Whatever happened to Arthur Philip Arsenault?

C Company Project – Newspaper series seeking final resting places of soldiers

EDITOR’S NOTE: MacNaught History Centre & Archives is close to completing the profiles of the men of C Company, 105th Battalion. The 2016 project has extended into 2017 and there are only a few of the soldiers on the C Company list who have eluded the research efforts of staff and key volunteer, Louise Morris. Anyone who might have information on the date and place of death of the men featured in this series is urged to contact the MacNaught History Centre at 75 Spring St., Summerside.

Arthur Philip Arsenault

C Company was made up of approximately 36 per cent Acadians and a total of 45 Arsenault men enlisted in C Company – most of them from the communities in Lot 15. Arthur Philip Arsenault (712758) was born in Coleman in Lot 9 on Aug. 9, 1896, to Joseph W. and Mary Arsenault. He is listed in the 1911 census with his parents and three sisters: Marie Lucie, Elizabeth, and Roseline, the last having the same birth year as Arthur, and presumably his twin.

Pte. Arsenault crossed to England in July 1916 with the 105th Battalion and was transferred to the 13th Reserves, and later to the 26th Battalion.

He fought in France and Belgium for a period of 19 months and was wounded at Lens before being taken prisoner of war.

After two months in Geisen, Germany, he was repatriated and arrived in England in December 1918 and returned to P.E.I. in April 1919. After that date, no information has been found of his whereabouts.

His parents are listed in the 1921 Canadian Census in Lot 6, but the children are no longer with them. It would be satisfying to be able to know the length of Arthur’s life and his final resting place.