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.
Allan Matheson Conquergood was born in Kincardine, Ontario, in May 1872. He enlisted in July 1916 in Winnipeg with the 239th Battalion, the Railway Construction Corps, and served overseas. The collection currently consists of his diary from 1917.
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.
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.
South African (Boer) War Collection
William J. Macdonald, a medical student, enlisted in Toronto on December 29, 1899, with the 9th Toronto Field Battery. He was 24 years of age. Macdonald served overseas with "C" Field Battery, Royal Canadian Field Artillery until he was discharged in January 1901.
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.
South African (Boer) War Collection
Alfred Chapman Tresham was born on March 25, 1866, in Leamington, Warwickshire. He was trained in military music at Kneller Hall, Twickenham, and served in two English regiments, the 91st Warwickshire and the 62nd Wiltshire. In 1885 he immigrated to Canada where he served as a bandsman in the Royal Grenadiers Active Militia, the Infantry School Corp at New Fort Barracks, Toronto, and the 2nd Battalion of the Queen's Own Rifles until 1889. In 1895 Tresham resumed his military career as band leader of the 7th Fusiliers in London, Ontario. Two years later he joined the Dufferin Rifles Active Militia (38th Regiment) in Brantford as band leader.Tresham was invited to join the 2nd Canadian Contingent, Special Services, R.C.R. in the South African War. He was deployed as the Sergeant Bugler in October 1899, and invalided due to rheumatism exactly a year later.
The eight letters in this collection originally appeared in the Brantford Courier. Five were written to commissioned officers of the Dufferin Rifles, and three to the Editor of the Brantford Courier. They span, rather unevenly, the period from November 1899 to June 1900. Upon his return to Canada, Tresham remained with the Dufferin Rifles Band & Orchestra until his resignation from military life in 1911. He died in Hamilton of natural causes on August 19, 1943, and was buried at Mount Hope Cemetery in Brantford.
This collection currently consists of one letter written in 1943 to Tom Paterson from his father while Tom was serving in Italy.
Like other Women's Institutes across Canada, the Stony Plain Women's Institute of Alberta was an important link between the soldiers overseas and the homefront. Through their members they contributed financial aid to organizations such as the Red Cross as well as sending parcels to overseas soldiers. The collection consists of thank-you letters from soldiers, acknowledgement cards for parcels, receipts for the Institute's donations to the Red Cross, and miscellaneous correspondence.
Thomas Gerrard (Gerry) O'Dwyer was born in Vancouver, British Columbia in March 1923. O'Dwyer served overseas as a gunner with the Royal Canadian Artillery until his death on July 30, 1944. The collection currently consist of one letter and one photograph.
External links:
Gunner Thomas Gerrard O'Dwyer’s service record (Serv/Reg# K69964) 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 O'Dwyer can be visited online at the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.
Henry Harry Jackson was born in Cumberland, England in November, 1893. He moved with his family to Namaimo, British Columbia sometime after 1901 and enlisted in September, 1915 with the 72nd Battalion, the Seaforth Highlanders. He trained in England in the summer of 1916 and was in Belgium for only a few weeks before he was killed on September 16, 1916. The collection consists of a photograph and note from Jackson, a family photograph as a young boy, and a letter of condolence to Jackson's family from his commanding officer.
John Row Jr. was born in Whitewood, Saskatchewan, in April 1896. Row enlisted in Winnipeg in October 1914 and served overseas with the 27th Battalion. Both his brothers Sydney Arthur Row and Francis Dibley Row served in the 27th with him. The collection currently consists of more than seventy letters.
Norman Sydney Richards was born in Bristol in 1897 and immigrated to Salmon Arm, British Columbia, in 1914. He returned to England to enlist and went to France in 1917, where he was severely wounded and remained in England recovering until 1919. In 1919 he married a woman who had worked as a V.A.D. in the hospital and together they returned to Salmon Arm in 1919. Richards died in 1986 at the age of 89. The collection consists of miscellaneous documents relating to his life and service.
William Lowry was born in Bannbridge, Ireland, in 1893 and immigrated to Prince George, British Columbia, sometime prior to World War I. He enlisted in January 1916, served in France and was wounded late in 1916. He was sent first to England and later back to British Columbia to recover. The collection consists of seventeen letters covering his convalescence both overseas and in Canada.
