Roderick Anderson Todd was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1890 and immigrated to Canada prior to the war. He enlisted in Victoria, British Columbia, in February 1914. He served overseas in France and was wounded in 1917. The collection currently consists of fifteen letters written by Todd, most of them while in hospital.
James Wells Ross was born in Toronto, Ontario, in August 1890. At the time of his enlistment in September, 1914, he was a medical student at the University of Toronto. He served overseas during the war, and at the end of the war returned to Canada to practice medicine. The collection consists of several diary enteries and more than eighty letters, the majority of which are an extended dated journal entry that begins in 1914. See also the Gladys Hope Sewell Ross collection in WWI (his wife) and the Colin Sewell Ross collection in WWII (his son).
Owen Harper was born in Cheshire, England, in December, 1891. Prior to the war he emmigrated to Canada and settled in Winnipeg, Manitoba, where he worked as a printer. Harper enlisted in June, 1916 in Winnepeg, Manitoba. He served overseas with the Canadian Field Artillery as a driver until his death in September, 1917. The collection currently consists of more than twenty letters.
John ("Jack") Arthur Cowles was born in Oxford, England, in March 1893. He was a member of the Balliol Boys Club, a club run by the students, graduates, and tutors of Balliol College in Oxford. It was under the Club's auspices that Jack came to Canada in 1913. Jack enlisted with the Canadian forces in Saskatchewan in 1914. Cowles served overseas with B Coy. 28th Battalion and he was killed June 6, 1916. The collection consists of several letters to his sister and to the Balliol Boys Club, three postcards, four photographs, and a letter of condolence from Sam Hughes.
Charles Thomas Armstrong, the brother of Alex Armstrong of Cumberland, British Columbia, served with the 6th Field Ambulance, Australian Army Medical Corps. Armstrong died November 24, 1915, of wounds received at Gallipoli age 34. The collection currently consists of more than sixty images from his photograph album.
External links:
Burial information is available at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
Lt. Harvey Simion Burnard was from Theodore, Saskatchewan. Burnard enlisted in January, 1942 and served overseas with the South Saskatchewan Regiment, R.C.I.C until he was killed at age twenty-five on July 25, 1944 in France. The collection consists of more than fifty letters written by Burnard.
Herbert Laurier Irwin was born in Weston, Ontario in 1896. Irwin enlisted in Toronto, Ontario in October, 1915 with the 41st O.S. Battery and served overseas in France and Belgium. The collection consists of twelve letters, four postcards, and two photographs.
Keith Bruce Crosby was born in Carleton, Yarmouth County, Nova Scotia, in 1897. He enlisted in August 1915 and arrived in France April 7, 1916. He was killed April 11, 1916. The collection consists of three letters and one photograph.
Louis Dureault was from Wolseley, Saskatchewan. Dureault enlisted in 1943 and served overseas with the South Saskatchewan Regiment, including the D-Day invasion. He was wounded in August, 1944 and remained in various hospitals until he returned home in October, 1945. He died in 2005 at the age of eighty. The collection currently consists of more than seventy letters from 1944 and 1945.
Willard Hogarth ("Bill") Hutchinson was born in Dorchester, New Brunswick April 16, 1897 and enlisted in Fredericton, New Brunswick in January, 1916. He served overseas in France and returned to the Maritimes in 1919. The collection currently consists of eleven letters written from 1916 to 1919.
William Lowrie Hill was born in Harrington West, Ontario in December, 1888. Hill enlisted with the 49th Battalion in Edmonton in January, 1915. He served overseas with the 49th until his death at Mount Sorrel in June, 1916. He was the brother of Edward Robert Hill who was killed at Passchandaele in October, 1917. The collection currently consists of two photographs and one 49th Battalion card.
Private Leslie Abram Neufeld was born near Lost River, Saskatchewan, on January 17, 1922. He was among the oldest of ten children in the Mennonite farming family of Henry and Anna Neufeld.
He enlisted in the Army on January 13, 1942, in Saskatoon, Sask., initially serving overseas with No. 10 Field Ambulance, Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps. As planning for D-Day intensified, Neufeld transferred to the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion in February of 1944 and trained as a paratrooper. Late in the evening of June 5, the plane carrying Neufeld’s “C” Company of the 1st Can. Para. Battalion took off from England, to parachute into Normandy, France, ahead of the main Allied landing forces of D-Day, June 6, 1944.
Neufeld was killed in action June 6, 1944; his body was never recovered. He is commemorated at the Bayeux Memorial in Bayeux, Normandy, France.
Content notes:
The first of the collection’s two letters was written by Neufeld to his family the day before his D-Day deployment. The second letter was to his brother Leonard H. Neufeld from the Saskatchewan government, informing him of the naming of “Neufeld Bay” in the Lac La Ronge district in honor of his brother Leslie.
