Canadian Virtual War Memorial

Grave marker – Private Frederick Harold Lewis was a British immigrant who settled with his mother and two of his sisters in Wyoming. His father was a regular soldier in the Corps of Royal Engineers and Fred was born in Alexandria, Egypt, where his father was serving, on 3 August 1894. Fred Lewis arrived in Canada on 23 December 1911 and also travelled to Sheridan County, where he became a ranch hand. Lewis enlisted in Chicago for service with the Canadian Expeditionary Force and on 8 February 1918 attested at Toronto, Ontario. He joined the 2nd Depot Battalion, 1st Central Ontario Regiment and was allocated the number 3231750. After a period of basic training he was dispatched to the United Kingdom (the 151st Draft), where he arrived on 25 September 1918. He was taken on strength of 8th Reserve Battalion but the war ended prior to the completion of his training. In November 1918 he was admitted to hospital suffering from influenza, which was cured, but influenza struck him again the following February and he was again admitted to hospital. Tuberculosis was discovered and he was transferred to the Canadian Special Hospital at Lenham in Kent on 31 March. He remained there until he was sent home to Canada. He embarked on the hospital ship SS Araguaya on 19 April and arrived in Halifax a week later. Lewis was immediately admitted to Spadina Military Convalescent Hospital and finally discharged from the Army on 4 June 1919; responsibility for his care passed to the Invalided Soldiers’ Commission. Lewis was treated at Guelph Military Convalescence Hospital (also known as Speedwell Hospital) until he returned, via Detroit, to Big Horn, Wyoming in April 1920. He died there of tuberculosis on 29 November 1920 and is buried in Sheridan Municipal Cemetery, in a plot owned by his step-father