Some great research tools!
Correcting History One Soldier at a Time
In a recent soldier post of Private James Hislop (Service No.: 54341) it occurred to me that the soldier record for him was incorrect. He was listed as serving in the 15th Battalion, Central Ontario Regiment at the time of his death. Since I had corroboration that he had served with the 18h Battalion through... Continue Reading →
Reenactors at the Waterloo Air Show 2014
Some pictures of the reenactors taken on the Saturday of the air show. I totally forgot to get their contact information so if you know who they are please leave a message.
10 Facts about WWI Trenches
A good overview of trenches in World War 1.
War Diary of the 18th Battalion: February 1916
Confidential War Diary of 18th Canadian Battalion 2nd Canadian Division From 1st February to 29th February 1916 Volume 6 Place Date Hour Summary of Events and Information VIERSTRAAT Feb. 1 “B” and “D” Coys in trenches “M” + “N”. Lt. Col. E.S. Wigle acting Brigadier 4th Can. Infy. Bgde. Lieut. RISPIN went to 1st Infy.... Continue Reading →
A Letter Home: The ’18th’ suffered terribly lately.
Note: Posted corrected to state true author of letter and to add text from second JPEG. On May 2, 1916 Major George Whitford Nelson's wife Edna wrote a letter to her family in Canada. The 18th Battalion had been in overseas action since September 1915 and had seen fighting in Flanders. It has been blooded... Continue Reading →
Blog Post by Elinor Florence: Two Letters From France
Elinor Florence has a wonderful blog with information pertaining to her interests about Canadian history and a recent blog post details two distinct letters by a family member of hers that served in the First World War. The juxtaposition of the tone of the two letters is startling and I recommend you read it. Excerpt... Continue Reading →
War Diary of the 18th Battalion: January 1916
Confidential War Diary of 18th Canadian Battalion 2nd Canadian Division from 1st January to 31st January 1916: Volume 5 With appendices 1-2 Place Date Hour Summary of Events and Information LA CLYTTE Jan. 1 Battalion in LA CLYTTE in Divisional Reserve – “B” and D Companies were paid other Companies conducted training in specialists. Officers... Continue Reading →
Hope Dashed…
On January 31st, 1916 the 18th Battalion War Diary recorded: Battn as yesterday - Pte. Atherton wounded on fatigue. Scouts Broadwell, Reeves reported missing - Lost on patrol. One wonders how the family found out and took this information but a news article later in the year gives hope and then another one dashes it.... Continue Reading →
“He did his duty and did it well…”
Clipping from the Calgary Daily Herald May 8, 1916 LIEUT. F. DAWSON DIED LIKE SOLDIER DECLARES HIS O.C. F.J. Lawson Receives Letter Telling How Son Was Fatally Wounded That Lieut. Frank Lawson, of Calgary, who was mentioned a short time ago by The Herald, was killed in action in the St. Eloi fight, made the... Continue Reading →
Missing, believed drowned…
On November 17, 1915 the HMHS Anglia was sunk of Folkestone by a submerged mine lain by a German UC series of mine laying submarines. It was the 1st sinking of an Allied hospital ship from enemy action and 134 souls where lost. Two of them were men from the 18th Battalion. From the war... Continue Reading →
Father and Son in the 18th Battalion
Smith... What a name to have to research. If one goes to the LAC database and does a last name search for 'Smith' you get approximately 7,000 results. Impressive if you think of this last name as a percentage of all the Canadian troops that served overseas - about 1%. I wonder how common, or... Continue Reading →
Trench Maps Resources
Maps have always been a fascination for me and with the advent of the centenary of The Great War more interest for a suite of resources will become of value to people interested in researching the war. One of the challenges writing this blog is finding the reference made of place names in the War... Continue Reading →
Private David Gray: Finding Peace in Shorncliffe
One of the challenges with the research with this blog is the amazing quantity and assortment of information. It leads you in all sorts of directions. On Twitter I became aware of the Shorncliffe Trust (twitter handle @shorncliffe95 ) which is working hard to preserve and commemorate the history of this area. Since the 2nd... Continue Reading →
Canadian War Art
Would like to write more about this subject but TVO is hi-lighting some of this important media at their web site. Link Canadian War Museum Online Collection
Every Man Remembered Project
The Royal British Legion has created a site and is working with the Commonwealth War Graves Commission to commemorate every Commonwealth soldier that fell during First World War. See: http://www.everymanremembered.org/ My commemoration of my Uncle John Taylor Dewar.
BBC Online Courses
BBC in conjunction with several universities and instructors is offering (as of today) 4 courses with the following subjects: Trauma and Memory Aviation Comes of Age Paris 1919 - A New World Order? Changing Faces of Heroism
Interesting Documents Found
Found are two very interesting documents in PDF format. One document illustrates the hope and promise of an early victory and the other document illustrates the realistic expectations that a society faces after a conflict such as The Great War. 18th Battalion Christmas Greetings from The Women's Canadian Club PDF offers a glimpse of the... Continue Reading →
Research Paper: En Route to Flanders Fields: The Canadians at Shorncliffe During The Great War
This paper is a must read. En Route to Flanders Fields: The Canadians at Shorncliffe During The Great War By Diana Beaupré
A Servant Soldier’s Death
Holland, Mark: Service no. 53345 has a page but the research on this soldier has brought some more information as usual so I am posting the results in a post to highlight the life of the common Canadian soldier and how their death's were communicated. Note that the term "servant soldier" was a proper term... Continue Reading →
History of the 18th Battalion CEF, "The Fighting Eighteenth" 