Congratulations to The Canadian Scottish Regiment (Princess Mary’s) who celebrate 100 years this weekend! The 16th Battalion C.E.F was formed in August 1914 from four Canadian militia regiments, the: 50th […]
William Lea Cook was born in St. Helen’s, Lancashire in 1892, the fifth child of Robert Cook and Selina Lea’s seven children. William’s father died in 1908 and early the […]
On my recent trip to the UK I picked up this small collection of real photo postcards showing soldiers recovering at British convalescent hospitals. The postcard pictured here, and one […]
Last week I made the decision to switch On Active Service from a website to a blog. I maintain four other WordPress blogs and so standardizing on this format should make it easier and less time-consuming to add the many letters and photos that are waiting in the wings. All […]
November 9, 1914. A 20-year old Lance-Corporal named Edward Dobson hunkered down in a shallow and water-filled trench at the edge of a wood. The German’s were preparing for their final push to Ypres and Edward and the rest of the British Expeditionary Force stood in their way. Meanwhile, 200 […]
This is my 2011 Remembrance Day tribute to the 620,000 Canadians from across the country who “did their bit” during the Great War and to the nearly 67,000 who never […]
Library & Archives Canada have digitized the First World War Attestation papers for the majority of Canadian soldiers. You can search the database and view these pages free of charge. If you wish to view the complete service file you will need to order it from Library & Archives Canada. […]
Contributed by Sidney Allinson. Shortly after dawn on Dec. 25, 1914, the first Christmas Day of the First World War, hundreds of British and German troops spontaneously climbed out of their trench fortifications and crossed the usually deadly No Man’s Land between to shake hands with their enemies, exchange gifts, […]
Contributed by Sidney Allinson. The little men in khaki seemed impossibly short to be Canadian soldiers. Barely over five feet in height, they marched proudly, four abreast, to tunes of their brass band, smiling at the cheering crowds that lined Humboldt Street, Victoria, that bright morning of February 10, 1917. […]
This is a two part letter written to his mother on Boxing Day and New Years Day, just as the Battery had taken up new positions on the front. Transcription: “France Dec 26, 1917 Dear Ma, We had a merry old 25th after all. I will write and tell you […]
Doing Our Bit 