Private David Kejick, an Ojibway from Fort William First Nation, earned the Distinguished Conduct Medal. He enlisted into the 141st Battalion and was drafted to the 52nd Battalion when he was sent to the Front. He was described as “a genial giant of a man, six foot-six, in his moccasins and strong as a bull”. He was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal because he displayed marked courage and intelligence during the attack on enemy positions at Tilloy on 1st October 1918. When his Company was held up by heavy fire, he on his own initiative ran into the open and with his lewis gun at the hip, fired four pans into the enemy machine guns. His fire was so effective that a party of the company on the right were able to advance and capture four machine guns together with 70 prisoners.
The village of Kejick and David Kejick School in Shoal Lake, ON were named in his honour.
Read Private Kejick’s (also spelled Kisek) military records through Library and Archives Canada.
Read a longer entry about Private Kejick in the Canadian Great War Project.
World War One Thunder Bay Centennial Project 