Clarence Kenney of Saint John, New Brunswick, rarely spoke of his Great War experience. What little he did tell his grandson was chilling.

“Grandfather never talked much about his wartime experiences. ... he rarely ever opened up,” says David Kenney. “I still recall him telling me that he witnessed the execution of deserters. As a military policeman, this is quite possible. I suspect that, like many of those who witnessed the horrors of warfare, he was reluctant to speak of the experiences.”

Clarence Kenney enlisted in August 1914 immediately after the declaration of war. He was 25. Assigned to the 12th Battalion, he later transferred to the 14th Battalion, arriving in France in May 1915. He served as a member of the Military Police until November 1916, when he was hospitalized with “melancholia and neurasthenia.” A common diagnosis during the Great War, neurasthenia was the term used to describe extreme chronic fatigue due to stress.

In January 1917, Clarence was sent to Hastings, England, where he served out the remainder of the war working in military hospitals, perhaps as an orderly or masseuse. Throughout the war, he kept a running correspondence with Catherine Duncan of Thamesville, Ontario, that upon war’s end, resulted in marriage.

“The romance and subsequent engagement all took place by mail while he was in Europe and she back home in Ontario!” says David Kenney. “I wish I had those love letters!”

Clarence died in 1962 and is buried in the military section of Windsor Grove Cemetery in Windsor, Ontario.

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.