Pte. Russell Puffer

 

Pte. Russell Puffer

1^st Depot Battalion, Eastern Ontario Regiment 

Regimental Number 3059001

Russell Elmer Puffer was born on April 11^th, 1896 in Norwood, Ontario He was the son of William and Agnes (Cuthbertson) Puffer.   

Russell was living in Clarina, an area in the northern part of Dummer Township when he was ordered to report to Peterborough under the Military Service Act on October 23^rd, 1917.  He travelled to Peterborough where he underwent a military examination and was declared fit for overseas military service.  He was 22 years old, single and employed as a farmer.  He was 5 foot 7 inches tall, and sported a dark complexion, grey eyes and dark brown hair.  He was a Methodist and had no previous military experience.

 The next step in Russell’s military journey came on May 10^th when he was ordered to report to the Canadian Forces training camp at Barriefield, Kingston.   He was attested as a Private into the 1^st Depot Battalion, Eastern Ontario Regiment and trained with them before sailing for England on the ship City of Vienna on June 28^th 1918.  This trip was short lived as the ship ran aground before it left the Canadian coast.  The entire ship was evacuated using yachts which pulled up alongside and let the soldiers and crew crawl down rope ladders.  About thirty minutes after the last men were taken off the ship, it sank to the bottom of the Atlantic.

 Russell and his comrades would make their second attempt at crossing the Atlantic on July 11th 1918 aboard the H.M.T. Thongwa.  After an eleven day trip across the Atlantic, Pte. Puffer arrived safely in London.  He was immediately placed in the 6th Canadian Reserve Battalion at Seaford Camp to await assignment to a fighting battalion at the front. 

 He entered the No. 14 Canadian General Hospital in Eastbourne dangerously ill with the mumps on the 10^th of August 1918.  He was discharged after two months in care on October 10^th 1918 and was reposted to the 6^th Reserve Battalion.  His good health was not for long as he re-entered the hospital at Eastbourne dangerously ill with Lombar Pneumonia on October 22^nd, he recovered and was discharged on November 14^th, two days after the war had ended.

 Puffer remained in England awaiting his trip home, but entered the No. 12 General Hospital on June 12, 1919 with Gastritis.  He remained there for nearly three weeks before being transferred to Orpington where his diagnosis changed to hypochlorhydria, a condition characterized by digestive complications and gastrointestinal infections. After another month of treatment, he felt well enough to be discharged from care. He sailed to Canada a few days later on July 12^th 1919.  He was given a formal discharge for military service in Toronto on July 23^rd, 1919.

Russell moved back to Dummer to farm and married Mabel Ivey on the 6^th of November 1920.  He passed away March 25^th 1976 and is buried in Norwood, Ontario.

Sources
Archives of Ontario. Registrations of Births and Stillbirths – 1869-1913. Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Series: MS929; Reel: 134. P.58.
Library and Archives Canada. Census of Canada, 1901. Ottawa, Ontario, Canada: Year: 1901; Census Place: Dummer, Peterborough (East/est), Ontario; Page: 2; Family No: 12
Archives of Ontario; Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Registrations of Marriages, 1869-1928; Reel: 547. P.471.
Canada. "Military Service File of Russell Puffer." Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa: Record Group 150, Accession 1992-93/166, Box 8015-53. Item Number 507088.