Nova Scotia/Nunavut Command of The Royal Canadian Legion www.ns.legion.ca 109 One of the youngest casualties in Bedford House Cemetery, located in Ypres, Belgium, with a known age of 16 years is Private Frederick Storey. He was serving with the 18th Battalion (Western Ontario Regiment), Canadian Infantry when he died on 30th June 1916. According to the Attestation Paper when Fred signed up for the Canadian Expeditionary Force on 28th December 1915, he gave his date of birth on the front of the form as 18th February 1897. On the reverse of the Attestation Paper his stated “apparent age” is clearly written as 18 years and 4 months. This cannot be correct as this age would imply that he had been born in August/September, and not February as he stated on the front of the form. In any case, he is listed on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission register as aged 16 at the time of his death in June 1916. He gives his father's name as his next-of-kin, living at 16 Campbell Road, Halifax, Nova Scotia. Some personal details about Fred that we can presume to be accurate from the Attestation Paper is that he was 5 feet 7 and a quarter inches tall, he had grey eyes and dark brown hair. Having signed up on 28th December 1915 Frederick again signed the Attestation Paper under oath on 4th January 1916. Within a matter of weeks, he was in Belgium with the 18th Battalion and he died on the Western Front almost exactly six months to the day after he had signed his Attestation Paper. The following is the text recorded in a Halifax newspaper article noting his death: A host of friends will be as one in sympathy with Mr. and Mrs. Robert J. Storey, 16 Campbell Road, in sorrowful news received today – the news that Private Frederick Storey was on June 30 “killed in action.” Some months ago, The Mail referred to the fact that the youth - who was but sixteen years of age, had been wounded. Upon his recovery from his wounds he returned to the firing line, where, he, a mere boy, known to his intimates as “Bonnie Bell” Storey, and full of a boy’s joy in living, gallantly made the supreme sacrifice. Private Storey, then fifteen years of age, left Halifax with the Sixty-Sixth overseas draft on January 22. The Sunday before Christmas he was confirmed in Trinity church by His Grace Archbishop Worrell, and on the morning of the Festival knelt for the first time at the Lord’s Table with his mother. Private Fred Storey continued ...
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