Charles Irish of Toronto was drafted in January 1918 and fought with the 54th Battalion. He fought at Bourlon Wood and later told his family that while separated from his unit, he ducked and a bullet from a German sniper zipped past him and stripped the bark off of a tree behind him. He was wounded in the war, but survived and worked as a carpenter in Toronto upon returning to Canada. In 1923, he married Mary Hemphill. Years later, he also told his family that he lost many friends at Bourlon Wood during the Hundred Days Offensive. For all his life, he kept a series of glass negatives and photographs depicting Bourlon Wood—including pictures of soldiers’ graves.

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.