Confidential War Diary of 18th CANADIAN BATTALION – 2nd CANADIAN DIVISION From 1st February 1 1919 to 28th February 1919 Volume 42 With appendices 1 – 28 PlaceDateHourSummary of Events and InformationFosses I.35.751Map for Reference: Namur 8 1/100,000 Battalion training as per Appendix No. 1 attached. In accordance with instructions re. Return to England of... Continue Reading →
The Last Meeting
On October 10, 1975, a full 61 years since the beginning of the Great War, a group of men ranging in age from 84 to 81 years old met in London, Ontario. These eight men, all of the veterans and members of the 18th Battalion were meeting the last time as members of the 18th... Continue Reading →
A Letter Between Comrades-in-Arms
Those who have not served will never experience that bond developed by soldiers in a military unit, especially one involved in active combat operations. A letter has come to light that offers a glimpse at this bond and gives illuminating insight into the maw that was Passchendaele. Thanks to Michael Ritchie[i] the experiences of the... Continue Reading →
The Deliquency of an Entire Battalion
Baseball was a large part of battalion life. Numerous articles attest to this at this blog. The Battalion played at Folkestone[i], at a Sports Day at Hythe, and during brigade and divisional sports days, amongst other mentions. Baseball was of keen interest to the men of the Canadian Expeditionary Force and the 18th Battalion. So... Continue Reading →
The Lonely Soldier: Remembering a Leave
18th Battalion Association[i] Windsor and Detroit Branch *MEMORIES[ii]* Some time ago, we were watching the Television Program, “No Time for Sergeants”. The skit was about a lonesome soldier. It was funny. The lonesome soldier was no myth. He was real. It all stated the night we left London. Many of the officers and many of... Continue Reading →
“…a consecrated and prophetic religious leader.”: The Reverend (Hon. Captain) Carlisle
18th Battalion Association[i] Windsor and Detroit Branch *MEMORIES[ii]* When our Conventions are held at Windsor and we all parade to All Saints Anglican Church for our annual Memorial Service, it always brings back memories of our fist Chaplain, Captain Arthur Carlisle, who was the Minister at All Saints before and after the First War. Many... Continue Reading →
A Quiet Christmas 1915
18th Battalion Association[i] Windsor and Detroit Branch *MEMORIES[ii]* How good in your memory? Do you remember the first Christmas Day (1915) we spent in Flanders? Two of our Companies were in M. & N. front line trenches while the other two companies were in reserve at Ridgewood and Vierstraat, which were about a half mile... Continue Reading →
The “Twilight” and a Chance Meeting
18th Battalion Association[i] Windsor and Detroit Branch *MEMORIES[ii]* Several years after the War, I was coming back from Chicago on the “Twilight” which was then one of the better trains operated by the New York Central Railway as it was solid chair car and excess fare. As soon as the train left the station in... Continue Reading →
Tattoos on the Grampian
18th Battalion Association[i] Windsor and Detroit Branch *MEMORIES* In the mid-thirties, Bobby Watson and I were strolling along Ouellete Avenue when we noticed a small crowd gathered in front of the vacant lot just south of the Tunnel[ii] entrance. Bobby was in the First Battalion. When we arrived, we found they were watching some workmen... Continue Reading →
A Swim Binds Three 18th Battalion Soldiers in Time
This is a follow up post from a prior post entitled A Swim Binds Two Soldiers in Time in which the experiences of two members of the Battalion is examined. Further research has illuminated that there were three men of the 18th Battalion involved in this incident and this article is a response to the... Continue Reading →
Sports Days for the 4th Canadian Infantry Brigade
“Sports Days” were an integral part of British and Canadian Military life. In every area of operation, be it Flanders, Salonika, or Mesopotamia. For the Canadian troops, Sports Days were times of recreation and competition – a break from soldiering. Yet, the popularity of the Sports Days had a decidedly military purpose. They helped foster... Continue Reading →
…and no battalion has a more glorious record than our good old 18th.
On April 10, 1919 two news stories about the 18th Battalion were published on page three in the Border Cities Star. One story was about the past, told of a traitor in the 18th who “surrendered” to the Germans in July 1918 while the Battalion was stationed in the Telegraph Hill area in the Arras... Continue Reading →
Lecture Series Presented by the Great War Centenary Association (Brantford, Ontario)
News has been posted at the Great War Centenary Association's web site outlining the 2017 lecture series being held in Brantford, Ontario in 2017. The lectures cover a range of topics covering the Canadian experience in the First World War. Lectures are held at 7:30 PM at Laurier Brantford, RCW, Room 202 at 150 Dalhousie... Continue Reading →
The Penny
War offers its participants a million varied ways to become ill, injured, wounded or die. For Company Sergeant Major Walter William Herd, reg. no. 53527 an injury he sustained was most unusual and almost grimly comical C.S.M. Herd[i] enlisted in the C.E.F. with the 18th Battalion on October 26, 1914, and as can be attested... Continue Reading →
Canadians Competed: A Fine and Very Warm Day of Sports in Hythe
In the August 31, 1915 edition of the Montreal Gazette on page 13 is a news story. Pushed back inside the paper in the Sports Section is a story. The headlines of the day decry: EXPECT SEASON TO SET BAR TO TEUTON’S SURGE: Military Observers Hope That Equinoctial Period Will Limit Forward Movement or MINES,... Continue Reading →
Our Boys Were Certainly No Angels
Introduction The role of an Assistant Provost Marshal is basically the Chief of Police for a military unit or encampment. Keeping control of the approximately 15,000 troops from all branches of the Army in the 2nd Division was a very real challenge. The “boys” being young, many far from home, but conversely many native... Continue Reading →
The Bryant/Drouillard Wedding Mystery Solved
With the help of many great people the background and circumstances of The Bryant/Drouillard Wedding can be brought to bear. It only adds more to the mystery in that the circumstances of the marriage of Private Bryant, reg. no. 320 of the Canadian Expeditionary Force to Miss Elizabeth Drouillard. The initial mystery was created partially... Continue Reading →
The Bryant/Drouillard Wedding Mystery
Photo showing Private Bryant and Miss Elizabeth Drouillard with the Reverend Carlisle presiding. The London Advertiser, November 12, 1914. The witnesses are A.H. Jackson who may be Sergeant Allen Harold Jackson, reg. no. 53349 of Detroit, Michigan and Miss Cora Reed of London, Ontario. Doing research, I stumbled on this article[i]: Apparently whirlwind romances happen... Continue Reading →
History of the 18th Battalion CEF, "The Fighting Eighteenth" 