Blog Updates for July 2016

In general the progress for the blog is moving ahead in a systematic manner and the wealth of information online and available is astounding and daunting.

Soldiers’ Pages

At the time of this post the database, in raw terms and without purging and verification, has 1,194 soldiers in it. Of those, approximately 1,000 soldiers have been posted on the blog leaving 200 soldiers to be researched and entered.

One of the problems with this process is the finding and inclusion of soldiers into the database happens faster than the process to then research, creating a soldier’s page and then posting it. The funnel of information is wide on top and narrow at the bottom, so to speak. Coupled with the fact that the Library and Archives Canada is digitizing the service records of Canadian service personnel this often leads to a focus on the records that do have the service records available. At this time the LAC has digitized up to surname Kimbling in the database. For more information about the progress of this important project check out this CEFSG thread.

The addition of soldiers still is primarily driven by the casualty research done on each monthly War Diary transcription. Thus, if the month being transcribed casualty figures are low the addition of soldiers is relatively quick. If the casualties are high, then working through this information slows down the process.

A factor that will, sadly, speed up the process is the Canadian Great War Project site has been hobbled. This is sad because this site is a valuable resource to researchers and its uncertain future and possible loss would be a tragedy.

There is an extensive thread about this at the CEFSG which outlines what is happening. For awhile the site was down completely but it is now up and accessible. A member can add information to EXISTING soldiers in the database but no new records can be created. The reason this speeds up my research is that I was adding every soldier I found that was not at that site into their database. A lot of typing. I felt that since the site is focused on, primarily from an 18th Battalion perspective, the soldiers of that battalion who had died in the war from being killed in action or dying from wounds, it would be good to have a record of all the soldiers found during the research added to this site since it was such a popular resource for soldier research.

For now, if a soldier is found during research the Canadian Great War Project is referenced and if a record exists it is updated and check for accuracy. Any entry created by the author is noted with the initials ee.

Of note during the recent research is the work of the 91st Battalion Group on Facebook and The Elgin Military Museum with their recent work to honour and commemorate the soldiers from Elgin County who formed the 91st Battalion. Some of those soldiers served with the 18th Battalion and are now part of the database. The museum and the Facebook group’s work work and research has been most valuable and appreciated.

A recent post, Elgin County Soldiers Who Served in the 18th Battalion, could not have been done without the hard work the the people at The Elgin Military Museum.

Facebook Group

The 18th Battalion Facebook Group is slowly growing! 28 members strong! Not as many members as some groups with a similar interest but the feedback and support from the members is wonderful and encourages the efforts of the author.

Dawn Hueston is tireless and tenacious in her support and work for this group and is very active for one of her passions, the Remembering Chatham-Kent Heroes. She is not only active with this group but contributes to the 18th and 91st Battalions with valuable and timely contributions.

Another one of our members is a serving soldier in the Canadian Army. Their unit has been tasked to research a soldier and he joined the Group looking for help. We are so proud to have him as part of our Group! The soldier he is researching is James Thomas Pearce reg. no. 157658 and it is another one of the projects being worked on.

War Diary

Preparing to write up the April 1917 War Diary transcription. This is the month that the Canadian Corps attacked Vimy Ridge and a special focus on this month is being made to commemorate and honour the 18th’s involvement in this battle. Recent research now included a review of the 4th Brigade War Diaries in conjunction with the 18th’s War Diary. There are some great message chits and maps that need to be incorporated into the transcription and blog in some effective manner to hi-light this important Canadian historical and military event.

I have a feeling I am going to be learning some new skills with Google Maps and some other applications! Regardless of this a lot of transcription typing is going to be involved.

Blog Posts

The frequency of blog posts has, necessarily, slowed down. If soldier pages are being added then the effort to write blog posts is syphoned off to this activity. Both are important but the blogging is, I think, more accessible and makes the soldiers’ lives more relevant and real to the reader.

The recent post about Lieutenant Harold Van Bealer was a lot of work but well worth it and it took a bit of time. Though he was not of the 18th Battalion his story is representative of the experiences of other soldiers and I found the contrast of the official public representation of his death such a contrast to the four words in one document in his service record that summarized his suicide as from: “Ill Health and Finances”. His death was so much more than that and it is hoped the blog article expanded on the contributions this soldier made to our military heritage. Given that he was an American citizen with no apparent ties to the Commonwealth or England leads to a greater feeling of irony given the outcome of his service to OUR country.

Some of the article reminders on my computer desktop…

•  Fred Alexander Kidd Article about wounds – see service record for details.
• JC Little Article after Blue is finished.
• Blog post REYNOLDS, William Henry (#845197) re salvation army
• transcibe article re. Goodier
• Cooper has interesting screen shot in service record describing wounding.

…and this does not include the six articles in some state of progress (or disarray) in a file folder called “In Process”.

In Closing…

…the work on this blog continues with each day in an effort to honour those who served, most particularly the men of “The Fighting 18th”.