Naturalized Yank in the Canadian Engineers

[mvmhm]

Yesterday we received a really neat piece of World War I history - the uniform of an American who went to Canada and enlisted in the Canadian Army in order to "get in the fight." Kenneth Heggs was born in Kettering (not nearby Kettering, OH), England and came to the United States (St. Louis, MO) with his parents when he was 10 years old, after which the family became naturalized citizens. During World War I, he decided to enlist, but with the forces from his mother country. He went to Canada and enlisted in the Canadian Engineers, but the war ended before he could be sent to Europe. After demobilization he returned to St. Louis and eventually moved to Cincinnati, OH where he became a designer of fashion shoes - and had several patents for his designs. He passed away in April 1980 and his body donated to the University of Cincinnati.

 

I really like the way Canadian war records appear on Ancestry.com - they scan the entire file together so you're not having to go back and forth looking for it's contents...so I got his complete file in a matter of minutes. While the war ended before his training was complete, he did see a little action - two days in the Saint John's hospital for crabs.

 

Mark sends

[mvmhm]

There's also a button stick, small  (12X12 inches) ditty bag, 2 larger ones, his suspenders, hat, etc.

[mvmhm]

The ditty bags and his hat...

[mvmhm]

In addition to the batting from the inside of his coat, there's a large number of sunflower seed husks...he might have left a bag of the seeds in his coat, which attracted mice - they left the other pieces alone.