A West Coast Cadet: Remembering E. R. Shearman
In hindsight it’s easy to forget that not every soldier who wanted to do his bit in the First World War had the opportunity to do so. In 1914, and in […]
Remembering Lt. John Keith Bousfield, Holzminden P.O.W.
Victoria BC has been home to expatriates from across the Empire since it’s earliest days. Despite knowing this I must admit I was nonetheless surprised to discover that an officer, one of 29 […]
Remembering Pte John Fleming, C.A.S.C – Part 1 of 3
This is the first in a three-part series remembering John Fleming who served as a driver and mechanic in the First World War. Part 1 focuses on his early life […]
Remembering Sgt. John Reid Cunningham, 7th Royal Scots
A couple of years ago I purchased three postcards showing Musselburgh soldiers from the 1/7th Royal Scots. I’ve published several articles about these men and the Quintinshill rail disaster that claimed so […]
Remembering Pte Harry Bassett, 3rd Battalion CEF
Inspiring future generations to remember the men and women who endured the most traumatic period in our country’s history must surely be one of the most important aims of the First World War […]
Remembering Pte. Wilfred Harrison, 8th Battalion CEF
Wilfred Harrison, a Private in the 8th Battalion (90th Winnipeg Rifles) CEF died at the Royal Victoria Hospital at Netley 100 years ago today. Wilfred was my first cousin (3x removed), […]
Remembering Captain John Geddes, 16th Battalion CEF
Captain John Geddes died on April 22, 1915 leading his men in the midnight attack on Kitchener’s Wood. His final moments were captured in Mark Zuehlke’s fine book ‘Brave Battalion‘: “Captain Geddes had been […]
Kitchener’s Wood: Pte Denholm’s Curious Keepsake
Private John Denholm‘s First World War scrapbook contains an unusual piece of ephemera, a postcard written to a German soldier named Robert Kirchner. Denholm went to the trouble of having […]
Kitchener’s Wood: the letters of Sgt. Charles Herbert Peck
“The hardest thing that I have saw is a young fellow from Annapolis valley. I took a liking to him in Valcartier and keep him with me up to the […]
Vimy Ridge: “But I Would Not Have Missed It For Anything”
On June 1st 1917 Private Guy Edmund Smith (#153485) wrote a letter from a convalescent camp in Boulogne to his good friend Richard Brooker in Winnipeg. The 24-year old Private […]
Doing Our Bit 