In 2007 I acquired the medals awarded to 214215 Private John Leonard Shook of The Royal Canadian Regiment. In researching Shook's story as a soldier of the Great War, I came across a reference to his being court martialed and added his Court Martial record to my research files. As it turned out, Shook was court martialed for having a negligent discharge with his service rifle while cleaning it. In the court martial transcript was the fact that a Private Spencer was wounded by the ricocheting bullet. Unfortunately, Spencer's full name and service number were not included in the file, and so a search for Spencer remained on my list of things to watch for as I continued to explore The RCR in the Great War.When I wrote Shook's story, which was published in the regimental journal (Pro Patria 2007), I noted that one possibility was 477869 Pte. D.D. Spencer. Having received this Spencer's file from the Library and Archives Canada I was able to confirm that he was not the Spencer in question.Some time later, as I finished the transcription of the Regiment's CEF War Diary, I found reference to another Private Spencer when he was recorded as being accidentally burned in another incident. Another purchase of a service record from Library and Archives Canad turned out to be more successful, and I discovered that this was the Spencer who was in that basement the day Shook loosed a round in the hallway of the Officer's Mess where they were cleaning their weapons.
