Date of birth: 10/06/1887

Place of birth: Dumfriesshire, Scotland, United Kingdom

Profession: Groom / Horseman

Country: Canada

Force: Canadian Expeditionary Force

Rank: Private

Service number: 808784

Enlistment date: 23/02/1916

Enlistment place: High River, Alberta, Canada

Units:  —  Canadian Infantry, 50th Bn. (Calgary)  (Last known unit)

Date of death: 26/10/1917

Place of death: Deck Wood - Ehards Grund, Passchendaele, Belgium

Cause of death: Killed in action (K.I.A.)

Age: 30

Private Joseph Johnstone was part of the 50th Battalion Canadian Infantry, 10th Canadian Brigade, 4th Canadian Division. On 26 October he took part in the Second Battle of Passchendaele (Third Battle of Ypres – Battle of Passchendaele). The 10th Canadian Brigade attacked with the 46th Battalion Canadian Infantry north of the Ypres Roulers Railway and the 50th Battalion Canadian Infantry in close support. The jumping off line was situated in the line Heine House, Hillside Farm and Ypres Roulers Railway. They consolidated most of their objective under heave enemy shelling. The 46th and 50th battalion was eventually driven back due to German counter attacks and established a new frontline closer to their jumping off line. Joseph Johnstone was presumably killed in the area between Haalen Copse and Heine House near Deck Wood, where his body was found at D.11d.25.90. He was re-interred at Buttes New British Cemetery where he has his final resting place.

Circumstances of death http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/microform-digitization/006003-119.01-e.php?q2=28&q3=2308&sqn=682&tt=703&PHPSESSID=pf868q7td101us1usidkvu8pl1 Sources used

McCarthy C., Passchendaele, The Third Ypres, the Day-by-Day account, (London, Unicorn Publishing Group, 2018), pp. 126-128. Sources used

Personnel Records of the First World War (Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa (LAC) RG 150, Accession 1992-93/166, Box 4887 - 34). https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/military-heritage/first-world-war/personnel-records/Pages/search.aspx Sources used

War diaries: 46th Canadian Infantry Battalion (Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa (LAC), RG9-III-D-3, Volume number: 4939, Microfilm reel number: T-10745--T-10746, File number: 437. https://library-archives.canada.ca/eng Sources used

War diaries: 50th Canadian Infantry Battalion (Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa (LAC), RG9-III-D-3, Volume number: 4941, Microfilm reel number: T-10747--T-10748, File number: 441). Sources used

Wheeler V.W., The 50th Battalion in No Man's Land (50th Canadian Infantry Battalion ( Alberta Regiment ) Canadian Expeditionary Force 1915-1919, (CEF Books, Ottawa, 2000), pp. 166-168. Sources used

Commonwealth War Graves Commission Database https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/480310

Namenlijst (In Flanders Fields Museum) https://namenlijst.org/publicsearch/#/person/_id=eb637702-a78a-4b23-9f24-29d1261d411d

Lives of the First World War (Imperial War Museum) https://livesofthefirstworldwar.iwm.org.uk/lifestory/5812613

The Canadian Virtual War Memorial https://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/memorials/canadian-virtual-war-memorial/detail/480310