The three poems, about war, duty and soldiering, were written by Neufeld in 1939, several years prior to his military service while he was still in high school.
External links:
Pte. Neufeld’s service record (Serv/Reg# L74243) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.
Burial information is available at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
A memorial page honouring Neufeld can be visited online at the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.
[Editor’s note: Collection reviewed/updated January 2023. One additional letter, three poems, and one telegram added. Transcriptions reviewed and errors corrected. Collection Description expanded (date of death of June 6, 1944, is the date designated by both the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and by Library and Archives Canada).]
Cuthbert King Matthews was born in London, England, in June 1892. He immigrated to Canada at age nineteen, where he began homesteading in Saskatchewan. Matthews enlisted in Winnipeg, Manitoba, in March 1916. He served overseas in Belgium and France until wounded in August 1918, and returned to Canada in 1919. The collection consists of eleven letters written by Matthews.
Mm. Marie-Louise Depreaux was an American born woman who lived in Paris with her French husband, Albert Depreaux, during the German Occupation. The collection consists of an ongoing letter written to her two sisters to relate to them the details of her life during that time, written between August, 1940 and September, 1944. The spelling in the original has been retained as closely as possible in the transcription.
William Keith Dornan was born in Allenford, Ontario, in June 1897. Prior to the war he moved west and enlisted in Regina, Saskatchewan, in August 1915. Dornan served overseas until his death on March 16, 1917. The collection currently consists of six letters, clippings, a photograph, and a Christmas card.
This collection includes letters from area soldiers published in The Speaker, as well as other articles from that paper pertaining to local soldiers and activities in the town. Overall the collection provides an excellent sense of the connection that a small town in Ontario had to World War One through the pages of its local paper. Whenever possible we have linked the names of individuals appearing in the paper with their attestation papers and/or their commemoration through the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
The Canadian Letters and Images Project is indebted to Dion Loach for graciously sharing his research.
William Henry Smith served with the North Nova Scotia Highlanders in France. Unfortunately we know nothing more about Smith than this journal. The journal came into the possession of another Highlander, James Briand, who preserved it. The collection currently consists of Smith's journal from 1941 to 1944, and several photographs.
Joseph Mack Freeman was born in March, 1909 in Innisfail, Alberta. Freeman joined the army in 1941 and returned to Canada in August, 1945. He died in Didsbury, Alberta in October, 1953. The collection consists of his scrapbook of photographs, postcards, and clippings from his time in the army.
Earl Bolton was born in Ingersoll, Ontario, in 1889 and then later moved to Detroit, Michigan, where he was employed as a grinder. He returned to Canada and enlisted in London, Ontario, in February 1918. Bolton saw service in France beginning in August 1918. He was wounded and died October 9, 1918. The collection currently consists of three letters.
Alexander Ewen was born in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, in 1881 and immigrated to Canada prior to the war, where he lived in the London, Ontario, area. He enlisted in September 1914 and served overseas. The collection consists of eight letters and four photographs.
John Pritchard Sudbury was born in London, England, in 1894. He immigrated to Montreal where he worked for the Montreal Gazette before enlisting in Montreal in July 1915. He was sent to Belgium in February 1916. He served throughout the Front including the Ypres Salient in 1916, the Somme in September 1916, Vimy Ridge in April 1917, and at Passchaendaele in October 1917, where he was wounded. The collection consists of more than sixty letters written to his family, photographs, a poem, a pay book, a Christmas card, and two magazines.
William Paterson was born in Leith, Scotland, in April 1893. Paterson immigrated to Canada prior to the war, and enlisted in Calgary, Alberta, in November 1914. He served overseas as a signaller with the 31st Battalion until he returned to Canada at the end of the war. The collection currently consists of six photographs and one postcard.
Robert John Galloway was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba in March 1898. He later moved to Cabri, Saskatchewan and enlisted in Swift Current, Saskatchewan in April, 1916. Galloway served with the 102nd Bn until his death at Vimy Ridge, April 9, 1917.
George Leslie Scherer, MM, was born in Ridgetown, Ontario, in September 1896. Scherer enlisted in Toronto, Ontario, in January 1916 with the 134th Battalion (raised by the 48th Highlanders). He reached the front early in 1917, and fought his first major battle at Vimy Ridge in April. He was awarded the Military Medal for gallantry at Hill 70, and a bar to the decoration later in the war. Severely wounded on September 2, 1918, he was discharged back to duty on December 6, 1918. The collection consists of more than fifty letters to Catherine Crawford and to his sister Ruby, who lived in Teeterville, Ontario.
Kenneth Walter Foster was born in London, England, in 1897 and immigrated to Canada sometime prior to World War I. He enlisted in Vernon, British Columbia, in July 1915 and served overseas until the end of the war. The collection consists of four photographs and one extended memoir written sometime after the war detailing his service. Foster died in Victoria, British Columbia, in 1947.
