SERGEANT GEORGE HOSTRAWSER
CANADIAN INFANTRY
31ST OCTOBER 1917 AGE 20
BURIED: OXFORD ROAD CEMETERY, YPRES, BELGIUM
Sergeant Hostrawser's father, William, has chosen a succinct but profound way to express his son's sense of responsibility for his fellow man. When God asked Cain where his brother Abel was - just after Cain had killed him - Cain replied, "I know not: Am I my brother's keeper?" [Genesis 4:8] In other words, how should I know, what do I care where he is? Cain's words have become a shorthand for man's unwillingness to look out for his fellow man, to only be interested in himself. But George Hostrawser was not this sort of man, he was, "His brother's keeper". A factor I would suggest in him being a sergeant by the age of 20.
Hostrawser, the youngest of his parents twelve children, enlisted in Brampton, Ontario on 18 December 1915. He served with the 116th Battalion Canadian Infantry, which in October 1917 was in the Weiltje area, near Ypres. It came out of the front line on 28 October but remained in the forward area to provide working parties. This was a dangerous business: four others ranks were killed and two wounded on the 29th, and two were killed on the 30th. On 1 November the war diary reported: "Strength 31 officers, 617 other ranks. Our casualties on the 31st of October were 7 killed and 3 wounded".