Military service
Burial/memorial information
Son of Edward and Annie Deir.
Commemorated on the Brockville Collegiate Institute and Vocational School Roll of Honour.
Digital gallery of Lance Corporal William Deir
Digital gallery of
Lance Corporal William Deir
Gananoque, Ontario is a small town situated on the St. Lawrence River in the heart of 1,000 Islands. It is one of hundreds of communities throughout Canada with war memorials which commemorate more than 110,000 men and women who lost their lives during both world wars. Over a thousand citizens from Gananoque and surounding areas served in the navy, army, or air force: 83 lost their lives in parts of Canada, and in the battlefields of Europe. Among the dead of Gananoque include a 15 year old solider, a father of ten, four sets of brothers and a Victoria Cross winner. <P>
Today the town cenotaph lists the names of those who died and few citizens are aware of their family backgrounds or their circumstances of their deaths. Geraldine Chase of Gannaoque and Bill Beswetherick of Kingston believed it was necessary to collect this information and perpetuate their sacrifices.<P>
Gananoque Remembers book is a tribute to those who gave their lives for our freedom.<P>
Digital gallery of
Lance Corporal William Deir
William Deir is honoured on page 23 of the <i>Gananoque Remembers</i> booklet, published on January 31, 2005.
Digital gallery of
Lance Corporal William Deir
Digital gallery of
Lance Corporal William Deir
Digital gallery of
Lance Corporal William Deir
Menin Gate memorial panel bearing the name of L/Cpl. W. E. Deir.
Digital gallery of
Lance Corporal William Deir
Inscription on the Menin Gate … photo courtesy of Marg Liessens
Image gallery
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Gananoque, Ontario is a small town situated on the St. Lawrence River in the heart of 1,000 Islands. It is one of hundreds of communities throughout Canada with war memorials which commemorate more than 110,000 men and women who lost their lives during both world wars. Over a thousand citizens from Gananoque and surounding areas served in the navy, army, or air force: 83 lost their lives in parts of Canada, and in the battlefields of Europe. Among the dead of Gananoque include a 15 year old solider, a father of ten, four sets of brothers and a Victoria Cross winner. <P> Today the town cenotaph lists the names of those who died and few citizens are aware of their family backgrounds or their circumstances of their deaths. Geraldine Chase of Gannaoque and Bill Beswetherick of Kingston believed it was necessary to collect this information and perpetuate their sacrifices.<P> Gananoque Remembers book is a tribute to those who gave their lives for our freedom.<P>
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William Deir is honoured on page 23 of the <i>Gananoque Remembers</i> booklet, published on January 31, 2005.
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Menin Gate memorial panel bearing the name of L/Cpl. W. E. Deir.
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Inscription on the Menin Gate … photo courtesy of Marg Liessens
In the Books of Remembrance
Commemorated on:
Page 12 of the First World War Book of Remembrance.
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MENIN GATE (YPRES) MEMORIAL Belgium
The Menin Gate Memorial is situated at the eastern side of the town of Ypres (now Ieper) in the Province of West Flanders, on the road to Menin and Courtrai. It bears the names of 55,000 men who were lost without trace during the defence of the Ypres Salient in the First World War. Designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield and erected by the Imperial (now Commonwealth) War Graves Commission, it consists of a Hall of Memory", 36.6 metres long by 20.1 metres wide. In the centre are broad staircases leading to the ramparts which overlook the moat, and to pillared loggias which run the whole length of the structure. On the inner walls of the Hall, on the side of the staircases and on the walls of the loggias, panels of Portland stone bear the names of the dead, inscribed by regiment and corps. Carved in stone above the central arch are the words:
TO THE ARMIES OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE WHO STOOD HERE FROM 1914 TO 1918 AND TO THOSE OF THEIR DEAD WHO HAVE NO KNOWN GRAVE.
Over the two staircases leading from the main Hall is the inscription:
HERE ARE RECORDED NAMES OF OFFICERS AND MEN WHO FELL IN YPRES SALIENT BUT TO WHOM THE FORTUNE OF WAR DENIED THE KNOWN AND HONOURED BURIAL GIVEN TO THEIR COMRADES IN DEATH.
The dead are remembered to this day in a simple ceremony that takes place every evening at 8:00 p.m. All traffic through the gateway in either direction is halted, and two buglers (on special occasions four) move to the centre of the Hall and sound the Last Post. Two silver trumpets for use in the ceremony are a gift to the Ypres Last Post Committee by an officer of the Royal Canadian Artillery, who served with the 10th Battery, of St. Catharines, Ontario, in Ypres in April 1915."
For more information, visit Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
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