Reginald Carl Francis Duffy was born in 1920 and enlisted with the RCAF in January, 1941. During the war he flew as a pilot on Wellington bombers and served overseas in Britain, Africa, and Malta. Following the war Duffy returned to Canada and worked as a school teacher and principal in New Brunswick. Duffy died in 1986. The collection consists of his diary which he kept from January to August, 1943.
Colin Sewell Ross was born in November, 1921 and lived in Toronto, where he studied at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto from 1940-1941. In 1941 he joined the army. Ross served with the 4th Canadian Armoured Division and the 29th Canadian Armoured Recce Regt., fighting in France, Belgium, and Holland, and finished the war with the rank of Lt.-Col. Following the war he returned to the University of Toronto and graduated in medicine in 1950. Ross died in April, 2001. The collection consists of photographs and some personal items from his time in the army. See also the James Wells Ross collection in WWI (his father) and the Gladys Hope Sewell Ross collection in WWI (his mother).
Lakefield College School (or LCS or "The Grove") was originally a boy's preparatory school founded in 1879 near Lakefield, Ontario. During the war former students of the school corresponded with the headmaster, Rev. Alexander Mackenzie and his family. The collection consist of letters from student written during the war period, as well as numerous photographs.
Frederick George Pearson was born in Lancashire, England, in September 1894. He immigrated to Canada in 1909 and settled in the Red Deer District. Pearson enlisted in Calgary in July 1916 and served overseas with the 10th Battalion. The collection currently consists of his diary from 1917.
James Hepburn, born in Scotland in 1891, enlisted in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan in 1915. He was badly wounded at the Somme, losing his right arm. The collection consists of one letter written to his father from the hospital in England, while he was recovering from his wound, as well as pages from his paybook and some miscellaneous items.
Claude Senton was born in Simpson, Saskatchewan in July, 1919. He enlisted with the RCAF in the summer of 1941 and served with the 422 Squadron as a Pilot officer. Senton was killed on May 24, 1944 when his plane was shot down, and is buried in Norway. The collection currently consists of personal correspondence, official correspondence regarding his death, as well as photographs and other miscellaneous items.
External links:
Pilot Officer Claude Senton’s service record (Serv/Reg# J89686) 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 Senton can be visited online at the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.
John ("Jack") Davey was born in Somerset, England, in September 1888. He imigrated to Canada 1911-1912 and enlisted in September 1914. Davey was wounded and taken prisoner in April 1915. While a prisoner he had his leg amputated, and then was later returned to England during a prisoner exchange. The collection consists of more than fifty letters between himself and his wife Kate.
Shorey Johnson Neville was born in Cottonwood, Saskatchewan, in September 1888. Neville enlisted at Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, in May 1916 and then served overseas in France until he was injured and sent to England. Due to his injuries he remained in England with the Khaki University until demobilization, at which time he returned to Canada. The collection consists of ten letters written from 1916 to 1917.
William Monro was born in County Down, Ireland, in 1895 and immigrated to Canada sometime prior to the outbreak of war. He enlisted in Toronto, Ontario, in July 1915 and served overseas in France. The collection consists of seven letters.
Harry Morris was born in Montreal in 1882 and enlisted 87th Battalion in Montreal in November 1915. He served in France with a trench mortar battery and was wounded early in 1917. Morris was discharged in February 1918 as a result of his wounds and returned home to Montreal. The collection consists of numerous photographs, telegrams, four letters, one poem, and miscellaneous documents. One of the letters is an extended account of the being wounded and the process of medical treatment.
Nurse Sarah Ellen Arnold worked at the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading, England, during the war. While there, she kept a journal in which she asked the patients to write. After the war Sarah married John Harold Bridgeman, one of the Canadian soldiers she had nursed.
External links:
Private John Harold Bridgeman's service record (Serv/Reg #440109) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.
Lawrence Earl Johns was born in Elimville, Ontario in December, 1893. Johns enlisted at Exeter, Ontario on April 11, 1916 with the 161st Huron Battalion, C.E.F. He served overseas with the 58th Battalion and died September 12, 1917. The collection consists of more than one hundred twenty letter as well as a rich visual component of photographs, postcards, and other personal items.
One part of the collection consists of letters written by Harry Clark, Jr., to his mother, Jane (Jennie) Clark, in London, Ontario, after he had enlisted in the Canadian Army. The other letters were received by a distant relative, Kathleen Jackson (ne Hastings), while she was recovering from tuberculosis in London, Ontario. The letters, which describe conditions in wartime Britain, were written by relatives of Kathleen,s father Hugh Hastings, who died while convalescing from wounds sustained in the First World War.
James R. Chisholm was born in Inverness, Scotland, in 1885 and immigrated to Canada sometime prior to the war. He enlisted at Lethbridge, Alberta, in December 1914. James served overseas in France and was killed June 3, 1916. Alexander Chisholm was born in Inverness, Scotland, in March 1888 and immigrated to Canada prior to the war. He enlisted in Brandon, Manitoba, in April 1915. He served overseas in France and was killed October 9, 1916. The collection consists of one undated photograph of the brothers.
