Clark Seaborn remembers it as if it were yesterday.

He was eleven-years-old. It was October 1955. Sitting in his bedroom, he heard a noise at his door. It was his father George and he was crying.

“It was the only time I ever saw him weeping, even a little bit,” Clark recalled. “He came in my bedroom and said ‘your grandfather died last night.’”

Years later Clark was determined to record his aging father’s memories, including his recollections of serving in the Second World War. It was then that Clark learned of a family story that shone new light on that tearful moment in 1955.

“I always knew that my father had served in the Second War. But I found out my grandfather—having seen the carnage in the First War—he said to my father, ‘Don’t volunteer in this war (Second World War). It’s horrible.’ But he did volunteer. I didn’t find this out until much, much later.”

Clark’s grandfather was Walter Ernest Seaborn, a prominent lawyer, property broker and militia officer from Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. Despite being thirty-six-years-old with a wife and children, Walter determined to raise and command his own fighting force in 1916.

His 210th Battalion crossed the Atlantic on the troop ship RMS Carpathia, famous for rescuing survivors of the RMS Titanic in 1912. The Carpathia sunk in 1918 by a German submarine.

Upon its arrival at the front, the battalion was broken up and merged with other units. With no men left to command, Walter was reduced in rank from lieutenant colonel to lieutenant and assigned to a new battalion. His knowledge of French likely proved useful in dealing the French military and he was officially mentioned in despatches for his bravery and command skill.

A photo taken in the early spring of 1917 shows Walter proudly marching through Moose Jaw at the head of the 210th as the soldiers ship out for Europe. Hundreds of family and friends line the streets to cheer them off.

Seeing that photo today, Clark Seaborn said he’s struck by their patriotism. “It’s so obvious in the pictures of them parading down the Main Street of Moose Jaw—they were patriotic and they were going over to fight the Hun.”

“I feel like I know my grandfather better now than as I did as a kid,” he added. “The last time I saw him, I was ten-years-old. As I got to understand my father and grandfather a little bit more… it helped me understand these generations before me.”

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.