Elias Howard Cross was born at Norwood, Ontario, on October 19, 1898. A teamster, he enlisted on February 3, 1917, with the 254th Battalion. In France, he was assigned to the 15th Battalion, and fought at the Second Battle of Passchendaele. Elias was the only casualty for the battalion on December 23, 1917, when he was killed by machine gun fire during the relief of his battalion from the front line in the Lens left Sector. Elias’s parents were especially distraught at his death, for they had earlier lost their eldest son, Thomas, during fighting in October 1916. Elias Cross is buried in Villers Station Cemetery, Villers au Bois, France.

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