Lewis G. Billard was born in Glace Bay, Nova Scotia, in 1923. He joined the R.C.A.F. in 1943 and worked on the Rolls-Royce Merlin engines in Lancaster bombers in England and in Mosquito Nightfighters in Europe. The collection consists of more than one hundred letters written home by Billard from 1943 to 1946.
This collection contains materials presently held by the Missisquoi Historical Society. There are presently four letters from Walter Adolphe Veniez and one letter from Sydney Horace Blinn. In addition there is a concert program in aid of The Canadian Prisoners of War Fund given in Montreal, and two editions of the Canadian Hospital News from 1917. Thank you to the Missisquoi Historical Society for permitting us to use these materials.
Henry Ralph was born in Dover, England, in November 1885 and immigrated to Toronto, Ontario, sometime prior to the war. Ralph enlisted in September 1914 and served overseas with the 48th Highlanders. During the war he was taken prisoner and returned to Canada after the war. The collection consists of an extended letter written in 1918 describing his experiences as a prisoner, as well as one photograph.
Maurice Melville Maloney was born in Meaford, Ontario in February, 1918. Maloney served overseas with the 15th Canadian Ambulance Corps as well as the 4th Canadian Armoured Division Medical Corps. He returned to Canada at the end of the war and died in 1996. The collection currently consists of fourteen letters, poems, telegrams, clippings, and other miscellaneous items.
William Douglas Watson was born in 1924 and resided in Grand Valley, Ontario. He enlisted in the R.C.A.F. in 1943 and graduated as a Navigator in December, 1943. He was killed on July 23, 1944 along with all of his crew while practicing night flying in a Wellington bomber over Cardigan Bay in Wales. The collection consists of twenty seven letters written home to his parents in 1944.
External links:
Flying Officer William Douglas Watson’s service record (Serv/Reg# J39281) 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 Watson can be visited online at the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.
Ed Gallagher was from Australia, born in 1916. He was a Wireless Airgunner who spent his war years (1941-1943) flying out of Mt. Batten (Plymouth, England) and Pembroke Dock (Wales) on Sunderlands. These two letters, part of a collection of 106 letters, describe his impressions of Canada as an Australian on his way to war in 1941 and in 1943 waiting to return to Australia. He was at the time writing to Molly Thomson, who he married in 1943 on his return to Australia.
Gerald Smedley Andrews was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, in December 1903. He taught school from 1926 to 1930, and then joined the British Columbia Forest Service where he worked as a surveyor until World War Two. During the war he rose to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel and he was responsible for charting the Normandy beaches in preparation for the D-Day landings. At the end of the war he returned to Canada, and served as the Surveyor General of the Province of British Columbia. Andrews was a Member of the Order of the British Empire, and was awarded the Order of British Columbia and was made a member of the Order of Canada. Andrews died in December 2005 at the age of 102. The collection currently conists of more than two hundred eighty letters, as well as telegrams and miscellaneous items.
Pte. George Leslie Adkins was born to mother Alice Mary Adkins on March 4, 1889, in Banbury, England. He enlisted with the 49th Battalion, C.E.F., in Edmonton, Alberta, on March 25, 1915, and sailed overseas with his battalion from Montreal on June 4, 1915, on board the SS Metagama. Adkins arrived in England on June 14, 1915, and then embarked for France on October 9, 1915, where he remained with the 49th Battalion until the end of the war. He returned to Canada, sailing from Liverpool, England, on March 8, 1919, and was discharged in Edmonton, Alberta, later in March.
External links:
Pte. George Leslie Adkins’s service record (Serv/Reg #433085) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.
The letter of August 27, 1928, which described his brother Martin’s death, was written by Inar William Anderson, DCM, who had served with Martin and George in the 49th Battalion. Lieutenant Inar William Anderson's service record can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.
The service record for George’s brother Pte. Martin Adkins, who was killed June 27, 1916, can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada. Burial information for Martin Adkins is available at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
Walter Liddiard was born in Montreal, Quebec in May, 1894. He moved to Victoria, British Columbia and was enlisted in 1917. Liddiard served overseas as a Gunner with the No. 5 Coy, Royal Canadian Garrison Artillery. The collection currently consists of nearly forty letters, as well as several letters and postcards.
Charles Bovyer Hamm, MM, was born in Bunbury, Prince Edward Island in June, 1889. Hamm enlisted in April, 1915. He served overseas, where he was wounded in September, 1916. The collection consists of more than forty letters, as well as postcards and other items.
John Drysdale, the son of William and Flora Drysdale, was born in Glasgow, Scotland, in May 1893. When he immigrated to Canada is uncertain. He enlisted at Sydney, Nova Scotia, in September 1915. Drysdale served in France and was killed October 7, 1918. The collection consists of annotated pages of Songs of a Sourdough, a book Drysdale carried with him in France.
