Roland Kelar Green (1897 - 1979)

Born 31 Jul 1897 in Fox River, Cumberland, Nova Scotia, Canada

Ancestors

Husband of Chrean Hazel (Allen) Smith — married 24 May 1921 in Parrsboro, Cumberland, Nova Scotia, Canada

Died 8 Feb 1979 at age 81 in Great Village, Colchester, Nova Scotia, Canada

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Biography

Roland Kelar/Keller Green (Machinist), son of Charles Green and Hester Bentley, was born 31 Jul 1897 at Fox River, Cumberland Co., Nova Scotia. Roland joined up for the First World War 1 Dec 1915 at Truro, Nova Scotia.^[1] On his Attestation Paper he spells his middle name "Kelar" and gives his birth date as 31 Jul 1896, but the medical record in his service file shows his birth date as 31 Jul 1897. His headstone says 1897 and on his marriage record of 24 May 1921, Roland states his age as 23 years, which puts his year of birth at 1897.

S.S. Empress of Britain

Roland served initially with the 106th Overseas Battalion C.E.F. Nova Scotia Rifles.^[2] The unit sailed from Halifax, Nova Scotia 15 Jul 1916 on the S.S. Empress of Britain and arrived 10 days later at Liverpool, England.

Roland was sent to France in September where he was taken on strength by the 25th Battalion C.E.F. Roland was awarded a Good Conduct Badge 4 Jan 1918, but it was all downhill from there. He soon suffered from Diptheria, Tonsillitis and gun shot wounds to his left arm and abdomen.^[1]

Roland sustained the gunshot wounds at Amiens on 9 Aug 1918. The Battle of Amiens took place August 8-11. It was one of the most important and most successful offensives of the First World War. Roland's first cousin, Hugh Mosher, fought at Amiens with the Royal Canadian Regiment. Hugh was wounded by shrapnel to his left forearm 27 Aug 1918 at the Second Battle of Arras.

Gunner Bert Cox who fought at Amiens as part of the 60th Battery, 14th Brigade Canadian Field Artillery, wrote a letter home from France on 13 Aug 1918, describing the battle:^[3]

"The battle opened up at 4:20 AM the morning of the 8th of August under a heavy mist which lasted until 10:00 AM. It was the sort of ideal morning for a battle which one seldom sees.

Every gun shot together and the thing was off. I never heard anything like it in my life, neither has anyone else, as it was about the biggest show that has ever been staged on the Western Front. Several times I could not hear my own gun fire, and for half the series, I laid and fired the gun myself. After 3 hours, I was practically deaf. We fired our first shot at 4:20 AM at 800 yards and in three hours, the enemy was out of our range (6,500 yds).

Within ten minutes of the start, the tanks, by the hundreds, and cavalry, by the thousands, were passing our guns. It made an awful pretty picture to see the tanks and cavalry looming up in the mist, over the crest, just about dawn. The field guns began to pass us at a gallop, too, not to mention the infantry by the hundreds of thousands.

About noon, I took a walk up to the front lines of the night before, and it was a terrible sight of dead and wounded. The Red Cross men were then taking them away."

Private Roland Green was discharged on demobilization and left England 18 Jan 1919 on H.M.T. Aquitania, arriving in Halifax six days later.^[1]

Roland married 24 May 1921 at Presbyterian House, Parrsborro, Cumberland Co., Nova Scotia, Chrean Hazel Allen, daughter of Arthur Allen and Armina "Minnie" Allen.^[4]

Chrean Hazel Allen was born 12 May 1904 at Fraserville, Cumberland Co., Nova Scotia, Canada. Chrean's mother filed a Late Registration of Birth for Chrean when the mother was living in Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts.^[5] Chrean had five sisters: Lelia Violet, Erma, Jessie, Harriet and Nancy Juanita, and three brothers: Bernard, Hartney Norman and Dwight Moody. Her second husband was Chas Smith. Chrean died 15 Feb 1999, age 94, at St. Petersburg, Florida, United States.

