Edgar William Marlow, MM, was born in London, England, in November 1886. Prior to the war Marlow emmigrated to Canada and he enlisted in August 1915 in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Marlow served overseas with the 1st Bn. Canadian Machine Gun Corps until his return to Canada in 1919. The collection currently consists of letters, photograqphs, postcards, personal and printed matter.
Gordon Stanley Thornton was born in Peterborough, Ontario, in June 1887. At the time of his enlistment in August 1915 he was practising as a barrister in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Thornton served with the 78th Batt., rising to the rank of Major by the end of the war. He was wounded in 1918 and returned to Canada after the war. The collection currently consists of fifty eight letters, some personal items and telegrams, and a photograph.
Flying Officer Peter Joseph Biollo was born in Edmonton, Alberta, on September 1, 1923, to parents Peter Paul and Doris Mae (née Casewell) Biollo. Prior to enlistment he was employed as a sheet metal worker in Victoria, British Columbia.
Biollo enlisted into Active Service with the Royal Canadian Air Force on June 1, 1942, joining the British Commonwealth Air Training Program. After completing his initial training in Edmonton, Biollo was posted in January 1943 to #2 Bombing and Gunnery School in Mossbank, Saskatchewan. In April he advanced to #7 Air Observer School in Portage La Prairie, Manitoba, where he earned his Air Bomber Badge and was commissioned as an Officer on May 14, 1943.
Following his arrival in England in July 1943, Biollo completed his training in the Royal Air Force Training Pool. In May 1944 he joined the 576 Squadron, R.A.F., as an Air Bomber. On the night of July 28/29, 1944, his plane failed to return from a mission targeting Stuttgart, Germany, and Biollo was pronounced missing in action. It was later determined that his Lancaster bomber had crashed at Renauvoid, near Epinal, France, killing all aboard except for the pilot who had managed to bail out and became a Prisoner of War. Biollo was buried at the Chaumousey Communal Cemetery, Vosges, France.
Content notes:
The majority of the letters in the collection were written by Biollo to his family in Edmonton during the time he was in training in Canada with the B.C.A.T.P., or while stationed in England with the R.A.F. His letters often mention his eight younger siblings: Miriam, Frances, Elvira, Ramona, Dolores, Loretta, Raymond, and Barbara (born in 1943).
Almost all of the 1943 letters prior to June 17 are undated. In order to allow these to be read in chronological order on the website, they have been assigned sequential numbers and appear in the date listings as “1943-01, 1943-02, etc.” type-format. The chronological order was established based on letter content and service file information, and is intended as a reading aid only.
The four poems were written by Biollo between 1941-43.
External links:
F/O Biollo’s service record (Serv/Reg#s J26543; R166672) 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 Biollo can be visited online at the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.
[Editor’s note: Collection reviewed/updated January, 2023. Three poems, two newspaper clippings, and jpgs of letter pages added. Letter transcriptions reviewed and emended. Additional information added to collection and content descriptions.]
Thomas (Tom) Peter Scandiffio was born on April 12, 1912 and served as a Warrant Officer Class II with the Royal Canadian Air Force during the war. Thomas was killed June 16, 1943. The collection consists of more than twenty letters written home by Tom as well as official correspondence relating to his death. See also the correspondence of his brother Frank.
External links:
Warrant Officer Thomas Peter Scandiffio’s service record (Serv/Reg# R102787) 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 Scandiffio can be visited online at the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.
Vaughan Whitier Pearson was born in Toronto, Ontario, in 1898 and was a student at The University of Toronto when he enlisted in April 1916. He served overseas in France until the end of the war. Vaughan Pearson was the third of three sons to serve overseas, following his brothers Marmaduke and Lester, a future Prime Minister of Canada. The collection consists of six letters from Vaughan, a post card, a Christmas card, a newspaper clipping, and one photograph.
Samuel Giles McNeil was born in Townsville, Queensland, Australia, in June 1895. He immigrated to Canada sometime prior to the war and enlisted in April 1915 in New Westminster, British Columbia. He served overseas, returned to Canada at the end of the war and died in Nanaimo, British Columbia, in 1954. The collection currently consists of two postcards sent to the parents of Frederick Henry Smith.
William Henry Bell was born in Chatham, Ontario, in 1897 and moved to Innisfree, Alberta, to farm with his family. Bell enlisted at Vegreville, Alberta, in February 1916 with the 151st Battalion. He was killed at Vimy Ridge on April 10, 1917. The collection consists of twenty letters and one poem.
Click link here to go to the WWI collection of Hadden William Ellis.
Gladys Hope Sewell Ross was born in Hastings, Ontario, and trained as a nurse at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Montreal. She graduated in 1914. At the outbreak of WWI she volunteered as a nurse at the Hospital for Soldiers in Orpington, England. It was at Orpington that she met her future husband, Dr. James Wells Ross, whom she married in 1915. The collection consist of several photographs and scans of her medals. See also the James Wells Ross collection for WWI (her husband) and the Colin Sewell Ross collection for WWII (her son).
