Levi Cann was born in the year 1888, in Goorangoda, near Singleton, New South Wales. His mother and father, Ann Elizabeth born on 27th July, 1845 in Camberwell, New South Wales and David born in the year of 1848. Unfortunately, he died on 27th of July, 1928 on Ann’s birthday. Levi was the youngest sibling of nine children, he had five brothers, Peter, David, James, Simon, and William and three sisters, Martha, Amy and Emily (Ancestry.com, 2017). At the time of his enlistment Levi was a carpenter with five years’ experience; he was single and had no family of his own. He decided to enlist in the Australian Imperial Forces to fight during World War One – the war that became known as ‘the war to end all wars’ or ‘the Great War’ (Australian War Memorial, 2017).

​

At the age of 28 he enlisted on 12th October, 1916; his enlistment papers described Levi as a tall man with fair skin, and grey eyes. After his initial training he was sent to fight in France. On 11th November, 1916, Levi embarked on HMAT Seuvic A29, and left Australian shores for Europe; where he and many other ANZACs supported the war effort with British troops. He was attached to the 56th Battalion with the 8th reinforcement. Levi remained in France and fought for the following two years (Australian War Memorial, 2017).

During that period Levi became very ill having contracted measles; he was immediately admitted to the No.2 General Hospital on 17th December, 1916. Levi spent nearly two months in hospital and after recovering, he was discharged on 9th of February, 1917.  Once released from hospital, he was given the all clear to return to fighting in the trenches of France. He returned to the battle front but sadly he was mortally wounded; Levi was killed in action on the fields of France, he was buried in Aubigny in the British Cemetery, France (Australian Defence Force, 2017).