In June I published an article, Who Goes There? 54th Kootenay Battalion at Vernon Camp, which featured three panoramic photographs by Vancouver photographer Harold Smith. I have since been contacted by family members who confirm that the soldiers marked by the “X” are indeed Sidney James McDonald (pictured above on the left) and his father Thomas McDonald (in centre) both of whom survived the war. Alexander Waddington (on right) another survivor of the Great War, was identified by his grandson Gord Hartley.
All three soldiers were in the regimental band and can be found in the front row of the panoramic photograph below. Thank you to the relatives who have been in touch. If you recognize a soldier in this photograph please leave a comment or contact me.
54th Battalion, CEF at Vernon Camp in the summer of 1915
Categories: Photographs, Researching
Doing Our Bit 
On a recent visit to Kaslo cemetery (July 2017) to do the housekeeping on the gravesite of Sgt. Anderson (one of the earliest recruits of the CEF), I noticed an adjacent grave of one Augustus Carney, d: 1953 aged 63 years, of the 54th Battalion CEF. Looking through the 34 pages of names of the 54th from Archives I noticed more than a few men as having next of kin from
Kaslo. Quite likely Carney is among the 1111 portrayed in the photo taken at Vernon Camp although picking him out is a crap shoot without reasearching his photo at Kaslo City Hall. This is not outside the realm of possibility as I was able to find several photos of Sgt.Anderson and other important people living in Kaslo in the 1910’s. He survived the war and came home in 1919, as did Augustus Carney. So many men from the kootenays gathered and trained at Vernon Camp. More research may answer many of the questions still out there waiting for somebody to work on it.
Pvt. James guy is among the 1111 people in this photo