A First War Medal Bar To The 1St Canadian Inf.; Wounded 3 Times

A First War Medal bar to the 1st Canadian Inf.; Wounded 3 Times - 1914-15 Star (406636 Pte G. WARNER. 1/CAN.INF:); British War Medal (406636 L. CPL. G. WARNER. 1-CAN.INF.); Victory Medal with MID bronze oakleaves on the ribbon (406636 L. CPL. G. WARNER. 1-CAN.INF.); Canadian Volunteer Service Medal (unnamed); War Medal 1939-1945 (unnamed); and Colonial Auxiliary Forces Long Service Medal (SGT. G.F.WARNER LINC. & WELLD. REGT.). Naming is officially impressed. Very crisp detail, plated, edge wear, original ribbons, on a suspension with swing bar pinback as worn by the veteran, very fine. Accompanied by a CD containing twenty-one pages with copies of his CEF Index Cards, Service Records, Medical Records, Discharge Certificates and Lincoln & Welland Active Militia Certificate of Discharge (dated February 5, 1926), along with printed copies of his Second World War Attestation Paper, Service Records, Medical Records, Discharge Certificate, Medal Awards Card, Department of Veteran Affairs Death Notification, along with letters confirming his eligibility for the Colonial Auxiliary Forces Long Service Medal and the Efficiency Medal with Canada Scroll.   Footnote: George Frederick Warner was born on January 29, 1894 in Weston-Super-Mare, Somersetshire, England. He completed Standard X7 in urban England (equivalent to about Grade 8 in Canada), was an Apprentice Plumber and Stationary Engineer for four years before he came to Canada at the age of 17 in 1911. He worked for four years as a helper on a fruit farm and had completed almost five months service as a Private with the 44th Lincoln & Welland Regiment (November 4, 1914 to March 31, 1915) when he was discharged, in order to re-enlist with the 36th Infantry Battalion CEF. He signed his CEF Attestation Paper as a Private (406636) with the 36th Infantry Battalion on April 14, 1915 in Hamilton, Ontario, at the age of 21, naming his next-of-kin as his father, W. Warner of Beamsville, Ontario (later having his wife, Mrs. M. Warner of Grimsby acknowledged as his next-of-kin), stating that he had previous military service with the 44th Lincoln & Welland Regiment, that he was not married and that his trade was that of Labourer. The Battalion was raised and mobilized in Hamilton, Ontario under the authority of G.O. 86, July 1, 1915. The Battalion sailed June 19, 1915 under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel E.C. Ashton with a strength of 31 officers and 1,004 other ranks, arriving in England on the 28th. After six months orientation, Warner was transferred to the 1st Battalion at West Sandling on November 25, 1915, joining them on the 29th in France. The following summer he was in action on June 14, 1916, when he was admitted to No. 8 Station Hospital at Wimeraux, near Boulogne with contusions to his left knee and a case of Shell Shock. Two days later, he was transferred to No. 1 Convalescent Depot at Boulogne on the 16th, where he was to spend the following week recovering. He was discharged to the Canadian Base Depot on June 22nd, rejoining the 1st Battalion on the 29th. His skills were soon needed elsewhere, as he was transferred to 3rd Field Company, Canadian Engineers on July 18, 1916, joining them on the 19th. He ran afoul of bad luck once again, admitted to No. 1 Canadian Field Ambulance with a gun shot wound to his left hand on November 10, 1916. He was treated and remained hospitalized for weeks, before being discharged to duty on the 24th. Having been wounded twice, he sought the opportunity to be granted permission to marry, which was given to him on December 17, 1917. Five months later, he was stuck off strength of No. 3 Field Company, Canadian Engineers on transfer to the 3rd Battalion, Canadian Engineers on May 28, 1918, joining them the following day. Warner was appointed Acting Lance Corporal on the 29th, soon seeing a promotion to Lance Corporal. Now with his third unit in France, he was wounded again and admitted to No. 9 Field Ambulance with a gun shot wound to his right leg on September 11, 1918, subsequently treated and released. In the new year, with the ceasing of hostilities, he proceeded to England and was transferred to B Wing, Canadian Corps Reinforcement Camp at Bramshott on March 23, 1919. He was stuck off strength to Canada on April 29, 1919, embarking Liverpool, England aboard the S.S. Baltic. He was taken on strength at No. 2 District Depot in Hamilton on April 29, 1919 and was discharged upon demobilization from the 3rd Battalion, Canadian Engineers on May 9th at Hamilton. Warner was wounded three times and gassed during the course of the war and was credited with having served in Canada, England, France and Belgium, earning him the Star, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal and entitling him to wear the War Service Badge, Class "A", number 154395. Initially, he was not awarded the Star but upon inquiry through the Adjutant-General's Office in Ottawa, it was determined that he did qualify for it and that one would be sent to him. He was named to the rank of Sergeant on June 15, 1919. Between the wars, he worked for three years as a Stationary Engineer at a Greenhouse, before joining the civil service, in the Postal Department in Grimsby, Ontario, where he was employed as an Assistant Postmaster and as a Chief Caretaker (1923-1940), and continued to serve as a Corporal in the Lincoln and Welland Regiment, as part of the Non-Permanent Active Militia. Warner signed his Second World War Attestation Paper as a Private (B-37739) at the Royal Hamilton Light Infantry Depot on June 7, 1940, in Hamilton, Ontario, naming his next-of-kin as wife, Mabel Warner, stating his date of birth as January 20, 1897 (versus the January 29, 1894 he claimed on his CEF Attestation Paper), that he had served with the 1st Infantry Battalion (1914-1919) and the 