Edwin Ross Derusha

Corporal Ross Edwin Derusha (745363) was born on May 11, 1897 in Uxbridge. He worked as a farm labourer before enlisting with the 116th Battalion on January 12, 1916. After a few months of training he shipped out on the S. S. Olympic, arriving in England July 31, 1916. In October he was transferred to the 2nd Battalion which was stationed on the Western Front near the Somme. The conditions were deplorable: rain, snow, fog, mud fields and waterlogged trenches. 

By early spring, Derusha had developed a serious case of Trench Feet, and was taken to the Canadian General Hospital in Etapes on April 14th, 1917. “The toes are blackened at the ends, the skin of the top of the feet is shiny and crinkled. No abrasion. Painful” was the medical description. He was invalided back to England for treatment, and spent almost two months recovering. He was eventually posted to the 6th Reserve Battalion in mid-September 1917 at the Central Ontario Reinforcement Depot. In mid-November he was posted to the 2nd Battalion Overseas, likely back in the Somme. 

On August 31, 1918 he was promoted to Lance-Corporal, and less than a month later, on September 21, promoted to Corporal. This was during the Battle of Amiens, part of the Allied Hundred Days Offensive. Sadly, just days later he was killed in action, on October 12, 1918. For his actions during that battle he was awarded the Military Medal - “for individual or associated acts of bravery on the recommendation of a Commander-in-Chief in the field”. The medal shows FOR/BRAVERY/IN THE/FIELD on one side and a portrait of King George V on the other.