Cline, George Alton

George Alton Cline
	19 July 1888 – 21 January 1960
	;
Place of birth	Appleby Ontario
Place of death	Burlington Ontario
Place of burial	Greenwood Cemetery
Allegiance	Canada
Service/branch	Canadian Army
Rank	Colonel
Awards	DSO, Croix de Chevalier

George Alton Cline was a Canadian soldier who served in the Canadian Signal Corps during the Great War.

Early Life

Son of Miles B. and Sarah Catharine (nee Alton) Cline. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1909 followed by a Masters of Arts in 1910. After he received his Education certificate in 1911, he was an instructor at the University of Toronto Schools.^[1]

Service

Cline enlisted as a member of the 1st Canadian Divisional Signal Company in September 1914 after having served eight years in the 20th Regiment Canadian Engineers. He proceeded overseas and crossed to France in February 1915. In August 1916 he was transferred to 2 Canadian Divisional Signal Company first as temporary Officer Commanding and, starting in November, as the substantive OC. In March 1917 he was made an Acting Major and returned to 1 Canadian Divisional Signal Company as the Officer Commanding. He served three months of Temporary Duty as the Chief Instructor at the Canadian Engineer Training Depot starting in January 1918 after which he was attached to the Canadian Corps Signal Company as the Assistant to the Assistant Director of Signals in April 1918. In July 1918 he took over as the Officer Commanding, a post he held until the end of the war.

During his time he was, amongst others, involved in the battles of Ypres, Festubert, Givenchy, Ploegsteert, Ypres (1916), Somme, Vimy, Hill 70, Passchendaele, Amiens, Arras and Cambrai. At St. Julien (2nd battle of Ypres) he was struck by shrapnel but unharmed suffering only a lost button and a broken pencil.^[1]

He was awarded the French Legion of Honour Croix de Chevalier^[2]^[3] in recognition of distinguished service. He was Mentioned in Despatches in December 1917^[4] and awarded the Distinquished Service Order in January 1918.^[5]

After the end of the war, he continued to serve in the Militia with 2 Company Canadian Corps of Signals