HARRISON, PTE. J.H. Reg. # 240123
John Henry Harrison
John Henry Harrison was born December 3, 1882 in Chapman Twp., the son of William Harrison and Frances ‘Fanny’ Jackson.
The Harrison family continued to live in Chapman Township at the time of the 1891 and 1901 censuses.
After his marriage on march 24, 1909 in Algoma District to Florence Harriett Southwood,, John and family continued to live in Chapman Twp. in Magnetawan on Sparks Street.
By 1912 they had moved to Burlington where they continued to live after the war
At the time of the signing of his Attestation papers on March 23, 1916 John identified that he and his wife lived in Burlington – although he continued to identify himself as a farmer.
In his Discharge Certificate, John Henry Harrison is identified as enlisting March 23, 1916 in Hamilton in the Machine Gun Section. He was discharged September 5, 1918 due to a disability that existed prior to enlistment. He is identified as having served in England and France.
After arriving in England in early 1917, John was posted to the the Machine Gun Pool in September of 1917 and was posted to the 9th Machine Gun Coy in France on November 2, 1917. In June/July of 1918 he was invalided to Canada.
In December 1917 John had been diagnosed with Bronchial Catarrh (Catarrh is a build-up of mucus in an airway or cavity of the body. It usually affects the back of the nose, the throat or the sinuses (air-filled cavities in the bones of the face). It's often temporary, but some people experience it for months or years.)
But there would appear to be more to John’s condition than noted as the reference to ‘shell shock’ below indicates:
In the notes which follow on the next page, we learn that John was ‘gassed’ while serving with the 9th Machine Gun in the fall of 1917.
The gassing resulted in the bronchial catarrh referenced earlier and aggravated/ was aggravated by a pre-existing mental problem by the Military.
The 9th Canadian Machine Gun Corps was part of the Canadian 3rd Division and during the late fall of 1917 played a key role in what is called the Second Battle of Passchendaele.
