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CWM 19920166-1501
CWM 19920166-1501

Private

Poitras, John William Emerson

Unit

24th Canadian Infantry Battalion (Victoria Rifles of Canada)

Branch

Infantry

Service Component

Canadian Expeditionary Force

Service Number

919959

birth

1877/05/16

Valleyfield, Quebec, Canada

death

1917/11/06

Belgium

grave

Menin Gate Memorial, Ypres, Belgium

Gender

Male

John William Emerson Poitras was born in Valleyfield, Quebec, on 16 May 1877. He was the son of Lucius and Lydia Poitras. His father was a police constable.

A butcher, Poitras enlisted in the 199th Canadian Infantry Battalion (Duchess of Connaught's Own Irish Canadian Rangers) in Amherstburg, Ontario, on 11 September 1916. He arrived in England on 26 December 1916. On 22 May 1917, he was transferred to the 24th Canadian Infantry Battalion (Victoria Rifles of Canada).

Poitras was killed in action in Belgium on 6 November 1917, during the Battle of Passchendaele. His body was not recovered. The circumstances of his death are described in the 24th Battalion’s war diary, which states that the battalion experienced continuous shelling throughout the day and night as it held the line.

John William Emerson Poitras is commemorated on the Menin Gate Memorial, in Ypres, Belgium.

The Canadian War Museum’s Collection includes the following artifacts for this recipient