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Wartime Heritage
ASSOCIATION
Remembering World War I
Yarmouth Connections
Harry (Zacharie) Muise
Name:
Service No
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Date of Birth:
Place of Birth:
Date of Enlistment:
Place of Enlistment:
Address at Enlistment:
Age at Enlistment:
Height:
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Date of Death:
Cemetery:
Harry (Zacharie) Muise
1060157
Private
246th Reserve Battalion; 85th Battalion
January 25, 1897
East Quinan, Yarmouth Co., NS
November 3, 1916
Halifax NS
East Quinan, Yarmouth Co., NS
19
5 feet (no inches)
dark
black
brown
Single
Roman Catholic
Farmer
Thomas Muise (Father) East Quinan
September 30, 1934 (aged 37 years)
Roman Catholic Cemetery, Quinan
Private Muise was the fourth of thirteen children, the son of Thomas (Athanase) and Jane (Geneviève)
Muise of East Quinan, Yarmouth Co., NS. His mother, Geneviève died September 1, 1914.
Being only five feet in height, he was known as "le p'tit Carie" in Quinan. His real name was
Zacharie, but he was known and called by the name “Carie”.
His official military attestation paper records his name as “Harry”. Being unable to read or write, one
an imagine him, on November 3, 1916, standing before the recruiting officer who would have completed
the attestation form. Asked his name, Zacharie would say his name was “Carie”, after-all that his how he
was known. The recruiting officer wrote “Harry” and so Zacharie became “Harry Muise”. Harry signed his
attestation paper with his mark “x” witnessed by Private William Percy Tidgwell an eighteen year old from
94 Allen St., Halifax who had enlisted on March 6, 1916.
Having enlisted, Private Harry Muise was assigned to the 246th Battalion. His Training in Canada
began in November, 1916 and continued through May, 1917. During this time he was hospitalized between
April 26, 1917 and May 10 having suffered a sprain. During his training in Halifax he forfeited two days pay
for being absent without leave in January and was fined two
dollars for being drunk in February.
The 246th Battalion proceeded to England from Halifax on
the SS Olympic (H.M. Transport 2810) on May 31, 1917, arriving
at Liverpool, England on June 9, 1917. On June 10, 1917 he was
transferred from the 246th Battalion to the 17th Reserve
Battalion at Bramshott Camp. On November 10, 1917 he
proceeded overseas to France for service with the 85th Battalion
arriving in France on November 11, 1917 On November 14 he
departed to join the 85th in the field, arriving on November 23,
1917.
On September 2, 1918 while in the field near Arras, France
he was severely wounded when struck by shrapnel to his right
shoulder and right forearm, his right leg and face losing his sight
in his left eye. On this same day, Private Tidgwell was killed in
action, also serving in France with the 85th Battalion.
Private Muise was first taken to a Field Ambulance Station
and then to a General Hospital in the field On September 18,
1917 he was transported to Military Hospital in England and
remained in hospital until April of 1919. He was invalided to
Canada for continued medical treatment at Camp Hill Hospital,
Halifax, on April 14, 1919.
On July 24, 1919, having served in Canada, England, and
France, he was medically discharged, aged 24, at Halifax.
While his wounds healed he had various body scars, partial
loss of function to his right hand and the loss of his left eye. He
returned to East Quinan where he continued to farm. He never
married.
On September 30, 1934 at the aged of 37 years he died of tuberculous. He was buried in the Saint-
Agnès Roman Catholic Parish Cemetery in Quinan. Until 2021 his grave had no marker and the actual
location of the grave was uncertain although it was believed he may have been buried near his father’s
(Thomas Muise) grave site.
Facing the cemetery from the church, more
than halfway down on the right side, is the
location of the headstone of Thomas Muise. Next
to it is the grave of Harry’s stepmother
Evangeline. His mother, who died in 1914, has no
headstone.
On August 19, 2021, a headstone was
placed on the grave of Harry (Zacharie) Muise.
Sources:
Library and Archives Canada
Photo: Courtesy of Phyllis Pothier