Nelson Fortier
Nelson Fortier was born in New Rapids MI on 26 May 1896, the oldest child of his parents, Aldophus and Georgina Fortier. Nelson was followed by 3 sisters and a brother.
After enlisting with the 39th Battalion in Lindsay on 23 February 1915, Nelson was transferred to the 13th Battalion after arriving in England. He spent a significant amount of time in England sick with bronchitis, and was tested several times for TB before being sent to France and taken on strength to the 13th Battalion.
The 13th Battalion war diary notes the exact circumstances of Nelson’s death on 27 October 1917:
A fairly presentable camp had been established at Track G leaf of the Ypres-St Jean Rd. A new hut, built from such materials as could be salvaged around the camp was erected to take the place of an Orderly Room. All together the prospect for a new Battalion coming in looked much better than it had done for the 13th Canadian Battalion settling down late in the day on a field barren of everything but shell holes. Unfortunately, we had one man killed while on working party near Spree Farm in the early morning. An enemy aeroplane bomb dropping close to him but that was the only fatal casualty we experienced.
Nelson Fortier is buried in Ypres Reservoir Cemetery, Belgium. He was 21 years old.