3rd Battalion Engineers CEF in England and France, that he had previous military service with the Lincoln and Welland Regiment and the Royal Canadian Ordnance Corps and that his trade was that of Caretaker. Three days later, he was transferred to No. 2 Infantry (Rifle) Training Centre and promoted to Sergeant on June 11th. He was later transferred to Camp Borden for the next two years, where he was an Instructor on Basic and Advance Infantry training. On Christmas Day, December 25, 1941, Warner received a telephone call from Hamilton that his wife had been injured in a car accident earlier in the day. He received a pass and left to be with his wife. However, he himself was in a car accident after he left Camp Borden, about a mile and half from Barrie. The incident was described in his medical report: "he turned around in the car and his elbow hit the door handle, opening it and he fell out of the car." Fortunately for him, the car was slow moving, as the impact with the ground did not rendering him unconscious. However, his initial injuries described as "brush burns to his face and left hand" along with an "injury to his right ankle" and a "contusion to his left shoulder" were later re-assessed to be "minor cuts to his face and both hands", a "fractured right clavicle" (shoulder), a "fracture to his right fibula" (lower leg) and "Olecranon Bursitis" (an inflammation and swelling behind the elbow). He was operated on and treated at Camp Borden Military Hospital, where he was to remain until February 15, 1942, when he was transferred to the Toronto Convalescent Hospital, his right ankle still causing problems. Six weeks after arriving at TCH, he was discharged from hospital on March 29th. Once he recovered from his injuries, Warner was transferred to the A-11 Infantry Advanced Training Centre at Camp Borden on April 17, 1942, followed by a transfer two months later, to No. 24 Basic Training Centre in Brampton, Ontario on June 16th. While at Brampton, he was confirmed in the rank of Company Quartermaster Sergeant on May 8, 1943. He was admitted to Brampton Military Hospital on May 18, 1944, the illness not disclosed in his records and was discharged on May 24th. He was transferred to No. 23 Basic Training Centre in Newmarket, Ontario on July 11, 1944. While in Newmarket, he was hospitalized again, this time being admitted to C.P. Military Hospital on February 12, 1945 for a sixteen day stay, the illness again not defined in his records, before being discharged on the 28th. Company Quartermaster Sergeant Warner was transferred to No. 2 District Depot in Toronto, Ontario for discharge on June 20, 1945. He was discharged from service in order "to return to civil life at his own request by reason of long service", on June 23, 1945, at the "apparent" age of 48, his home service qualifying him for the Canadian Volunteer Service Medal and War Medal 1939-1945. His service records document that during thFe First World War, Warner was with the 1st Infantry Battalion and the Royal Canadian Engineers, that he served as a Company Sergeant Major with the Infantry for three years and as a Sergeant in demolitions with the Engineers for one and a half years, that he was overseas for four and a half years in France, where he was also wounded and gassed. His Second World War service totalled sixty months (1940-1945), with Warner being employed as a Sergeant Instructor on Basic and Advance Infantry training for three years and as a Company Quartermaster Sergeant in Quartermaster "Q" Stores for the latter two years. He was credited with having completed a Platoon Weapons and Small Arms courses, qualifying "Distinguished", in addition to qualifying on a three week Regimental Quartermaster Sergeant course. In his Service Interview Summary, dated June 21, 1945, it was noted that he had continuous service with the Canadian Army since 1914 in the CEF, the NPAM and the CA, that he was "steady and dependable" and that he was a "capable instructor and well able to assume the responsibility of C.Q.M.S. duties". Warner planned to return to his job as Chief Caretaker at the Post Office in Grimsby. His wife had been carrying on his work at the Post Office for the past five years while he was in the army and that there was no question as to the availability of the job for him. The interviewer noted that he was a "cheerful and pleasant individual who expects to be pensioned from the Post Office in about five years" and that "he intends eventually to retire to the family owned fruit farm and devote his full time to that type of employment". While with the Lincoln and Welland Regiment, he completed the necessary twenty years service for the Colonial Auxiliary Forces Long Service Medal on August 24, 1930, was awarded it in December 1932 and received it in February 1933. Warner applied for the Efficiency Medal on November 24, 1943, documenting his service with the Lincoln and Welland Regiment (August 25, 1930 to November 10, 1939). There was some question in his eligibility for the medal, as there was a seven month period (November 10, 1939 to June 11, 1940), when his unit had been called out and they had been disbanded, with the officers and men being "scattered in every direction". In a letter from Colonel W.W. Johnson, Commandant Northern Area in North Bay, Ontario, to the Commandant at No. 24 Basic Training Centre in Brampton, the Colonel confirmed that "at no time should he have been taken off the N.P.A,M. status of the Unit and therefore this period of time between 10 November 1939 and 11 June 1940 should count towards the Efficiency Medal". Warner received his Efficiency Medal in July 1944. He was married to Margaret Warner and they were to have three children together: a daughter, who served as a nurse overseas, along with two sons who had served overseas since 1939. Warner died on July 3, 1971 in Grimsby, Ontario, at the age of 77.