James Duffy was born in Ireland in 1890 and was killed in action in WW1 in 1915.

• He emigrated to Edinburgh, Scotland with his parents, James Duffy and Mary-.
• James was an elite runner in Scotland.
• He migrated to Canada in 1911 where he continued to run.
• He found employment in Canada as a porter for the T. Eaton company in Toronto and joined the Young Men's Christian Association.
• Duffy won many races in Canada and in the USA.
• In 1912 Duffy participated in the Olympics at Stockholm where he finished 5th with what is still the best placing by a Canadian in the Olympic Marathon.
• In 1914 he won the Boston Marathon.
• At the outbreak of WW1 Duffy enlisted in the 16th Infantry Battalion (the Canadian Scottish) and was one of the 278 members, out of 305, who were killed in the midnight assault on German positions at Kitchener's Wood, northeast of Ypres.
• He is buried in the Military Cemetery at Vlamertinge.

Sources

• Canadian Biography
• Wikipédia
• Vétérans Affairs Canada

[[http://web.archive.org/web/20080504224712/http://www.davidblaikie.c... Boston: the Canadian Story]

Notes

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