Dewart Keir was drafted on January 7, 1918 and by mid-summer he was dead. The private with the 19th Battalion was killed in France on August 8, 1918.

In a letter from the military notifying Keir’s parents of his death, an official from the 19th Battalion described Keir as a “splendid fellow.”

“He could always do his duty cheerfully and well whatever the circumstances,” read the letter, dated September 12, 1918.

“He was a gentle man interested in nature,” said Evelyn Rose, his niece. “He had just started a job in Toronto and was engaged to be married when he was conscripted.”

Keir is commemorated at Crucifix Corner Cemetery in Villers-Bretonneux, France.

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