Children of Roland Keller Green and Chrean Hazel Allen

1. Arthur Monson Green, b. 24 Feb 1922 at Fox River, Cumberland County, Nova Scotia; d. 1 Oct 1942, buried at Kiel War Cemetery, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany
2. Catherine Armina Green, b. 3 Jan 1924 at Boston, Suffolk Co., Massachusetts, United States; d. 27 Jun 2010 at Pinellas Park, Pinellas County, Florida, United States; m. (1) George W. Gore (1906-1980) (2) Glenn Clay
3. Everett Bernard Greene, b. 22 Mar 1925 at Boston, Suffolk Co., Massachusetts, United States; d. 6 Nov 2014, age 89; m. 12 Mar 1949 (2) Lois G. Darton at Steuben, Indiana, United States; at age 5 (1930), Everett Green is living at Boston, MA with his grandparents and some of their children, although not his mother;^[6] at age 15 (1940), Everette Greene appears to have been looked after by a Methodist Children's Home Society at Redford Township, Wayne, Michigan;^[7] he's in the Garden City, Michigan area in 1979 and Port Richey, Florida area in 1999; Everett's first marriage ended in divorce on 8 Jun 1946 (one child, Chrean, born about 1943)

Arthur Monson Green, son of Roland and Chrean Green, completed a Second World War Attestation Paper that states he first lived in Nova Scotia for 1 1/2 years, then in the U.S.A. for 5 years, then the remainder at Bear River, Nova Scotia; he enlisted when he finished high school. His Attestation also states his parents separated when he was 6 1/2 years old (1928/29).

After their marriage ended, Roland returned to Great Village about 1930 at the start of the Depression, where he lived for the rest of his life. Arthur didn't stay in the U.S. with his mother, but returned to Nova Scotia with his father and went to live with/was adopted by his paternal uncle, Charles Thomas Green and wife Frances Loretta Hatfield at Bear River, Digby County, Nova Scotia.

Despite his First World War injuries, Roland lived to the age of 81, dying 8 Feb 1979 at Great Village, Colchester Co., Nova Scotia. There is a Green headstone for Roland Keller Green (1897-1979), and his son, Arthur Monson Green (1922-1942), at Mahon Cemetery, Great Village.

Obituary

OBITUARY: Roland K. Green
Great Village - Roland Keeler Green, 81, of Great Village, died Thursday in Victoria General Hospital. Born in Fox River, Cumberland County, he was a son of the late Monson and Hester (Bentley) Green. He was a resident of Great Village for the past 49 years, was a veteran of the First World War, a member of the Masonic Corinthian Lodge, No. 63, Great Village, and a member of the IOOF. Surviving are a daughter, Catherine (Mrs. George Gore), St. Petersburg, Fla.; a son, Everett, Garden City, Mich.; several nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by two brothers, Charles and Cleveland and a sister, Hilda. The body is at McCullough and Patriquin Funeral Home, Great Village, where funeral and committal will be Sunday at 2:30 p.m., Rev. Lloyd P. Burrows officiating. Spring burial will be in Great Village cemetery. In lieu of flowers, may be made to St. James United Church or Nova Scotia Heart Foundation.^[8]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2} Library and Archives Canada : Personnel Records of the First World War Green, Roland Keillor
2. ↑ 106th Overseas Battalion C.E.F. Nova Scotia Rifles 715079 Private R.K. Green, Fox River, NS : accessed 4 Apr 2019
3. ↑ Shiawassee History : Gunner Bertram Howard Cox.
4. ↑ Nova Scotia Historical Vital Statistics Chrean Hazel Allen and Roland Keller Green married 1921 in Cumberland County
5. ↑ Nova Scotia Historical Vital Statistics Chrean Hazel Allen, born 1904 in Fraserville, Cumberland County
6. ↑ United States Census, 1930," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XQRH-S2T : accessed 6 April 2019), Everett Green in household of Arthur Allen, Boston (Districts 251-500), Suffolk, Massachusetts, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 359, sheet 12A, line 14, family 154, NARA microfilm publication T626 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2002), roll 950; FHL microfilm 2,340,685.
7. ↑ United States Census, 1940," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KHMD-KV9 : 15 March 2018), Everette Greene, Redford Township, Wayne, Michigan, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 82-203, sheet 63B, line 42, family , Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940, NARA digital publication T627. Records of the Bureau of the Census, 1790 - 2007, RG 29. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2012, roll 1835.
8. ↑ Chronicle Herald, Saturday, February 10, 1979, pg. #41; Reel #6098, NSARM, Halifax, N.S.

• Census of Canada, 1901 for Port Greville, Cumberland County, Nova Scotia Green, Roland
• Yahoo! Groups Cumberland County, Nova Scotia Genealogy Group : accessed 5 Apr 2019