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John Ernest Fitzgerald, DFM, was born on January 27, 1925, the son of John and Effie Fitzgerald of New Westminster, British Columbia. Fitzgerald served as a Flight Sergeant in the Royal Canadian Air Force. He was killed August 27, 1944 when his Lancaster was shot down. Fitzgerald and all the crew members are buried in Denmark. The collection consists of more than forty letters, twelve photographs, telegrams, and other personal items.

External links:
Flight Sergeant John Ernest Fitzgerald’s service record (Serv/Reg# R215210) 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 Fitzgerald can be visited online at the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.
More information about the crash in which Fitzgerald was killed can be found on the Danish site dedicated to Fallen Allied Airmen www.airmen.dk.

George Henry Redman was born in Norfolk, England, in September 1892. He enlisted in Pincher Creek, Alberta, in February 1915. Redman served overseas with the Fort Garry Horse until his death in April 1918. The collection consists of more than thirty letters from Redman to members of his family, as well as photographs, postcards, and telegrams.

John McLean was born in Sault St. Marie, Michigan, in 1894. He later moved to Echo Bay, Ontario, where he enlisted in January 1916 and then served overseas in France. He was killed in action February 2, 1917. The collection consists of more than thirty letters.

Archibald (Archie) Polson was born in Gimli, Manitoba. Polson enlisted at Gimli in February 1916, and was later transferred overseas with the 2nd Divisional Machine Gun Corps. Polson served in France, including the battle of Vimy Ridge. At Vimy he was wounded, resulting in the amputation of his arm. While almost fully recovered from his wound he contracted tetanus and died on September 1, 1917, and was buried in England. The online collection currently consists of twenty four letters exchanged between himself and his mother. The complete Polson collection is housed at The University of Manitoba Archives and Special Collections and the materials contained herein are used with their permission.. The Project greatly appreciates the cooperation and assistance of The University of Manitoba in making these letters available.

Murray Welsh, DCM, was born in Kincardine, Ontario, in August 1889. Welsh enlisted with the Fort Garry Horse in June, 1915. He served in France and earned the DCM before his death on March 30, 1918. He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Vimy Memorial. The collection currently consists of nine letters, photographs, and personal items.

John Sinclair Matthews was born on Prince Edward Island in October 1897, and sometime prior to the war he and his family moved to Chatham, New Brunswick. Matthews enlisted in Toronto, Ontario, in November 1916. He served overseas in France and Belgium, and was killed at Passchendaele on October 31, 1917. The collection consists of two letters, a greeting card, and two pages of his pay record.

Trooper Val Max Harold Rimer was born in Toronto, Ontario, on February 8, 1923. His family later moved to Winnipeg, Manitoba.

He served in World War II with the 2nd Armoured Regiment, Lord Strathcona's Horse (Royal Canadians). Shipped overseas in 1943 aboard the RMS Queen Elizabeth, Rimer fought in the Italian Campaign, where he took part in the Battle for the Melfa River, and then in Belgium and Holland. Following the end of the war Rimer returned to Canada in 1946, travelling once again aboard the RMS Queen Elizabeth.

In 2005 Rimer received the Minister of Veterans Affairs Commendation award in recognition of his work “in numerous community initiatives devoted to the care and support of Veterans.”

Content notes:
The collection’s only letter was written by Rimer to his mother in December of 1943.
Please note: there is some uncertainty regarding Rimer’s full name. In the collection’s letter his name was written with his service number and rank as “Rimer, M.H.” and the letter signed as “Max.” Following the war it appears that the name he went by publicly was “Val Rimer,” which, for example, is the name in which his Minister of Veterans Affairs Commendation was issued. The collection name incorporates both war-time and post-war name formats.

External links:
Tpr. Val Rimer’s service record (Serv/Reg# H102549) is not currently open to public access through Library and Archives Canada.
Rimer’s receipt of the Government of Canada’s Minister of Veterans Affairs Commendation.

[Editor’s note: Collection updated July/2023. One new postcard added, letter transcription reviewed and jpg files added, duplicate letter posting error corrected, and Collection Description updated. The collection name was originally posted as “Rimer, Val”.]

James Stokesbury Thorpe was born in Iowa, U.S.A., in January 1889 and immigrated to Canada in the pre-war years. Thorpe enlisted in July 1915 at Vernon, British Columbia, and served as a Lieutenant in the Canadian Machine Gun Corps. Thorpe was killed on June 13, 1916, and is buried at Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery in Belgium. The collection consists of one letter written from Flanders home to his mother and older sister.

