John Patrick Powers

Rank:

Private

Regimental number:

772808

Unit at enlistment:

125th Battalion

Force:

C.E.F.

Volunteered or conscripted:

Volunteered

Survived the war:

Wounded:

Yes

Date of death:

August 30th, 1918

Cemetery:

Upton Wood Cemetery - Pas de Calais, France - B.17.

Birth country:

Canada

Birth county:

Brant

Birth city:

Brantford, Ontario

Address at enlistment:

153 Darling Street, Brantford, Ontario

Next of kin address:

153 Darling Street, Brantford, Ontario

Trade or calling:

Coremaker

Employer:

Sarnia Lumber Co.

Religious denominations:

Roman Catholic

Marital status:

Single

Age at enlistment:

Letters and documents

Circumstances of Casualty: Previously reported Missing, now Killed in Action.
Location of Unit at Time of Casualty: Attack South of Upton Wood.

BX September 14, 1918

Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Powers, 153 Darling Street have received an official message telling that their son, Private John Patrick Powers is officially reported missing. The missing soldier had been three years in service and on October 9 next would have been two years in France. He went through the noted Vimy Ridge attack, and previously had been buried by a shell, being confined to hospital in Boulogne for some six months. Previous to enlistment he was employed by the Sarnia Lumber Company. He was born and educated in Brantford, and was a member of St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church and of St. Basil's Court, Catholic Order of Foresters. In addition to his father and mother; two sisters, both of Brantford, Mrs. D. Burke and Miss Sadie at home feel the sad blow.

BX September 19, 1918

The sad intelligence was received in the city yesterday by Mr. and Mrs. John Powers that their son, Private John Patrick Powers had been killed in action. A report had previously been received that he was missing. The parents had word from him not long ago that he was in the best of health and was getting ready to take part in the big impending battle. Private Powers enlisted with the 125th Battalion here. He was a well-known Brantford boy, and will be greatly missed.

BX August 30, 1916

Great Reception to 125th At Liverpool – Private John Patrick Powers Tells of the Fine Trip Across the “Herring Pond”

Mr. John Powers, 153 Darling Street, has received the following letter from his son, Pte. John Powers:

August 18, 1916
Liverpool

We arrived here safe and sound. We left Halifax on Aug. 9. They kept us in the bay at Halifax four days. We had good weather all the way over. I was not sick one day. We had a funeral at sea. A soldier on the ship behind us died and they buried him the next day. They stopped all the boats and they put the body on a plank and at 12 o’clock they put the plank up. The body was sewed in canvas and iron bales put on his feet to take it to the bottom of the ocean. There was hardly any sickness on board. We saw a few whales and porpoises and there was one shark following the ship that had the dead body on. We had a cruiser to protect us and when we were about ten miles from Liverpool five torpedo boats came out to meet us.

It sure was some grand sight coming up the Irish coast. Talk about pretty sights, it is worth lots of money to see. We could not leave the cars and 40 miles off of Halifax we had to pull down the blinds and put out the lights and keep them that way until we got to Halifax. We stayed in the cars that night and went out to the boat Sunday morning in the bay about three miles and stayed there until Wednesday morning, when we sailed. They gave us a great send off. There were four warships in the harbor, and the way they make a noise is worth hearing. All the boats in the harbor blew their whistles. We also got a great reception at Liverpool and New Brighton, which is across the Mersey River from Liverpool. It is a seaside resort. I am writing this on the train. I don’t know where we are going, but I am on the way, but I think we are going to Southampton.

I wish you could see the trains over here. They’re partitioned off in little rooms, holding six each and you get in from the side. We came over on the Scandinavian and they fed us the best in the land and we have nice clean berths.

Pte. John Powers
B. Co. 125th, Canadian
Post office,
London, England

BX May 17, 1917

That Private John Patrick Powers was in the No. 2 Stationary Hospital at Abbeville suffering from a contusion of the back, was the word received today by his mother, Mrs. John Powers, of Darling Street. Private Powers was working in a munitions factory at Sarnia when he came back to Brantford and enlisted. He went overseas with the first overseas battalion of the “Duffs.”