1056 George Ross Thompson was born in Kenora, Ontario 5 April 1888. He was single and working as a Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) engineer when he enlisted with the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry in August 1914. He served in the St Eloi sector until being hospitalized with general debility 23 March 1915. Thompson returned to the unit 5 April and fought through the epic stand at Frezenberg 8 May 1915. Promoted to provisional Corporal 26 August 1915, he was destined to become a drill instructor at the Canadian Base Depot 15 May 1916. By this good fortune, he missed the Battle of Sanctuary Wood (2-4 June 1916). In August 1916 he rejoined the unit just as the Canadians were preparing to head south and take part in the Battle of the Somme. He was promoted to Sergeant 15 September 1916, during the fighting at Flers-Courcelette and survived the attack against Regina Trench 8 October 1916. After taking part in the assault on Vimy Ridge in April 1917, he was granted ten days leave in Paris returning to the unit 22 May 1917. Nine days later he was evacuated to hospital ill. Released from hospital 4 July he was attached to the 3rd Canadian Casualty Clearing Station on 20 September 1917 and did not return to the PPCLI in the field until 13 May 1918. By this time the last major German offensive of the war had collapsed into stalemate. Thompson suffered an abscessed leg 3 July 1918 that held him out of the initial battles of the "Last Hundred Days" at Amiens and the Scarpe, but he returned to help bolster the unit just after 28 August 1918. A month later he was killed by machine gun fire during the morning, 28 September 1918, as the Regiment supported the Royal Canadian Regiment in their initial assault on the Marcoing Line. Sergeant Thompson had no known grave until research by Captain Steve Newman, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, in 1998 proved that he was the "Unknown Sergeant" buried in Crest Cemetery. His headstone in France was replaced with one bearing his name and the nameless headstone now resides at the Regimental Museum in Calgary.