Christopher J. Harvie's excellent blog has a wealth of information and a recent post helps us understand the Canadian Expeditionary Force's Regimental System. “In Canada, the regiment is a formation of one or more units; existing almost exclusively for reasons of heritage, the continuance of battle honours and esprit de corps." Source: Link to Blog As an example,... Continue Reading →
“… he was probably the youngest major in the Canadian army.”
So says the Toronto World newspaper on March 10th, 1917 just 5 days after acting Major George Vincent Nelson was killed. He joined the 18th Battalion on May 6, 1916 as a reinforcement after originally joining the 83rd Overseas Battalion on September 4, 1914. During his duty with the 18th Battalion, which spanned less than... Continue Reading →
Rank Last Name Initials KIA Service No. Family Information Private BASS J 02/03/1916 '406252' Private GAGEBY R 02/03/1916 '406719' SON OF ROBERT GAGEBY, OF 45, BROOKHILL AVENUE, BELFAST, IRELAND. Sergeant GARDNER H S 02/03/1916 '54020' SON OF JOHN AND JANE GARDNER, OF 112, ABBEY FOREGATE, SHREWSBURY. NATIVE OF SALOP, ENGLAND. Private HILLSON J 02/03/1916 '54227'... Continue Reading →
War Diary of the 18th Battalion: March 1916
PlaceDateHourSummary of Events and Information 1 Battn in SP trenches. Operation orders for cooperation in attacks on INTERNATIONAL trench on our left (attached). Bombardment commenced 5 pm until 5.30 pm. This was kept up during the night of March ½ becoming very intense about 2.30 A.M. 20th Can Bn was on our right and East Yorks (Imp)... Continue Reading →
Lieutentant R. D. Jeffreys Military Cross
Lieutenant R.D. Jeffreys began life as a private soldier with the 1st Cambridgeshire Regiment and later earned a battlefield commission and the Military Cross. I am in possession of a typed copy of the diary and will be transcribing it for this blog. Though the primary focus of this blog is the 18th Battalion, C.E.F.... Continue Reading →
Update on Blog
Some updates... February 1916 War Diary Entry Taking a more measured and thorough approach I am doing soldier research before I transcribe the war diary. An Excel database has been created to better organize the work that has been done to help track the research and prevent duplication of effort. One of the big jobs... Continue Reading →
Lieutenant Ewen McLachlin
During the search for soldiers of the 18th Battalion I found Lieutenant Thayer Vincent Milford a site was found referring to him as belonging to the Western Ontario Regiment on the West Carlton Honour Roll. As I perused the site I noticed an entry for a Lieutenant Ewen McLachlin. Having a connection through relatives to... Continue Reading →
Curious Grave Marker
The We Are The Dead ( @WeAreTheDead ) Twitter account unfailingly posts the names of Canadian Service Men and Women who gave the ultimate sacrifice. One such tweet got my attention as I check any of the tweets with Western Ontario Regiment to see if any of these soldier commemorated are from the 18th. In... Continue Reading →
Christmas Truces: “…our German friends were quite friendly.”
A recent viewing of the movie Joyeux Noël made me curious as to the involvement of Canadian troops in the Christmas truces that sprung up after the well documented truces that occurred in 1914. Since the First Canadian Contingent did not arrive in the theater of operations until February 1915 they were not involved in... Continue Reading →
Update
This blog has been working to add soldiers to the Soldiers's Pages from the research and transcription of the war diaries and from other sources. Currently I have 7 soldiers with initial research started and 23 soldiers, mostly officers, that have been listed and have no research done. One of the challenges of doing this... Continue Reading →
Serving His Country Twice
There are 2 inscriptions at the Zivy Crater Memorial, Thelus in the Pas de Calais region that bear witness to an interesting story. A soldier, Private George Symonds, 18th Battalion, who died on April 9, 1917 on the first day of the Vimy Battle that Canadian's memorialize every year, was not Private George Symonds at... Continue Reading →
When One Soldier Leads You to Another: Lee to Stephens
One of the goals of this blog is to list every soldier mentioned in the 18th Battalion C.E.F. War Diary and, at the least, have a specific Soldier's Page with their Attestation Papers, a link to their Service Records (if digitized) and any other pertinent information found via the Internet. At first the focus was... Continue Reading →
Envy of Their Good Fortune
Several battalions of the C.E.F. were destined to be "reinforcing" battalions whose members trained in a battalion in Canada and then were used in reinforcing drafts to replenish other battalions. Since many of these battalions were many were locally/regionally raised with volunteers and then formed as a unit it must have been hard to be... Continue Reading →
Illustrated War News, February 9, 1916 at Wartime Canada
Wartime Canada is a site that is going go be a good resource for those interested in the Canadian perspective and experience during the Great War. Their About pages gives a good summary of their objectives: "Wartime Canada was envisioned as a way to make the visual heritage of the nation at war freely available... Continue Reading →
Child Soldier Mystery
Attested with the names Alexander Marquis AKA Alexander Morykwas. Listed at the CWGC and the CVWM as being 16. Attestation papers say he was born in 1897 so was at least 18 at time of death but if you look at the scan of the burial record of this soldier you will see that the... Continue Reading →
“We’re all OK. Plenty of rations, water and rum.”
During heavy action during an operation in August 1917 against the ALOOF Trench in the Lens area of operations by the 18th Battalion C.E.F. the following communication was written and passed back by messenger to "Adjutant Radish" at Battalion Headquarters. To Adjut. Radish [codename] Casualties 2 killed 5 wounded I have completed a relief of... Continue Reading →
“Silent Death”: The Canadian Style of Trench Raiding
In a recent book I found at the California University Digital Library entitled Sniping in France - With Notes on the Scientific Training of Scouts, Observers, and Snipers by Major H. Hesketh-Prichard D.S.O., M.C. there was an interesting reference: "For instance, there was the"Silent Death," as it was called, invented by the Canadians, who, under... Continue Reading →
The Mystery of the Pastor of the 18th Battalion
In the paper En Route to Flanders Fields there is a quote that is currently a mystery: Sergeant Dickson of the 18th Battalion Canadian Infantry was, until enlistment, a pastor at the Methodist Episcopal Church in Cleveland City, Ohio and was invited to lead a service from the pulpit in the Grace Hill Wesleyan Church,... Continue Reading →
“I hope only I get about half a dozen of the “Huns” before they get me.”
A letter written by Pte. Sydney Hampton to his family 99 years ago, almost to the date, is illuminating. The 18th Battalion is in England training and in a month will embark for Flanders. Pte. Hampton letter illuminates and illustrates the attitudes of a Canadian solder at this time. It is interesting as from the... Continue Reading →
History of the 18th Battalion CEF, "The Fighting Eighteenth" 