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Wartime Heritage
ASSOCIATION
Remembering World War I
Yarmouth Connections
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George William Gavel
George William Gavel
21838
Company Sergeant Major
10th Battalion, 2nd Canadian Machine Gun Corps
November 13, 1988
Kelley’s Cove, Yarmouth Co., NS
August 12, 1914 (Attestation: September 23, 1914)
Valcartier, Quebec
Yarmouth, NS
25
5 feet, 10 inches
Dark
Blue
Brown
Single
Bricklayer
Baptist
John Gavel (Father)
May 29, 1919
June 8, 1968
79
Memorial Gardens Cemetery, Swift Current, Saskatchewan
Rugged Cross, Section 71, Plot D, Lot 2
George William Gavel was the son of John Hardy Gavel (1851-1931) and Agnes E. (Hurlburt) Gavel (1860-
1918). He was the brother of Frank Lee (1882-1966), Blanche Mary Gavel (1887–1944), Roy Ferguson
Gavel (1890–1988), Fred Bragg Gavel (1892–1971), John [Jack] Noble Gavel (1893–1973), and Isabell
Gavel (1896–1983). His brother Roy Ferguson Gavel also served during WWI (Service No. 282973).
George William Gavel’s son, Arthur Douglas Gavel was a war casualty of WWII.
He enlisted at Valcartier, Quebec on August 12, 1914 with the 95th Regiment, Saskatchewan Rifles and
transferred in September to the 11th Battalion. He departed Canada on October 4, 1914 on the SS Royal
Edward. He was transferred from the 11th Battalion at Tidworth Camp Infantry Base Depot in Wiltshire,
England on February 27, 1915 and transferred to the 7th Battalion in France on March 26, 1915. On
March 31, 1915 he joined the 10th Canadian Battalion and on January 28, 1916 he was transferred to
the 2nd Canadian Machine Gun Corps. On April 15, 1916 he was promoted to the rank of Corporal.
On September 11, 1916 during the Battle of Flers-
Courcelette at the Somme, he was injured when buried
from shell fire in a quarry north of Courcelette. His injuries
included fractured ribs and some concussion. He was taken
to #3 Canadian Field Ambulance and transferred to #13
Canadian Stationary Hospital in Boulogne on September 11,
1916. He returned to England on the Hospital Ship Jan
Breydel to Folkestone and was admitted to the Ontario
Military Hospital in Orpington, Kent from September 14 to October 20, 1916 and at the Canadian
Convalescent Hospital in Bromley, Kent from October 20 to October 26, 1916.
He returned to France in March of 1917 serving with the Canadian Machine Gun Corps and on June 19,
1917 he was appointed acting Sergeant.
From January 6 to January 22, 1919 he had fourteen days leave. He was appointed Company Sergeant
Major on February 1, 1919 in the field. He contracted influenza and was hospitalized in Orpington, Kent
from March 10 to April 11, 1919. He returned to Canada departing England May 14, 1919 disembarking
in Canada on May 23, 1919. He was discharged on May 29, 1919.
Obituary: Regina Leader-Post (June 17, 1968)
“On Saturday, June 8, 1968, Mr. George William Gavel passed away suddenly at his residence in Swift
Current, age 79 years. Funeral services were held Tuesday, June 11th from the Chapel of Warren's
Funeral Home in Swift Current with Rev. Neilson conducting the services. Interment in Memory
Gardens, Swift Current. Predeceased by one son, Arthur in 1944, one brother and one sister.
Mr. Gavel is survived by his wife Vera: one son Murray, of Swift Current district; two daughters,
Audrey (Mrs. Donald C. Whitney), of Toronto, Lorna (Mrs. Karl A. Ruft of Swift Current; eight
grandchildren; one sister and two brothers In Vancouver, B.C. and one brother, John N. of Regina.”
Hospital Ship Jan Breydel
