Hallett Archibald Trefry (Treffry on attestation form) 282658 Private 85th Battalion March 19, 1899 Pleasant Lake, Yarmouth Co., NS March 13, 1916 Yarmouth, NS Pleasant Lake, Yarmouth Co., NS 17 5 feet, 3½ inches Fair Brown Light Brown Single Farmer Baptist Augustus Trefry (Father) Pleasant Lake, Yarmouth Co., NS January 21, 1919 (Halifax) April 4, 1935 Our Lady of Calvary Cemetery, Yarmouth NS Hallett Archibald Trefry was the son of Augustus Campbell Trefry (1865-1930) and Elizabeth Ann (Jeffery) Trefry (1872-1960), the brother of Mayme Gladys (b. March 18, 1894), Josephine Teressa (August 26, 1896- March 25, 2001), and William Caleb Trefry (August 11, 1907- October 15, 1959). William served as a Corporal with the West Nova Scotia Regiment during WWII. Private Trefry was healthy as a boy, attended school, played games and worked on the farm. Six days before his eighteenth birthday, he enlisted at Yarmouth NS with the 219th Battalion. He completed his medical on March 10, 1916 and was considered “fit” for service. Prior to enlistment he served with the 29th Field Battery, Canadian Field Artillery in Yarmouth. Between March, 1916 and October, 1916 he training in Nova Scotia. Private Trefry departed Canada on October 12, 1916 on the SS Olympic and disembarked in England on October 18, 1916. While at Bramshott Camp, on January 23, 1916 he was transferred to the 17th Battalion and continued his training in England for seven months. He transferred from the 17th Battalion and taken on strength with the 85th Battalion in France in June 1917. He fought with the Battalion at Vimy Ridge, Lens, and at Passchendaele. On October 30, 1917, while at Passchendaele, he suffered injury from a mustard gas shell. He was sent to No. 3 Station Hospital at Rouen, France on November 2, 1917 and on November 9 was sent the 3rd Western General Hospital at Cardiff, in Wales and to No. 13 Canadian General Hospital at Hastings on December 4, 1917. On March 1, 1918 he was admitted to the Military Convalescence Hospital at Epsom. On April 18, 1918 Private Trefry was admitted to the King’s Canadian Red Cross Special Hospital at Bushy Park at Hampton Hill, Middlesex for remedial treatment and recovery from the effects of mustard gas. The remedial treatment included eight days of fifteen minute exercises and two minutes of route march for eight days; thirty minutes of exercises and two minutes of route march for fourteen days; and thirty minutes of exercises and four minutes of route march for seven days. On May 22, 1918 he was transferred to Bramshott Camp and assigned light duties. He returned to Canada on the SS Olympic arriving at Halifax on December 13, 1918. He was taken on strength at No. 6 Depot at Halifax and assigned to the Casualty Company. He was discharged on January 21, 1919. In the years following the war Hallett was a barber and operated a barbershop across the street from the Grand Hotel on Main St., Yarmouth. On August 16, 1927, he married Celina Deveau at St. Ambrose Roman Catholic Church in Yarmouth. Celina was born in Hectanooga, Digby Co., NS, the daughter of Agapite Deveau and Vetaline (Saulnier) Deveau. The marriage certificate lists her age as twenty-six and Hallett as twenty- eight. Celina occupation is listed as a mill worker, Hallett as a barber. Hallett and Celina lived on Ryerson Court in Yarmouth. Hallett died on April 4, 1935 at the age of thirty-six, his death attributed to his wartime service. Celina never remarried and raised their two sons, Victor Augustus and Donald on her own. Victor, the son of Hallett Trefry, served twenty-two years as an Aircraft Mechanic with the RCAF and Victor’s son Danny, served for twenty-nine and a half years as a member of The Royal Canadian Corps of Signals, five years of NATO Service in Germany, and tours in Cyprus, Kosovo, and Somalia.

Sources: findagrave.com Library and Archives Canada photos: courtesy of Donna Trefry

King’s Canadian Red Cross Special Hospital at Bushy Park