Alva Elmer Metcalfe was born and raised in Brantford, Ontario. He was a student at Brantford Collegiate Institute. Later, he moved west to attend the University of Alberta. In Alberta, at twenty-two years of age he volunteered for the war.
After a year at war Metcalfe was seriously injured in November 1915. His injury was a bullet wound to the thigh, which he received during battle. He was tended to at a hospital in England where he sent letters home to Brantford. In the letters Metcalfe was eager to return to his regiment he described his troop members as “more than brothers and one grows so attached, one feels he can never live without them.” By 1916, he was back fighting with his troop. Metcalfe is most honourably known for his performance
After a year at war Metcalfe was seriously injured in November 1915. His injury was a bullet wound to the thigh, which he received during battle. He was tended to at a hospital in England where he sent letters home to Brantford. In the letters Metcalfe was eager to return to his regiment he described his troop members as “more than brothers and one grows so attached, one feels he can never live without them.” By 1916, he was back fighting with his troop. Metcalfe is most honourably known for his performance