History of the 18th Battalion CEF, "The Fighting Eighteenth"
Articles, war diaries, and recognition to the Men of the "Fighting 18th"
On my first visit to the Canadian War Museum when it was located at the Dominion Archives building there was a large artillery piece at the entrance. My recollection is this gun was placarded as having been captured by the 18th Battalion. I made note of this as this was the battalion that my grandfather... Continue Reading →
This blog has touched on the role that British Home Children had in the Canadian Expeditionary Force, and specifically the 18th Battalion. It is estimated that up to 10 percent of all Canadians can trace an ancestral connection with a British Home Child. One of the pleasures of hosting a Facebook Page for the 18th... Continue Reading →
This is a beautiful book. Rich, well composed photography and with a minimum of commentary (which allows one to appreciate the photographs) make the book World War 1: A Monumental History by Robert Konduros and Richard Parrish (the Monument Men of the blog title) a necessary inclusion into anyone who has an interest or passion... Continue Reading →
It was the second Christmas for the 18th Battalion in the front lines. The first Christmas in 1915 found the Battalion blooded in its first actions in Belgium and suffered 26 deaths from the Battalion’s arrival on the Continent in mid-September 1915 until the end of December. The feelings on isolation from family and friends... Continue Reading →
There was no Remembrance Day in 1916. The concept of remembering the dead with a national day of recognition had not been conceived of until later and it would be a whole two years of conflict with its dead, dying, wounded, and damaged combatants. The 18th Battalion had been through the Somme and had suffered... Continue Reading →
I did not know Sue Light. In fact, if it were not for Sue Light I would not know about Sue Light. On August 3, 2014 I wrote a blog post entitled Missing, believed drowned... about two 18th Battalion soldiers who were lost at sea due to the sinking by a German nautical mine. Part... Continue Reading →
Below are the details of a wonderful initiative taken by a series of volunteers and history buffs of an event to honour the formation of the 91st Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force. I have included the details per a document from this group's Facebook page. Many soldiers of the 91st Battalion served with other... Continue Reading →
Today the 1,000th page was posted on the blog. Never dreaming that this blog would be so involving and engaging it is with some trepidation that I look towards the next 1,000 pages because, honestly, there will be a 1,000 more after that thousand. I can see that some of my initial efforts to keep... Continue Reading →
Just a brief update on the status of the blog: To date 794 soldiers' pages have been entered in the blog. A significant source of new soldiers has been two book mentioned previously in the blog - "Duty Nobly Done" and "Kiss the kids for dad. Don't forget to write." There are currently a... Continue Reading →
Romance from the trenches. Below is a story relating to one unknown member of the 18th Battalion who, with his first Christmas in the trenches in 1915, used a unique method to assuage and address his boredom and loneliness. This is related by Lieutenant Harry Anderson Secord during an interview for the CBC Radio broadcast... Continue Reading →
A reader left a comment about the account I had found on his life. As this was one of the first soldiers I added to this blog it looks like my systematic work habits were not in place as I had taken the time to download the attestation papers for this soldier but had not... Continue Reading →
Another member of the 18th Battalion was on board the HMHS Anglia when she sank. Wilfred "Grit" Laurier Callander, one of the originals, was on board being transferred to England to have a case of trench foot treated. He was able to survive the sinking and the war.
The 18th Battalion was in the trenches near Vierstraat 1oo years ago today on December 13, 1915. The company cook for Lieutenant George Kerr did something special for him: On December 13 Lieutenant George Kerr had a special celebration in the trenches. For his twenty-first birthday the company cook scrounged all the chocolate he could... Continue Reading →
On Tuesday, July 31, 1917, page 3 of the Gaffney Ledger had a news story about a news story about an American who had died near the town of Ammetes. The Canadian Light Horse was stationed near Divion in France at this time. Mrs. G. T. Clark, of 813 N. Gra-nard [sic] street, has received... Continue Reading →
On November 28, 1917 Lieutenant McLean, a banker from Montreal Quebec, was on duty as a member of the 3rd Canadian Divisional Ammunition Column. The day had started out with a frost but was characterized as a "fine day" in the Unit's War Diary. McLea, with 200 pack mules had collected ammunition at "B" Dump... Continue Reading →
1914: 0 1915: 8 1916: 99 1917: 154 1918: 41 1919: 4 1920: 0 1921: 0 Rank Surname Forename Age Unit Country of Burial Reg, No. Year: 1915 Lance Corporal COCHRANE T H 21st Bn. Belgium 59175 Private GOODLAND HUBERT VICTOR 25 49th Bn. France 437411 Private HARDS BRIAN 18 "C" Coy. 24th Bn. Belgium... Continue Reading →
Below is a brief outline of the "first and last" Canadians to sacrifice their lives according to the alphabetical listing of Circumstances of Death Registry, First World War. The online database sadly only goes to Sims and any records after that are not available at this resource. Alphabetically, according to this source, the "first" casualty... Continue Reading →
As we enjoy the freedom the valiant men and women fought for it is fitting on this Canada Day to reflect back the the experiences of the soldiers of the 18th Battalion. The Battalion, being formed as part of the 2nd Contingent, did not celebrate Canada Day (it was called Dominion Day at this time)... Continue Reading →
"Many of them had never seen a dentist before..." Click on link and scroll to 11 minutes and 15 seconds to listen to the story. Click on this link to listen to information regarding the Canadian War Museum's exhibit. More: Canadian Dental Association Page R.C.D.C. History Overview Trench Mouth
In a previous post regarding 2nd Lieutenant L.C. Vogan the news article referenced "...he Oxford Patriotic Association, for $500 in the Imperial Life." There was a fund called the "Canadian Patriotic Fund" which assisted Canadian soldiers with benefits for those with families. The Oxford Fund was initially independent of the Canadian Patriotic Fund: CANADIAN PATRIOTIC... Continue Reading →
History of the 18th Battalion CEF, "The Fighting Eighteenth" 