After receiving news that his father had perished in the Great War, a now orphaned George Chapman Stevens went straight to the recruitment office with no hesitations.

“I’m all that is left of my small family,” said the Toronto-born sixteen-year-old.

Although age restrictions would normally have prevented him from enlisting, he was determined to change their minds.

The officer responded, “Well, young sir if you truly are ready to go to war then go outside and run around the block and age a year each time you do so.”

And that’s exactly what he did.

Shortly afterwards he enlisted with the 87th Battalion from Paris, Ontario and served as a private.

But on September 2, 1918 George was killed in action.

The news was particularly tragic for George’s cousin William Sewell, as the pair had spent many exciting times together in their youth.

“Dad always said he was very proud to walk down the street with cousin George in uniform,” said Vivian Wylie, George’s daughter.

Her father had always looked up to his older cousin in a way.

In the 1950s the Sewell family took a vacation to the nation’s capital and upon visiting Parliament Hill the family was struck by surprise.

When William and his family entered the Memorial Chamber of the Peace Tower, the First World War Book of Remembrance had been left open to the exact page where Pte. George Stevens’ name— was commemorated.

What were the chances?

“One in a million,” William is said to have whispered.

Today, although William is no longer with them, the family still sets time aside every Remembrance Day to think of cousin George.

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.