Articles, war diaries, and recognition to the Men of the "Fighting 18th"
This is the first of a series of blog posts investigating the service and experiences of 18th Battalion soldiers from the Maritmes. As the 18th Battalion was a Western Ontario battalion it generally received replacements from battalions raised in the same geographic region. The author is presently visiting such graves of the men he has... Continue Reading →
September9, 2022 Motel MagistralSaint-Raphaël, QCChaudière-Appalaches Administrative/Tourist Region Today was a long day. I wish I had access to the train service in 1915 as I may have made better progress. The Canada of today is so different from that of my grandfather’s time when he enlisted in the 18th Battalion in October of 1914. There... Continue Reading →
September 8, 2022 East of Trenton, Ontario It was a night about 2-weeks before Remembrance Day about 15-years ago (the exact year is a bit foggy) when my daughter announced that she was going to volunteer to speak at her school’s Remembrance Day ceremony. Who would of thought this innocent statement would lead me to... Continue Reading →
“History has a way of repeating itself.” Oft said and often a collective groan emanates from those that have to hear this statement. The realization of this is frequently ignore as our collective psyches note new events in the social, economic, and political world that we may have seen before in our lifetimes, or some... Continue Reading →
This article is part of the author’s research into the circumstances of the death by execution by a soldier of the 18th Battalion. Up until his desertion after 5-months of active service with the Battalion there is no indication of behaviour that would reflect cowardice. Private Edward Fairburn, reg. no. 227098. 11 Maples Street, St.... Continue Reading →
In November of 1915 a 32-year-old single man enlisted with the 91st Battalion. With the help of a biography written in 1971 we can fill in the blanks of this long dead officer of the 18th Battalion. Lieutenant G.G. Brackin. Circa 1916. Garnet Garfield Brackin came from an established middle class Canadian family. His brother,... Continue Reading →
Lance-Corporal Henry James Smith. Circa 1916. A father at war. At 39-years of age he was almost too old to enlist at St. Thomas, Ontario in the winter of 1916. Married with children we can not directly derive at the reasons for his enlistment, but being British born, he perhaps had a strong patriotic streak... Continue Reading →
A soldier’s letter published in the London Advertiser in November of 1915 gives a glimpse of the perspective of a new soldier to his introduction to combat conditions. It was written at the end of October or early November by a Welshman serving with the 18th Battalion to a friend residing in the Iroquois Hotel... Continue Reading →
Tracking down information relating to the 18th Battalion can be challenging. There are some consistent sources of information, but when you are dealing with the service of up to 5,000 men who served in the Battalion during its existence from October 1914 to May 1919 that has no official war history and has all the... Continue Reading →
The weather a West Sandling Camp on May 7, 1915, was in the full throws of spring. The famous Kent countryside resplendent with verdant greens and the soft waving grass as the winds from the English Channel played over the lush meadows near Tolsford Hill. The land was being transformed into a camp for the... Continue Reading →
On February 21, 1906, a couple married at Sparkbrook, Warwichshire in England. The groom was 27 years old and his bride one year younger. He was a returned army veteran with experience in South Africa and would post 8-years of military experience with the 3rd and 4th Battalion of the Rifle Brigade attaining the position... Continue Reading →
On March 30, 1916, at Hamilton, Ontario George Reginald Parke, a 27-year-old druggist, enlisted as a lieutenant with the 173rd Overseas Battalion. He had all of 4-months experience with the 91st Canadian Highlanders. Lieutenant G R Parke (HU 116591) Lieutenant G R Parke. Unit: 173rd Battalion, Canadian Infantry, Canadian Expeditionary Force. Copyright: © IWM. Original... Continue Reading →
A recent post at the 18th Battalion Facebook Group pointed to a Vimeo video “The Crucified Soldier” was posted in the context that it “may be offensive and can be reported as such.” The concern, one can surmise, that the content of this video was not related to the subject matter the Facebook Group focuses... Continue Reading →
Give us leaders! Men of ability. Soldiers who know what soldiering is. We deem it unwise to hand our bodies over to the keeping of a four-month recruit. If you want to accomplish results in recruiting, get a competent soldier at the head of the regiment.
(Berlin Trade and Labour Council, 1915)
William Merton Overton Lochead was a leading figure in the Berlin business community and insurance firm manger. He was born on 10 January 1874 in Camden Township, Ontario and graduated from Queen’s University. Although he had limited experience in the militia, Lochead was selected to raise the 118th Battalion due to his reputation for business management and organization.
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Patrick Parnell Welsh was a 34-year-old clerk when he enlisted with the 186th Overseas Battalion at London, Ontario in June of 1916. A little older than average for a soldier of the Canadian Expeditionary Force, he felt the need to leave the security of his job and join the army to be of service to... Continue Reading →
After years of reading numerous books and hundreds of scholarly articles finding snippets and treasures in these sources about the 18th Battalion can be hit and miss. Sometimes they can only mystify. Sometimes, like this find, it can illuminate the lives of the soldiers involved and add an intimacy that can often be unexpected and,... Continue Reading →
On August 16, 1918, a Canadian soldier arrived at Southwark Military Hospital at East Dulwich Grove with a compound fracture of the right humerus. He had received these wounds just 8-days earlier as the Battalion stepped off on an attack at 4:20 AM for an objective 200 yards east of Marcelcave, France. During that operation... Continue Reading →
La morti a tutti trova e lu munnu s'arrinova. Sicilian Proverb. English: Death finds everyone and the world gets renewed. Acknowledgement With acknowledgement to Patrick M. Dennis who brought the role of conscripts and conscription into a sharper realistic relief with his presentations and excellent book, Reluctant Warriors: Canadian Conscripts in the Great War. I... Continue Reading →
One of my sergeants put it cleverly when he said that, while the Canadians make the best fighting men in the world, they are not soldiers, and he was right when he said it. The Canadian fighters are citizens. The war was merely an interlude in their citizenry. During the fighting they bore all manner of hardship because they were part of the fighting but when the fighting had ended they unconsciously became citizens again and not amendable to the strict discipline of military life. They wanted to get back to the life to which they belonged.
(Pratt, Toronto Star, 19 March 1919)
Arthur Clarence Pratt was a Conservative member of the Ontario legislature for Norfolk South from 1905 to 1919. He was born 6 February 1871 in Lynedoch, Ontario. In November 1915, he joined with Hal B…
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One of the problems with history and the study of it is there can be a very subjective aspect to the analysis of the past. Information may not be accurate. Sources may be in error, and other myriad of issues can impinge on one’s understanding of history. Due to the subjective nature of history another... Continue Reading →
War Diary of the 18th Battalion CEF 