Allaire, Wilfred Joseph

Wilfred Alfred Joseph Allaire was born on 9 November 1885 in Saint-François-Xavier-de-Brompton, Quebec, to Mathais (a labourer) and Elizabeth (née Picard) Allaire. The family moved to Fitchburg, Massachusetts, where Wilfred attended college.

Wilfred married Mary Gertrude Allaire (née Flood) on 12 December 1906. The couple had three children (Matthew, John, and Mary) and were living in Montreal when he joined the 150th Canadian Infantry Battalion (Carabiniers Mount Royal) of the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) as a lieutenant on 13 March 1916. His occupation at the time was reported as constable. After initial training in Canada, he left on 23 September 1916, arriving in the United Kingdom about 2 weeks later, joining the 10th Reserve Battalion for combat training. He sustained a severe sprained ankle which apparently aggravated a previous injury suffered as a child. Consequently, he was not ready for combat duty for over a year. After numerous medical review boards, he shipped out to France to join his new unit, the 14th Canadian Infantry Battalion (Royal Montreal Regiment), on 21 November 1917.

The 14th was stationed in the Arras Sector at that time and was being subjected to a number of probing attacks and aggressive patrols by the German Army. On 1 December 1917 the 14th Battalion was subjected to heavy artillery fire and aggressive patrolling by the enemy and lost two men and two wounded in repelling the attack. On 3 December the unit was relieved and moved back to a rest camp at the Chateau de la Haie. Although it is not clear if Allaire had made it to the front line to join his unit, he was buried by a nearby shell explosion on that day, suffering severe damage to his hearing. He spent the next few months back in England before being furloughed on medical leave. He returned to Canada in July on the S.S. Olympic and was given a medical discharge in Canada as medically unfit on 13 August 1918.

By 1930 he is a widower living once again at his father’s residence in Fitchburg along with some of his siblings. By 1948 he had moved to Holyoke, Massachusetts, working as a “back tender”. There is no official record of his death but his service records lists his date of death as 20 January 1953.