Regimental Number: 3213124
Rank: Private
Branch: 1st Depot Battalion, Alberta Regiment
Herman was born on December 8, 1894 in Kendrick, Idaho. In 1911, while he was a student at Alberta College, Herman filed on NW 26-71-8-W6. Herman was drafted into the Canadian Army in 1918, by which time he had proved up on his homestead. He was discharged on July 23, 1918 due to defective vision. On December 25, 1919, Herman married Beatrice Irene Burdick. They farmed very successfully in the Lake Saskatoon area and soon gained international recognition for growing prize winning grain. In 1931, Herman Trelle won not only the wheat crown, but world titles for oats, rye, flax and timothy. To achieve these distinctions during the Great Depression brought hope for a hungry world and world attention to the Trelles and the Peace River Country. Ironically, it was the Great Depression that saw the demise of the Trelle farm, which became so bogged down with debt that the family moved into Grande Prairie. When World War II broke out, Herman again enlisted with the Canadian Army and was stationed first in Calgary and then in Ottawa. He was discharged in 1943 for health reasons, and the family moved to California where he was to supervise an olive grove ranch. On September 2, 1945, he was shot by John Giliberti, a ranch foreman, while overseeing work in an olive grove. Herman is buried at Inglewood Cemetery, Los Angeles, California.
Sources: surname file; Along the Wapiti p. 397-398; Pioneers of the Peace p. 211-212; Lake Saskatoon Reflections p. 28, 227-229; news clippings