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Wartime Heritage
ASSOCIATION
Remembering World War I
Yarmouth Connections
Name:
Douglas Coy Pierce
Regimental Number:
223235
Rank:
Private
Battalion:
85th Battalion
Date of Birth:
February 8, 1894
Place of Birth:
Cedar Lake, Digby County, Nova Scotia
Date of Enlistment:
November 4, 1915
Place of Enlistment:
Halifax, Nova Scotia
Address at Enlistment:
Cedar Lake, Digby County, Nova Scotia
Age at enlistment:
21
Height: 6 feet
Complexion: Fair
Eyes: Blue
Hair:
Dark
Trade:
Electrician
Marital Status:
Single
Religion:
Baptist
Next of Kin:
Alice Pierce (Mother) Cedar Lake, Digby
County, Nova Scotia
Date of Death:
June 13, 1917
Age at Death:
23
Buried at:
Aire Communal Cemetery,
France (Plot: I. F. 2.)
Commemorated on Page 309 of the First World War Book of Remembrance
This page is displayed in the Memorial Chamber of the Peace Tower in Ottawa on July 6
Listed on the Nominal Roll of the 85th Battalion.
Douglas Pierce was the son of George W. and Alice E. Pierce, of Hebron, Yarmouth Co., Nova
Scotia. He enlisted in 1915 with the 85th Battalion. Douglas Pierce and Emerson Ladd Curry both
with the 85th Battalion participated in the recruiting rally of February, 1916 in the Beaver River
area, Nova Scotia urging more volunteers for the battalion.
While serving in France, Douglas became ill and was admitted to hospital on June 11, 1917. He
died two days later of nephritis (acute kidney failure).
His friend, Emerson would later write: “My first few months in England were very pleasant and
much enjoyed. I had one chief chum, Douglas Pierce. He was as a brother to me and I had such
joy knowing him that day by day he was being brought closer to the Master…”
Douglas Coy Pierce is also
commemorated on the family
monument in the Cedar Lake
Cemetery
Cpl. Douglas Coy Pierce
85th Battalion
Died
for King & Country
in France
June 13, 1917
Aged 23 yrs
Sources:
Veterans Affairs Canada
Additional Information:
“A Monument Speaks” A Thurston; 1989 (pp 270-271)
Douglas Coy Pierce
photo: findagrave
photo: by Wartime Heritage Oct 2020