Ferruccio Joseph ("Fritz") Giacomelli was born in Hamilton, Ontario, in November 1920. He trained in Canada as an Air Observer before going to England in April 1942, flying with the 149 Squadron and later the 419 Squadron. Giacomelli returned to Canada at the end of the war, and died in 1981. The collection currently consists of four letters and several photographs.
South African (Boer) War Collection
Robert, Charles, and George Rooke were born in England and moved with their parents William and Hannah Rooke to Saskatchewan to homestead. Robert Percy Rooke, age twenty-two, enlisted in Winnipeg, Manitoba, on February 9 1900 with the Lord Strathcona's Horse. His brother Charles Winn, age twenty-four, also enlisted on January 9, 1900, with the Lord Stathcona's Horse. Both served in South Africa and returned to Canada early in 1901. They both re-enlisted with the Canadian Mounted Rifles, along with their brother George Cyril, age twenty, who enlisted in December 1901, and served in South Africa until the end of the war. The original letters have been donated by the family to the National Archives in Ottawa. The collection consists of more than 40 letters written by the brothers to their family back in Canada.
George Dorman was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, in July 1893. Dorman enlisted in June 1916 and served overseas with the 11th Canadian Mounted Rifles. The collection currently consist of one letter, reunion materials, miscellaneous documents, and more than twenty photographs.
Thomas Edward Brady was born in Lindsay, Ontario, in November 1896. He enlisted in Kingston, Ontario, in November 1914 and served overseas with the Canadian Forestry Corps. Brady died in October 1918. The collection consists of several photographs of Brady and some postcards.
This collection consists of letters of the Duff family from 1914 to 1918. It includes letters from Louis Duff, who enlisted in Moose Jaw in 1914, and his brother Cecil, who enlisted in Winnipeg in March 1916. As well there are letters between Louis and Cecil’s mother Rosa and her sister Lily (Aunt Lily in the correspondence from the brothers), correspondence from Harry Richey, the uncle of Louis and Cecil, and correspondence from Dr. Thomas Leask, related to the Duff family by marriage. The collection consists of thirty-four letters.
Clarence Reginald Gass was born in Bayfield, Nova Scotia in April, 1894. He enlisted in Halifax in November, 1915 and served overseas until the end of the war. The collection consists of more than forty letters, as well as photographs, telegrams and miscellaneous items related to the 85th Canadian Infantry Battalion (Nova Scotia Highlanders) with whom he served.
Robert Lloyd Jones was born in Vulcan, Alberta in November, 1918. He enlisted with the R.C.A.F. in 1939 and served overseas with the 405 Squadron as an Aero Engine Mechanic. Jones returned to Canada in September, 1945. The collection currently consists of one photograph and two letters published in the local newspaper, The Vulcan Advocate.
Gunner Bertram Howard Cox was born in Barbados on December 13, 1894, to parents Charles Henry and Isabel Cox. He immigrated to Canada prior to the war and was working as a bank clerk in Winnipeg, Manitoba, at the time of his enlistment there with the 59th Overseas Battery, 15th Brigade, on March 26, 1916.
He shipped out to England in September 1916, where he was transferred to the 60th Battery, 14th Brigade C.F.A., and was sent over to France in August 1917. He remained with the 60th until the end of the war and was demobilized on June 28, 1919.
The collection consists of nearly forty letters written by Bertram to family and friends between 1916 to 1919. The majority are addressed to: his parents, his two brothers Carl (and wife Mabel) and Murrill (and wife Ella), and his sisters Ina and Leila (and husband Jack).
Also included is a transcription of the 1917 Christmas edition of the trench-newspaper The O’Pip, published “Somewhere in France” by the 58th Battery C.F.A. The paper was enclosed with a letter sent by Bertram to his sister Leila on January 11, 1918. (It has been posted below under the content category of “Newspaper Articles”)
External links:
Gunner Bertram Cox’s service record (Serv/Reg# 327964) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.
Please note: all letter transcriptions, including annotations to the letters, were provided by the donor.
Victor Leslie Davidson was born in September 1892 in Chippawa, Ontario. Davidson enlisted in November 1914 in Toronto, Ontario, and went overseas with the 20th Battalion. In 1916 he married Emelia Sears, a nurse in England. The collection currently consists of postcards and photographs, as well as an autograph book kept by Emelia Sears from the hospital in which she was working.
