[Editor’s note: The materials in this collection are currently being reviewed/updated. Some materials may be incomplete or inaccessible during this update period.]

Private Keith Bruce Crosby was born in Carleton, Yarmouth Co., Nova Scotia on April 25, 1897, to parents Howard A. and Lillian S. Crosby.

Crosby enlisted in the 40th Battalion on August 6, 1915, at Aldershot, N.S. The following October he shipped for England on board the SS Saxonia, and in March 1916 was deployed to France where he served with the 24th Battalion. Crosby was killed April 11, 1916, in action at Reninghelst, Belgium, and is commemorated on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, Ypres, Belgium.

Content notes:
All but one of the letters was written by Crosby while training in Canada and England, and addressed to his father or to “Celia” (full name/relationship unknown).

External links:
Pte. Keith Crosby’s service record (Serv/Reg# 415769) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.
WWI Circumstances of Death Registers record card (page #727), Library and Archives Canada.
Burial information is available at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
A memorial page honouring Crosby can be visited online at the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.

[Collection reviewed/updated September 2024.]