Burdett Sisler, Canada’s oldest World War II veteran, has died at the age of 110.
CHCH News in Hamilton was first to report his death, citing family members who say he died of natural causes on April 2, just two weeks shy of his 111th birthday.
“Burd proudly served our country in the Second World War, he spent 30 years working at the Canada Border Services Agency and raised a family in Fort Erie,” said Wayne Gates, NDP MPP for Niagara Falls, in a Facebook post in which he called Sisler “an incredible person.”
“I was proud to have Burd nominate me to run as MPP for the last several elections and in turn I was proud to award him with the King Charles Coronation medal at his 110th birthday,” he recalled.
“I will miss Burd, his wisdom, his laughter, and the time we spent together. It was an honour to call him a friend. Canada has lost an incredibly special person, and a good man.”
Born in Akron, Ohio, Sisler moved to the Toronto area when he was three years old. He met his wife, Mae, through a high school classmate, and they married in 1939 – just three days after Britain declared war on Germany.
When Sisler enlisted in the Royal Canadian Army in 1943, Mae expected him to go overseas and not come back, so she asked for something that would remind her of her husband, their son Norman said in a May 2025 interview.
“So they had a baby girl in 1943,” Norman said.
Sisler said he originally wanted to join the Royal Canadian Air Force, but even though enlistment officers told him he was one of their best candidates, he was turned away because of “one bad eye.”
Instead, he joined the army. While waiting to be sent to basic training, he volunteered for chemical warfare trials in Ottawa – a series of experiments involving chemical and biological agents that left thousands of soldiers with chronic health problems. One trial tested how mustard gas would react to a salve placed on Sisler’s skin for 14 days.
“I got a raise in pay after that,” he recalled.
Many years later, Sisler was part of a class-action lawsuit against the Department of National Defence and received a settlement.
Sisler trained to become a military gunner in Nova Scotia and later took radar training in Barriefield, Ont., where he became a telecommunications mechanic. In 1945, he joined the Corps of Royal Canadian Electrical Mechanical Engineers, where he ultimately became a sergeant.
The Second World War ended before Sisler had a chance to fight overseas.
He stayed in the military until 1947, and after the war, he worked with the Royal Canadian Ordnance Corps just outside of Montreal, where he examined war equipment coming back from Europe. He was stationed there for 13 months before he was discharged due to demobilization.
A civilian once again, Sisler settled his young family in Fort Erie, where he soon became a customs agent with the Department of National Revenue, stationed at the Peace Bridge border crossing.
Sisler also sang in a barbershop quartet in the 1960s and ran a side business with a friend fixing TVs and radio sets.
Burdett is survived by 11 grandchildren, 22 great-grandchildren and 14 great-great-grandchildren.
A funeral is scheduled for April 9in Fort Erie.
Files from Meredith Bond were used in this story
