Name: George Robert Whitman Regimental Number: 282952 Rank: Sergeant Battalion: 85th Battalion Date of Birth: April 13, 1884 Place of Birth: Arcadia, Yarmouth County, Nova Scotia Date of Enlistment: March 9, 1916 Address at Enlistment: Arcadia, Yarmouth County, Nova Scotia Place of Enlistment: Barrington Passage, Shelburne Co., NS Age at Enlistment: 31 Height: 5 Feet 7 Inches Complexion: Fair Eyes: Brown Hair: Black Marital Status: Married Trade: Farmer Religion: Baptist Next of Kin: Henrietta Whitman (Wife) Arcadia, Yarmouth Co., NS Date of Death: September 2, 1918 Age at Death: 34 Cemetery: Dury Mill British Cemetery, France Grave Reference: I. A. 35 Commemorated on Page 522 of the First World War Book of Remembrance Displayed in the Memorial Chamber of the Peace Tower in Ottawa on November 4 Listed on the Nominal Roll of the 219th Battalion Listed on the Yarmouth War Memorial George Whitman served some twenty years as a militiaman and regular. He took an interest in military matters and when in his early teens joined as a trumpeter with the Yarmouth Battery of Artillery under Major Thomas R. Jolly. In 1902, at eighteen, he was selected to represent the Battery at the coronation of King Edward VII in London. He rose to the rank of Brigade Sergeant Major, the highest non-commission rank of the 11th Brigade, Canadian Field Artillery. After the outbreak of the war a portion of the 40th Nova Scotia Battalion was sent to Yarmouth and he was appointed as a trainer of recruits in Yarmouth. He volunteered for service in France, relinquishing his rank and joined the 17th Reserve Battalion. On November 24th, he joined the 85th Battalion in France as a Private and a reinforcement. He was promoted to Corporal on July 17, 1918 and Sergeant on August 10, 1918. He was killed in action on September 2, 1918.