838598 Pte. Albert Oscar Gillespie was on November 23rd, 1892, in Berkeley, Ontario, the eldest of three boys born to Andrew and Elizabeth Gillespie.
Growing up in the community of Berkeley, Oscar was twenty-four and working on the family farm when he attested to the 147th (Grey) Battalion, in Owen Sound, on January 15th, 1916. Taken on strength as a Private he was assigned to "C" Company under the command of Captain Dobie.
Albert was billeted in Markdale over the remainder of the winter, putting in for furlough in April to help with the ploughing and seeding of the farm. Soon after his return the unit departed for Camp Niagara in May of 1916. 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 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. Albert was taken on strength of the 4th C.M.R. on April 22st, 1917. Serving with the unit through Passchendaele and into the final 100 days of the war he was wounded on September 29th, 1918, with shrapnel to the right knee.
838598 Private Albert Oscar Gillespie was struck off strength of the C.E.F. on April 23rd, 1919 and passed away in January 1977, aged eighty-four. His service is remembered on the town of Markdale's war memorial.
Credit and many thanks go George Auer for the above biography.