Joseph is listed as being killed in action on 30th January 1915. The 3rd Battalion war diary entries for the period 28th to 31st January are transcribed below along with a newspaper article from the Toronto Star and a card sent by Joseph to a friend in Canada. The newspaper article gives the exact details of how Joseph was killed.
War Diary Entries
28th Jan 1915 - E Kemmel: Relieved Royal Fusiliers in trenches. Casualties 1 killed & 2 wounded
29th Jan 1915 - E Kemmel: In trenches E Kemmel. Casualties 1 wounded
30th Jan 1915 - E Kemmel: In trenches E Kemmel. Casualties 1 killed & 4 wounded
30th Jan 1915 - E Kemmel: In trenches E Kemmel. Casualties 0
Newspaper Report and Post Card
TORONTO RESERVIST KILLED
Private J.J. Spiers Killed by Chance Shot - Formerly a Motorman
Private Joseph J. Spiers, C Coy of the 3rd Worcesters was killed in action on January 29 according to word received in Toronto by Mrs. B Parker, 57 Russett Avenue. Private Spiers was a motorman in the employ of the Toronto Railway Company and was attached to the Lansdowne Barns.
He left Toronto on August 18 to join his regimentin the Old Country. Mrs Parker received a letter from her husband who is at the front and another from here sister-in-law in the Old Country both of which tell of the death of Spiers.
Len Parker who is a member of D Coy, 3rd Worcesters writing from the front to his wife in Toronto says "I am sorry to tell you that Joe was killed on the 30th of January, poor chap. I can hardly believe it for I was only talking to him the night before and as I left him I wished him good night and good luck. He was on his way to the trenches. That was the last I saw of him. He was hit in the mouth and through the head from a very lucky shot through the loophole in the trench. I feel lost without him, poor chap.
