John Acton was born November 11, 1877 at Wolverhampton, Staffordshire, England and served with the 3rd Battalion, South Staffordshire Regiment before coming to Canada in 1904. Married, he lived in St. Thomas, Ontario with his young family where he worked as an iron scaler before enlisting on November 2, 1915. Overseas with the 91st Battalion in June 1916, Acton trained with the 12th (Reserve) Battalion before landing in France in June 1917. Acton served as a Private with the Canadian Expeditionary Force attached to the 75th Battalion (Mississauga) during the First World War. Part of the 11th Infantry Brigade, 4th Canadian Division, the 75th Battalion fought along the Western Front in France and Belgium. On August 15, 1917, Private John Acton died during an attack near Lens, France against the German 6th Army and is commemorated on the Vimy Memorial, Pas de Calais, France. Son of Luke and Mary Acton of St. Thomas; husband of Elizabeth Ann (nee Penn) Acton of St. Thomas; father of Sara, Samuel, May, Mabel Rose and Thomas Joseph Acton; he was 39 years old. "The soldier above all others prays for peace, for it is the soldier who must suffer and bear the deepest wounds and scars of war."– Douglas MacArthur