Private Lowe's Discharge Papers

By Nathan Jordan

Lost Soldier's Paybook

WWII Veteran’s Pay Book & Discharge Papers found in Prince George dumpster, local Legion seeks information on family.

Jan 9, 2023 | 6:02 PM

PRINCE GEORGE- On Friday afternoon, local volunteers at the Canadian Legion Branch 43 were handed some suprising documents by a patron who came across them in the most unexpected way. While on a dumpster diving trip downtown, the unnamed legion patron, found a Second World War Veteran’s Pay Book & Discharge paperwork inside one of the garbage bins. Quickly realizing the value of the find, he handed off the documents to Legion staff on 6th Avenue, in the hopes that the old solider, or his family, could be found.

The Pay Book once belonged to Private Lawton George Lowe, who volunteered to join the Canadian Forces in Ontario in 1944 at just 18 years old. Private Lowe was deployed to the UK in December 1944, and went on to serve across France and Germany throughout 1945. He served until the end of the war, and was finally discharged to return to civilian life following the military’s demobilization in ’46. On his discharge paperwork, Private Lowe is stated to have earned a number of service awards, including the France and Germany Star, and the Canadian Volunteer service medal and clasps.

A solider’s Pay Book is a rather mundane, but essential piece of kit. The young Private Lowe would have had this book on his person for the duration of his deployment with the Canadian Army. It’s likely the Pay Book, had been the same one that accompanied him as he trekked across the battlefields of europe in the closing days of the second world war, having spent 2 long years in the breast pocket of his soldier’s tunic.

It’s not uncommon for documents like these to get caught up in a pile of veteran’s personal effects, and end up collecting dust in a filing cabinet, years after first accompanying them into battle. Private Lowe, 20 years and 5 months old at the date of his discharge, in 1946, would be approaching 98 years old today. According to his paperwork, his next of kin was his mother, Mrs. Minnie Lowe, of Holland, Ontario. Anyone with information on the owner of the documents, or the family of Lawton George Lowe, is asked to get in touch with the Canadian Legion Branch 43. In the meantime, the documents will be kept at the Legion for safekeeping.

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