouth County, Nova Scotia Previous Military Service: Militia, 29th Battery, Canadian Field Artillery, Yarmouth Height: 4 feet, 6 inches Complexion: Fair Hair Colour: Dark Brown Eye Colour: Blue Occupation: Teamster Marital Status: Married Religion: Roman Catholic Next of Kin: Mary Giles (Wife), Yarmouth, NS Date of Discharge: November 30, 1917 Date of Death: 1969 Age: 80 or 81 Cemetery: Unknown Frank George Giles was the son of Matthew Giles (1862-1935) and Mary Ann (McLellan) Giles (1866- 1943) of Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, and the brother of Ethel Mae (Giles) Cook (1886-1968), Margaret Bird Giles (1891-1943), James Henry Giles (1892-1917), Matthew Giles (1896-1916), Florence (Giles) Deveau (1896-1952), Thomas Giles (1897-1918), Grace Eleanor (Giles) Fry (1899-1928), Clayton Giles (1900-1910), Hylda Giles (1904-1954), and Mildred Mary (Giles) Leblanc (b. 1907). Frank’s brother Matthew was killed October 1, 1916, in the trenches at Courcelette, his brother James died of wounds received in action on April 10, 1917, at Vimy Ridge, and his brother Thomas was killed in an artillery attack on September 10, 1918. Frank married Mary Nettie Muise (1892-1965) in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in the United States on April 26, 1910. After enlisting in March of 1916, and training in Canada, Frank arrived in England aboard the SS Olympic on July 31, 1916. In July 1916 on the journey to England Private Frank Giles had caught a bad cold and his medical condition got generally worse after that. In March 1917 he was diagnosed with influenza and admitted to hospital. Frank was declared medically unfit to continue serving in August 1917, having developed chronic bronchitis and a heart irregularity. He was invalided home and back in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, by the end of 1917. Frank was the only surviving brother of four by the end of the First World War. He died at the Camp Hill Hospital in 1969.

Sources: Library and Archives Canada Wartime Heritage story “The Giles Brothers of Yarmouth” by Michael Cunningham