Askunas, Gilbert

Driver Gilbert Askunas was born in London, United Kingdom, around 1891. His father was Ernest Askunas, a bank clerk. Ernest immigrated to Canada aboard the SS Pomeranian in June 1907 with his wife Helen, a 15-year-old Gilbert, and 4 girls, intending to settle in the Toronto area. By the time the war broke out however, the family was living in Walkersville, Ontario, (now part of Windsor) and Gilbert attested to the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) in Valcartier on 23 September 1914, indicating a previous profession as an electrician. His attestation papers suggest that he had had five years with the 1st Hussars but elsewhere in his documents it appears that he had been a member of that unit for five days in August 1914 before being transferred to the Royal Canadian Horse Artillery (RCHA) and being sent to Valcartier to attest for the CEF.

Askunas was assigned to “B” Battery RCHA and shipped out to the United Kingdom on 3 October 1914 for combat training, and then embarked for France on 18 July 1915. The RCHA was not included in the Canadian Corps but rather as part of the Canadian Cavalry Brigade. It was attached to British units and therefore had a different battle experience than much of the rest of the CEF. In late 1915 it was operating in the Flanders area and by 1916 was part of the 2nd Indian Cavalry Division. In November of that year this unit was renamed the 5th Cavalry Division. By May 1916 the unit was at Blagny-sur-Ternois in the Pas de Calais area conducting daily training.  Askunas complained of an infection in the right ear around this time and was diagnosed with an abscess and discharged to his unit. By September 1916 his Division was engaged in the largely ineffective Battle of Guillemont which was part of the larger Somme offensive where the RCHA was hotly engaged. The next major battle for the Division was at Cambrai in November 1917 where again the RCHA found itself hotly engaged by the German counter-offensive. Askunas’ ear infection had returned a few days earlier and he was sent to hospital with a severe perforation in the ear drum - caused by a concussion in an incident which had also slightly scarred his right arm. By March 1918 he was classified B1(fit for rear area duties only) but was sent back Canada on 10 December 1918 on the SS Olympic and was discharged in London Ontario on 17 January 1919 as medically unfit.

Askunas gave Walkersville as his return address, but his medals card indicated that they be sent to Rockwood, Michigan, where his family appears to have moved. On 15 September 1951, he married Alice M. Moulton in Wayne Michigan. Alice notified the Department of Veterans’ Affairs that Gilbert had died at Lake Park (near Palm Springs), Florida, on 10 May 1973.