Sergeant Sidney Osborne Dennison
775472
Born 1893 in Inglewood, ON
Died from Spanish Flu in Aberdeen, Scotland Nov 3rd, 1918
When war washed over the world in 1914, young Sidney Dennison was out in the fields, working the land to help support his family and their livelihood. He was from a village just west of the town of Bolton Ontario called Inglewood. As many of his friends would have also done, when Lt. Col. Hamilton set up a recruiting station in Brampton to raise his 126th OS “Peel” Battalion Sidney traded his hoe for a rifle and signed his name to the attestation form.
Sidney became Private Sidney Osborne Dennison on Nov 15th, 1915. After basic training, the battalion departed Canada and arrived in England in August of 1916. It was here where the remarkable young man began his ascent up the military leadership ladder. He was promoted to Lance Corporal at Camp Bramschott in September, right before he was transferred to the 116th a month later in late October.
Upon joining the 116th, he was reduced to Private but rapidly moved up being appointed Lance Corporal then Corporal then Lance Sergeant and up to Sergeant. He would have been able to showcase his leadership skills as the Battalion fought at Vimy, Avion, Hill 70, Passchendaele and up to and through the final push in the summer and fall of 1918. Sidney navigated these battles with skill and determination, constantly and relentlessly serving alongside his mates while pushing back the enemy.
On Oct 20th, his superiors granted Sidney 14 days leave to England. Imagine being thanked for his fine efforts with a well-deserved vacation just days before the war was expected to end. The allies were pushing back the Germans Army, taking thousands of prisoners. While he could have be thinking about taking Berlin, his heart was now set on some rest in the UK.
While the details are not known, however they can be imagined. He left his men on Oct 20th and immediately set out for the coast. Between his arrival at port and the trip across the channel, Sidney would start to feel unwell. A few days after that he would check into a hospital to seek medical care. The Spanish Flu was already ravaging across Europe, North America spreading its’ deadly tentacles around the world. Akin to today’s pandemic, the effects of the disease was rapid and without remorse. Six days after leaving his men and four days after being admitted to hospital, Sidney succumbed to the influenza. He became one of Canada’s 61,000 war dead and one of the between 50 and 100 million to die from the Spanish Flu.
Let we forget.