Private Kenneth Milan Astle

Kenneth Milan Astle was born in Chester Green Derbyshire, England on January 17, 1898. He moved to Paris with his mother, Edith Astle, and aunts. He belonged to the Boy Scouts in England and on arrival in Paris immediately joined the Paris Scouts, in which he acted as bugler and drummer. He was a member of the YMCA and also the 4U and I Bible Study group. He was a member of the St. James Anglican Church choir and the men’s Bible class. At the time of his enlistment, he was employed as a knitter in Penman’s No. 1 mill.

Kenneth was living with his mother on Banfield Street when he joined the 215^th Battalion in June, 1916 and went overseas in April, 1917. He was later transferred to the machine gun section of the 38^th Battalion and went to France with that battalion in March, 1918. On September 1, 1918, he was acting as a battalion runner when he was hit by a piece of shrapnel while standing outside headquarters in the vicinity of Vis-en-Artois. The shrapnel penetrated his lung and though his wound was dressed immediately, he succumbed to his wounds later in No. 3 Canadian Field Ambulance. He is buried in the Faubourg-D’Amiens Cemetery in Arras.