B131294 Rifleman Elmer Harold Atkinson was born in Port Elgin, Ontario, on 24 June 1921, the son of Edwin George Atkinson and Nellie Louisa Hodge and had two sisters. He attended Roseland and Weston Vocational schools.

Atkinson worked as a car repairman in a railway yard when he enlisted with the active service army in August 1942 and trained in Brampton and Camp Ipperwash. He arrived in the United Kingdom on 11 August 1943, and then in France on 26 August 1944 where he was posted to The Queen’s Own Rifles.

While serving in the Netherlands in December 1944, he was wounded in the eyes. After recovering in a hospital in England, he returned to the QOR on 21 March 1945.

Rifleman Atkinson was killed in action in the Netherlands on 10 April 1945, aged 24. He is buried in the Holten Canadian War Cemetery, grave reference II. A. 3. His family had the following engraved on his marker:

LOVINGLY REMEMBERED
BY MOTHER AND FATHER,
ALDYTH AND AUDREY