John Melody Dever

Like most men of his generation, he spoke little about the war.


John Melody Dever enlisted on August 29th, 1916 and was assigned to C Battery of the Royal Canadian Horse Artillery. Born in 1897 in Montreal, Dever was one of three brothers to serve in the Great War. “Thankfully all three came home!,” says Patricia Greber, Dever’s granddaughter.

Greber knows few details about her grandfather’s war experience. Like most men of his generation, he spoke little about the war. “He died when I was four and his only child, my father, passed away in 2008. When I did ask my dad about it he said his father did not talk about it ,” she says. Dever was the sixth of thirteen siblings. In his later years, Dever became a partner in a Montreal importing and exporting firm called Johnson & Dever. He died in February of 1976 in Montreal.

Do you have an ancestor who served in the Great War? Submit their story and it could be included on this Great War Album website.