Background

Learning about Harry E. Goodine’s life prior to and during the Great War period was difficult because information in the archival records is not complete and is at times contradictory with Private Goodine’s military service records. However, documents suggest that Private Harry Goodine was born May 8, 1892, in Springhill, Nova Scotia, to Laurence Marshall Goodine and Madeline Marshall. York County marriage records reveal that Harry’s parents, Laurence and Madeline, married one another September 8, 1882 in New Brunswick but had lived some time in Nova Scotia before returning to York County prior to the First World War. Very little is known about Harry’s mother, but it is believed she passed away at some point prior to Harry’s service because she is not named in any military records. While it is also difficult to know if Harry had any siblings, his service file points out that his father was a widower at the time of his enlistment and that Harry had been working as a farmer in Doak Settlement, York County, New Brunswick. As a result, it is likely that being part of a farming family at the time Harry probably had siblings in either Nova Scotia or New Brunswick, or both.

Harry Goodine’s service record shows that he was recruited into service under the Military Service Act of 1917, and called up in a draft for service in the spring of 1918. At the time of being drafted into service on April 24, 1918, Harry was working just outside of Fredericton as a farmer, was unmarried, and belonged to the Roman Catholic Church. His records show that he stood five feet four inches tall, weighed 150 pounds, and had blue eyes, brown hair and a medium complexion. Harry Goodine was 26 years old.

Wartime Experience

Private Goodine arrived in Saint John, New Brunswick with the 1st Depot Battalion in late April, 1918, the last year of the war. After reporting for duty with his unit in Saint John, Harry would sign his formal will on May 4 naming his father, Laurence Goodine. According to his medical history documents, the next day, May 5, he admitted himself to the Saint James Military Hospital in Saint John complaining of coughs, headaches, chills, and general soreness. For the next week his condition, now identified as pneumonia, continued to worsen and doctors would also note information given by Harry that he had been experiencing asthmatic attacks for years. By May 12, Harry was experiencing tremendous pain and fever, and doctors had written in his medical file that he was in critical condition. Private Goodine would pass away the next day on May 13, 1918 at approximately 3 o’clock in the afternoon.

Harry’s body was moved by train to Fredericton the day of his passing while newspapers in Fredericton and Saint John reported that he would arrive the following evening for funeral preparations. Out of the millions of casualties that resulted from the First Wold War, historians suggest that approximately one third of those were caused by disease or illness. Harry was just 26 years of age.

Lest We Forget

Private Harry Goodine is buried at the Fredericton Rural Cemetery, located along the Woodstock Road in Fredericton, New Brunswick. He is one of twenty Canadian soldiers identified here by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.