Private Robert Oscar Andrews was born on November 4th, 1896 to Sarah Elizabeth Puckering Andrews and Thomas Andrews. He was born in the area of RR#6 in Brampton, which is around Chinguacousy Road north of Steeles. Andrews was 20 years old and working on a farm in the same area in October 1917 when he became part of the earliest wave of soldiers conscripted through the Military Service Act of 1917. Robert had blue eyes and brown hair, was 5 ft. 7, and had a scar on his right wrist. In April he was sent for training at Exhibition Camp and while there developed tonsillitis for which he was admitted to the camp hospital for 8 days.
In June, 1918 Private Andrews arrived in England, and joined the 75th Battalion, with whom he traveled to France on October 22nd (source: Library & Archives Canada). When they arrived in France, Robert’s battalion was sent right into the Battle of Valenciennes - a minor battle that was part of the 100 Days Offensive. Tragically, during the capture of Marchipont (a town right on the border of Belgium and France) Private Andrews was killed in action (source: HeritageMississauga.com). Andrews died on November 6th, 1918; two days after his 22nd birthday, and 5 days before the Treaty of Versailles was signed putting an end to the war. According to Heritage Mississauga, he was the last person from the area to be killed in action during WW1. In his official military will he left everything he had to his mother.
Private Andrews was buried by his comrades at Aulnoy Communal Cemetery in France. This cemetery holds the graves of over 150 Commonwealth casualties of WW1, all of whom died in late October or early November 1918. He is also featured on his parents’ grave stone at Dixon’s Union Cemetery on Kennedy Road, just south of Old School Road (source: Findagrave.com). Andrews was awarded the British War Medal for service to the Empire, and the Victory Medal for serving in a theatre of war during WW1. Below is a picture of Private Andrews from the Perkins-Bull book From Brock to Currie.
