Doing Their Bit: Marika Pirie
If you research Canadian soldiers of the First World War there is a very good chance that you’ve read a news clipping or seen a photograph posted by Marika Pirie who in […]
Vimy Day: Remembering Private Thomas Shearman
On April 12, 1917, a 21-year old Rhodes scholar candidate from British Columbia lay injured in a German trench on Vimy Ridge with gunshot wounds to his side, arm and leg. He […]
Canadian Letters and Images Project helps share my grandfather’s WWI story — Stephanie Ann Warner
Stephanie Ann Warner’s latest blog article describes her recent visit to the Canadian Letters and Images Project at Vancouver Island University where Stephen Davies and his team digitized over 250 postcards, photos and personal items and made them available online. Stephanie’s article provides a great overview of this valuable Canadian Military History resource and I […]
Blood in the Mud: a Tribute to The Newfoundland Regiment
In February the publishers of Legion Magazine produced a stunning online tribute to The Newfoundland Regiment. Blood in the Mud is easily one of the most innovative and beautifully designed First World War […]
Paying Respect: a Pilgrimage to France and Belgium in 1926
In the aftermath of the Great War many families made a pilgrimage to the battlefields and cemeteries of France and Belgium, including the family of Rev. A.P. Gower-Rees, a former Deputy Assistant Chaplain-General and an out-spoken […]
Remembering Rev. A.P. Gower-Rees MC: the “Football Parson”
Rev. Albert Phillip Gower-Rees MC served his God, his King and his parishioners on two continents and through two world wars. Born in Carmarthen in 1880 Albert was a keen sportsman […]
Christmas at the Front – Merry Xmas from Giessen Dec. 1915
As a Prisoner of War in the Giessen P.O.W. camp Sergeant Thomas Bramah Diplock was nearly 300 miles behind enemy lines when he posted this Christmas card 100 years ago. It was […]
Remembering Pte John Fleming, C.A.S.C – Part 2 of 3
When 27-year old husband and father of two John Fleming attested in Winnipeg on December 13, 1915 he brought with him mechanical skills and driving experience that made him a natural […]
Update: Brothers Henry and Benjamin Skelton in 1907
Earlier this month I published a story on Henry and Benjamin Skelton both of whom lost their lives in the final six weeks of the First World War. This weekend […]
Remembering Lt. James Atkinson-Jowett, 6th KOYLI
Reviving forgotten family stories is what I love to do and a pair of dusty old photograph albums has given rise to a fascinating tale that began in Victorian Yorkshire and ended more […]
Doing Our Bit 