Description
Crowchief was 22 years old when he signed up in 1916 to serve with the 191st Battalion, along with several other Kainai recruits. He landed in Liverpool in April 1917 and spent a few weeks at the Canadian base in Bramshott before heading to the front with the 50th Battalion. Crowchief fought in the trenches, including in major offensives such as Passchendaele, until he was invalided back to England in October 1918, shortly before the Armistice. Once he had recovered, Crowchief was transferred to Kinmel Park, Rhyl, in early 1919 to await transport back to Canada.Kinmel Park was a transit camp for the Canadian Expeditionary Forces, where Canadian soldiers waited to be repatriated home. It was a huge camp with almost 15,000 inhabitants. At least 80 of those soldiers died from influenza during the autumn and winter of 1918-19 but Crowchief was not one of them. He returned home in time to participate in a “victory Sundance for the returning veterans that June”I cannot express how happy I was and how proud I was because my people were proud of me. There was great joy in the camp as the dance lasted for three days.”
Bibliographic sources
Everett Soop, “Lest We Forget – Nov. 11,” Kainai News, 20 November 1974, 12; Crowchief’s personnel record: https://central.bac-lac.gc.ca/.item/?op=pdf&app=CEF&id=B2176-S041