JW Young

My grandmother's older brother, Jim Young, owned and operated a small grocery store at the corner of 22nd Avenue and Slocan Street in Vancouver. The store was a one-man operation, so when war broke out in 1914 Jim didn't enlist voluntarily. Then, in November 1917 the Canadian Government passed the Conscription Act, making it compulsory to serve in the military. Uncle Jim enlisted on January 10, 1918 and shortly afterwards travelled to Halifax by train, then by ship to England. He joined his battalion in France in June 1918, just in time to participate in some of the last great battles of the war. He was killed by enemy machine gun fire on the morning of September 27, 1918 during the Canal du nord/Bourlon Wood battle, just a few weeks before the war ended. He is buried in a British military cemetery near the village of Sainz-lez-Marquion.