After working in the coal mines of Wales for several years, Henry Deacon and his wife Isabella eventually immigrated to Canada in 1908 along with their eldest daughter Emily and sons Fred and William. They first settled in Virden, Manitoba where four other sons Frank, Tom, George and Albert were born before moving to Heward and then Provost, Saskatchewan. In 1912 the majority of the family moved to Alberta and eventually homesteaded in the small farming community of Monitor.

Of the six brothers, three joined the war effort while the other three William, Thomas and George stayed home and looked after the family farms.

The fourth eldest son Frank was the first to sign up on August 24, 1915 at the age of 28. At the end of April 1916 he set sail for England and after one month’s training he was transferred to the 1st Battalion, Canadian Mounted Rifles CEF and arrived in France in late May 1916. On September 15, 1916 Frank was injured by a gunshot wound to his upper left thigh while fighting at the Somme in France. He was eventually evacuated to England on September 27, 1916 where he spent the next two and a half years in and out of hospitals and convalescent homes before eventually being medically discharged and returned to Canada in May 1919. He died in August 1939.

The second eldest son Fred signed up on October 18, 1915 at the age of 31. He left for England on April 24, 1916 and landed in France in June 1916. He too was assigned to the 1st Battalion, Canadian Mounted Rifles that fought at the Somme in France. Fred was severely injured after being hit in the chest and back by flying shrapnel on November 21, 1916. He also sustained permanent hearing loss in his left ear as a result of the severe shelling. He was transferred back to England on November 24, 1916 where he spent the next six months in a convalescent home before being medically discharged and returned to Canada August 1, 1917. Fred eventually married and he and his wife Elizabeth moved back to England in January 1938. Fred died in April 1955.

The youngest son Albert signed up on March 3, 1916 at the age of 21. He left for England in December 1916 and joined his unit in May 1917. He was assigned to the Canadian Infantry (Calgary Alberta Regiment), 50th Battalion. In June 1917 during heavy fighting in and around the town of Liévin and Hill 65 in France that he received a flesh wound. He returned to his unit 7 days later. Then in December 1917 he contracted the mumps and as subsequently hospitalized for two months. After being discharged from the hospital, he went for retraining before transferring back to his unit in late April 1918. He would eventually be part of the Canadian contingent that participated in the last 100 days of the war. His battalion was assigned to cross the Canal du Nord and capture Cambrai. On September 27, 1918 he was killed in action, he was just 23 years old. He was one of over 30,800 soldiers who were killed, wounded or missing in the last 100 Days campaign that ran from August 22 to October 11, 1918. It was the 2nd to last major campaign before the armistice on November 11, 1918.

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