838027 Pte. Clement Burdis was born on March 20th, 1897, in Salhow (sic), near London, England.


Clement's early childhood was anything but ordinary, being sent to Canada by one of the many organizations hoping to give working class children a chance at a better life - he and his brother, John, were Home Children. Arriving in Canada at the Port of Quebec City on the Tunisian in 1908, ten year old Clement was assigned to the Annie Macpherson Home in Stratford, Ontario.


Eventually Clement ended up in the care of George Emke, and worked as a farmer in Louise, Grey County, when hostilities began.


With the raising of the 147th (Grey) Battalion, Clement joined the cause. This act may have been one of patriotism or he may have seen it as a means of returning home to England. Whatever the reason Clement, attested to the new battalion in Owen Sound, on November 27th, 1915 and was assigned to "A" Company.


Billeted locally over the winter, the 147th Battalion mobilized in Owen Sound in the spring of 1916 and left for training at Camp Niagara. As the conditions in the Camp were wanting, the unit moved to the new training facility of Camp Borden in late June. In September the unit received their orders to proceed overseas, but due to an outbreak of diphtheria they were detained in Amherst, Nova Scotia, for over a month. The unit finally sailed for Great Britain on November 14th, 1916, on the S.S. Olympic, a sister ship to the Titanic.


On January 1st, 1917, the 147th Battalion ceased to exist when it became the nucleus for the 8th Reserve Battalion, whose task it was to supply reinforcements to the 58th Battalion and the 4th C.M.R. Clement was taken on strength of the 4th C.M.R. on February 17th, 1917.


Clement would have taken part in the Battle of Arras, that saw the Canadian Corps storm Vimy Ridge. Continuing to serve with the unit through the remainder of the year, it was whilst the regiment was in trenches in the region of Vimy, providing working parties in what was generally a quiet period, Clement was wounded on September 8th, 1917.


The following year, Clement subsequently transferred to the Canadian Army Medical Corps, on October 9th, 1918.


Private Clement Burdis was struck off strength of the 4th C.M.R. on September 20th, 1919.






Biography details credit: George Auer