George Stirrett, born in Forest and raised in Petrolia, enlisted in the First World War early 1915 in nearby London, Ontario, where he served with the 7th Mounted Rifles under Billy Bishop, one of Canada's most famous aviators. Stirrett attempted to join the Royal Flying Corps with Bishop, but was turned down and remained in the cavalry unit that sailed for England in June 1915, and then to France later that fall.
He led 60 stretcher bearers into enemy fire at the Battle of the Somme to retrieve injured soldiers, but only 16 returned to the Allied trenches. The rest were killed or were wounded. Stirrett was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal after he went out again alone when he heard someone call for help from the battlefield. He eventually pulled eight men back to safety. He reached the rank of major and won the Military Cross for leading near-suicidal forays in search of German machine gun nests in the last few weeks of the war. The official citation notes he carried out mounted patrols to gather information on enemy positions with great dash and courage.
