Private
Poitras, John William Emerson
Unit
24th Canadian Infantry Battalion (Victoria Rifles of Canada)
Branch
Infantry
Service Component
Canadian Expeditionary Force
Service Number
919959
birth
1877/05/16
Valleyfield, Quebec, Canada
death
1917/11/06
Belgium
grave
Menin Gate Memorial, Ypres, Belgium
Gender
Male
John William Emerson Poitras was born in Valleyfield, Quebec, on 16 May 1877. He was the son of Lucius and Lydia Poitras. His father was a police constable.
A butcher, Poitras enlisted in the 199th Canadian Infantry Battalion (Duchess of Connaught's Own Irish Canadian Rangers) in Amherstburg, Ontario, on 11 September 1916. He arrived in England on 26 December 1916. On 22 May 1917, he was transferred to the 24th Canadian Infantry Battalion (Victoria Rifles of Canada).
Poitras was killed in action in Belgium on 6 November 1917, during the Battle of Passchendaele. His body was not recovered. The circumstances of his death are described in the 24th Battalion’s war diary, which states that the battalion experienced continuous shelling throughout the day and night as it held the line.
John William Emerson Poitras is commemorated on the Menin Gate Memorial, in Ypres, Belgium.
