From the News

Dated: August 27, 1921

GOOD WORK OF G.W.V.A. [Great War Veterans' Association]

Pension Secured For Deserving Widow Through Persistent Effort

A pension of 87 a month, together with arrears totalling $1,395.12, has just been secured for Mrs. Thomas E. Traquair, of Tyneside, Sask., as the result of persistent work by the Great War Veterans' Association, Saskatchewan Command, extending over a period of 17 months.

Traquair, when he enlisted, was a fine example of virile manhood.  He had never had a day's sickness in his life.   On his discharge in 1918, suffering from gas poisoning as well as gunshot wounds in the right thigh, right foot, and right hand, he was a physical wreck.   His condition grew steadily wore until in January, 1920, he was admitted into hospital at Regina where he died.  Although he did not sleep for more than a fortnight, the death certificate gave encephalitis lethargica (sleeping sickness), as the cause of death.

The widow was refused pension on the ground that her husband's death was not attributable to anything arising out of active service.  Her case was energetically taken up by the Kelross, Sask., branch of the Saskatchewan and Dominion Commands co-operatively.  For months the death certificate was a stumbling block.  But the G.W.V.A., persistent as always when convinced of the justice of their case, stuck to their guns and have now achieved final success after putting in eight affidavits which showed that Traquair's death was as clearly due to service as though he had "gone west" on the battlefield.

"Welfare of the widows and orphans of the comrades we left behind in France and Flanders," says Secretary Cook, "is regarded as a sacred trust by the G.W.V.A., and this particular case affords a remarkable illustration of the fact that providing the association has an opportunity of presenting the evidence in a proper manner the pension door is never locked, bolted or barred in the face of the returned man or his dependents."