Harold Monks' attestation papers state that was born in England in 1893 (although his birth certificate indicates he was born in 1892). He immigrated to Canada in the spring of 1914 where he worked as a rancher prior to the war. Monks enlisted in April 1917 in Victoria, B.C., and served overseas as a gunner and signaller until his discharge in May 1919. This collection consists of multiple photographs, handbooks, pay books, Monks' personal memorandum books, and other materials from his service and life after the war.
Ralph Richards was born in Cardiff, Wales, in 1889. He immigrated to Canada sometime before the First World War, and enlisted with the Canadian Expeditionary Force in Sydney, Nova Scotia, in September 1915. The collection consists of one photograph and one long memoir, writtten sometime during World War II, which recounts his experience during World War I as a prisoner of war.
William Austin Cauthers was born in March, 1925, the son of William and Margaret Cauthers of Mansfield, Ontario. Cauthers served as a Pilot Officer with the 407 Sqdn. of the R.C.A.F. He and his crew went missing when their Wellington MK IV failed to return on a mission over the English Channel on June 22, 1944. The collection currently consists of fifteen letters and three photographs.
External links:
Pilot Officer William Austin Cauthers’ service record (Serv/Reg# J89129) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.
Burial infomation is available at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
A memorial page honouring Cauthers can be visited online at the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.
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.
Albert Henry Fereday served with the 1st Battalion Prince of Wales Own Civil Service Rifles. He was killed August 22, 1918, at the age of 18. He has no known grave and is commemorated by name on Panel 10 on the Vis-en-Artois Memorial, Haucourt, France. The memorial stands in the grounds of Vis-en-Artois British Cemetery and bears the names of over 9,000 men who have no known grave. This collection consists of more than one hundred letters sent by Pte. Albert Henry Fereday. The letters have been transcribed by, and are used with the kind permission of, Anthony Fereday, the nephew of Albert Fereday. These materials are part of the non-Canadian section of this project
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.
William Vincent Gauthier was born in North Rustico, Prince Edward Island in October, 1897 and enlisted in Charlottetown in 1915. Gauthier served oveseas Enland, France, and Belgium until his return to Canada at the end of the war. The collection consists of a memoir written by Gauthier sometime after the war.
Joseph Thomas Wright was born in Toronto in 1907. He served overseas in Africa and Europe during the war and then returned to Canada at the end of the war. The collection consists of one letter written to his sister Bea from Italy in September, 1944.
William Edward Grassie was born in Smithville, Ontario in 1893 and was a student at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario when he enlisted in March, 1916. He returned to Canada at the end of the war and taught high school in Port Credit, Ontario. The collection consists of two letters written to his friend Helen Davis. Other correspondents to Davis include the Daniel Austin Lane Collection, the Gordon Shrum Collection, and the Fred Nickle Collection.
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.
Daniel James Sweeney was born in London, England, in September 1896. Sometime prior to the war he immigrated to Canada and worked as a labourer in Ontario. Sweeney enlisted in Cobourg, Ontario, in June 1915. He survived the war but unfortunately nothing else is known about him. The collection consists of one photograph of Sweeney and others (seated, left) taken in 1915.
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.
Private Roy Clarence Armstrong was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, to parents Minnie and George Armstrong, on February 22, 1898. He was working as a clerk in Winnipeg at the time of his enlistment with the 184th Battalion in Winnipeg on March 20, 1916.
He shipped for England aboard HMT Empress of Britain on October 31, 1916, and arrived in Liverpool, England, on November 11, 1916. Armstrong was transferred to the 78th Battalion and was killed in action during the battle for Passchendaele on October 30, 1917. His body was never found and he is commemorated on the Menin Gate in Ypres, Belgium.
External links:
Pte. Roy Armstrong’s service record (Serv/Reg# 874936) 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 Roy Armstrong can be visited online at the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.
Hubert Willliam ("Bert") Lovell was born in born in England in November, 1891. Lovell enlisted in Edmonton, Alberta, in January 1916, and served overseas with the 8th Canadian Field Ambulance. The collection consists of two photographs and a transcription of his notes for a speech given at the 8th Canadian Field Ambulance Reunion Dinner in Calgary, 1931.
Sergeant Ralph Beverly Watson (a.k.a. Joseph Ralph Watson), Canadian Army Medical Corps, was the author of the 1918 book Letters of a Canadian Stretcher Bearer. The book's letters, along with more information on Sgt. Watson, can be found in the Special Items Collections section of the website.
This collection consists of one letter and five photographs. The letter is from Norman Robertson to his parents in 1918 commenting on the death of one his brothers in France in light of the death of his own infant daughter.
