43 Jane Street
Private Fredrick Howard Southern
Frederick Howard Southern was born in South Dumfries in 1914. His parents, William Southern and Alice Wilson were English immigrants. He attended Keg Lane School. Records suggest that he was working on his father’s farm when he enlisted in Galt in the Highland Light Infantry of Canada. This point creates something of a mystery, because his military attestation record gives his address as 43 Jane Street in Paris. It is possible that the family lived in town but farmed just outside of town, along Keg Lane, but that would not have been common. But it makes more sense when he recorded his occupation as orchardist when he enlisted.
In any case, his training began in Galt, then in Stratford, and finally in Debert Nova Scotia, which during WWII was the location of a Canadian Army Base and an adjoining RCAF base which was used as a Commonwealth Air Training facility. While he was there, Frederick developed double pneumonia and was discharged on medical grounds in 1941 and sent to Westminster Hospital in London, Ontario. He died there at the age of 28 and is buried in the Paris Cemetery.
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