“The Poppy” – a poem written by my grandfather in 1927
March 21st is World Poetry Day and I thought it fitting to publish a poem written by my grandfather Grant Harold MacCarthy. He was only 16 years old but the […]
Pte Arthur B. Colville – 7th Battalion The Royal Scots
“Then when the second collision occurred the bottom came out of the compartment, and he, along with Private Arthur Colville, Musselburgh, dropped down and crawled along searching for a way […]
Who Goes There? The 7th Battalion Royal Scots
UPDATE: please see the comments section for feedback regarding the names of soldiers shown in these photos. A year ago I picked up three wonderful real photo postcards of men […]
Great War Portraits by Keith Collman
Photo credit: Alfred Charles “Alf” Razzell, © Keith Collman I celebrate my half-centenary in 2014 and one of my greatest regrets is not having had a conversation with a Great […]
Get Stuck In: Contribute to Lives of the First World War
2014 marks the centenary of the First World War and over the next four years there will be hundreds if not thousands of events commemorating the occasion. Many will take […]
Valentine Remembered
Today’s post features a simple tribute to a soldier from the First World War. I’ve been researching Valentine Stewart Hitchcock for well over a year and his story will be […]
In Flanders Fields
I began school in 1970 and one of my most vivid memories is of the reciting of “In Flanders Fields” on every November 11th. John McCrae’s poem, along with the […]
Remembrance Day in the early 1930’s
A wonderful photograph of the Remembrance Day ceremonies at Victoria’s Inner Harbour in the early 1930’s. The photograph was likely taken from the steps of Victoria’s War Memorial which was […]
A letter to Remember
This clipping from a British newspaper in 1917 contains the final words of a son to his mother and father. Lieutenant Herbert Frederick Bolton of the 103rd Machine Gun Corps […]
Remembrance Day 2012
I’m reposting 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 made it home. “Doing Our Bit” features photographs of recruits from Victoria, BC marching through the streets of the city […]
Doing Our Bit 