101605 Sergeant Chester O. McGowan MM

Chester Owen McGowan joined the 49th Battalion (E.R.) in Flanders in June 1916. A veteran of the Somme and Vimy Ridge, he earned the Military Medal for his leadership and bravery at the Battle of Amiens in August 1918. Weeks later, he was shot in the head by a German machine gunner during the attack on Cambrai. While wounded, he witnessed a German soldier bayoneting other wounded men. Bleeding heavily from his scalp, McGowan was mistaken for dead and spared. He survived the war and returned to farm in Hairy Hill, Alberta. He passed away in 1968.