Very interesting...

I just looked up George's attestation papers at http://data2.archives.ca/cef/gat2/082966a.gif

Interesting: his papers said he served in the Royal Navy for 18 months and then Naval Reserve for 14 years, then he was in the 104th Regiment's Militia. he signed up when he was 36 but he was just 5' 3", quite compact he was and definitely not from my side of the family.

The 104th (google, google) was then the New Westminster Fusiliers of Canada. Signed up in May 1916 so he would have time for training and transportation so he may have been at Vimy Ridge in 1917 if he stayed with the Westies. Canadian troops having "proved" themselves at Vimy, were used as shock troops (attack troops) later at Passchendaele and Amiens. Gosh, I'll have to see where the Westie's Regimental Museum is.

Steveston then was a nearly isolated fishing village south of Vancouver on the south arm of the Fraser River. Pre-war days salmon was king, there was a huge fishing fleet and a twenty-three salmon canneries along the river by the village. There was a large Japanese population there up until WWII when they were disgracefully shipped inland to camps and their boats all sold. George Sayle's attestation papers said he was a seaman so perhaps he worked on a fishing boat or even a fish packer.

I grew up in Vancouver with there being "two Sayle families" here. My mother told me the other family were missionaries in China and came to Vancouver when China was invaded. Never met them nor heard of your George Sayle.

Vancouver is Vancouver but Steveston is part of Richmond, so their archives are different. I will check the old directories at our archive to see if he moved to the "big city".

You can email me at "ralph AT sayle.ca"