William Joseph Johnston was born in Victoria, British Columbia in March, 1875. Johnston enlisted in Victoria in January, 1916, with the 1st Canadian Pioneers, and subsequently served overseas with the 9th Battalion, Canadian Railway Troops. He was wounded in France and invalided back to England, where he died in October, 1917. The collection currently consists of thirty letters, several photographs, and a very large postcard collection.

Daniel Spencer Reid was born in Middle Musquodobit, Nova Scotia, in October 1896. Reid enlisted in October 1915. He served overseas with the 85th Overseas Battalion, the Nova Scotia Highlanders. Reid was killed at Passchendaele, October 30, 1917. The collection consists of more than thirty letters and one postcard.

Albert Norman Gould was born on July 19, 1923, the son of Albert and Dorothy Gould of Toronto, Ontario. He enlisted with the RCAF in early 1943. Following his training in Canada, Pilot Officer Gould was posted overseas in 1944. Gould was flying with the 101st Squadron when he and his crew were shot down over Speck, Germany on November 4, 1944. He and his crew are buried at the Rheinberg War Cemetery in Germany. The collection currently consists of thirty-seven letters.

External links:
Pilot Officer Albert Norman Gould’s service record (Serv/Reg# J95288) 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 Gould can be visited online at the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.

Private William Menzies McLeish was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, on December 12, 1891. Having immigrated to Canada with his family prior to the outbreak of WWI, he enlisted at Valcartier, Québec, on September 25, 1914, with the 5th Regiment Royal Highlanders of Canada.

Shipping for England on board the SS Alaunia in October of 1914, he proceeded to France on April 1, 1915, as part of the 13th Battalion Canadian Infantry, 1st Division. He was captured on April 24, 1915, during the Second Battle of Ypres, and interned at the Münster (Rennbahn) Prisoner of War Camp in Westphalia, Germany.

McLeish remained at Rennbahn until repatriated following the Armistice in November of 1918. He returned to Canada and was demobilized on March 29, 1919.

The McLeish Collection includes rare materials from the Rennbahn P.O.W. Camp, including photos and programmes of prisoner theatrical performances of works such as Roll on Blighty, as well as miscellaneous items from both his time prior to and following imprisonment, such as postcards of England’s Salisbury Plain Flood in January of 1915.

Private George Buford Williams, who is listed among the performers of Roll on Blighty in the McLeish Collection, is also connected with the Private Ralph Clement Gale Collection. Like McLeish, Pte. Gale also spent time as a German P.O.W. in the Rennbahn Camp, and Pte. Williams was among the fellow prisoners whose correspondence with the Gale family was preserved.

External links:
Pte. William Menzies McLeish’s service record (Serv/Reg# 24446) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.
Pte. George Buford Williams, service record (Serv/Reg# 16487)

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[Editor’s note: Collection checked/updated February 18/2022. Some additional materials have been added and some changes to categorization of Collection Contents have been made; no materials have been removed.]

Horace Kelvin Conners was born in May 1893 in Montreal, Québec. Conners enlisted in Montreal in June 1915 and served overseas with the 60th Battalion until he was demobilized and returned to Canada in 1919. The collection currently consists of five letters, as well as numerous postcards and photographs. See also the collection of his brother, Robert John Conners.

Robert Rollo Paul was born in Lavant, Ontario, in April 1888. Paul enlisted in October 1914, in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. He served overseas with the 28th Battalion and returned home to Canada at the end of the war. The collection currently consists of a memoir recounting his escape from a Prisoner of War Camp.

This collection consists of three letters from the Cape Breton region from WWI which are part of the collections of the Beaton Institute, University College of Cape Breton.To Lieutenant James Murphy from his mother, April 2, 1917. James Murphy was born in Margaree, Cape Breton in 1893 and worked in coal mine at an early age until he enrolled at St. Francis Xavier to complete his high school education. During his first year at college war broke out and he was selected to go to the Royal Military College where he obtained his commission as Lieutenant. His army career began in 1916, serving at Somme and Vimy Ridge, where he was wounded and received the Military Cross. After the war Murphy moved to the United States and settled in Detroit. He died in 1972. To Gerald Liscombe from his mother, Mrs. Edward Liscombe, January 17, 1919. From Alex Morrison to his mother, Bessie Morrison, August 26, 1917. Alex C. Morrison was born in Sydney in 1897 and enlisted with the Cape Breton Highlanders 185th Battalion in 1916 and later transferred to the 25th Battalion in 1918. He fought in the battle of Amiens for which he was decorated with the Military Medal. He died in Sydney in 1998 at the age of 100. From Lieutenant Percy Willmot to his sister Dorothy, November 1, 1917.

Melville Alexander Bradshaw was born in Toronto, Ontario, in August 1898. While still a student, Bradshaw enlisted in November 1916 in Toronto, Ontario, with the 67th O.S. Depot Battery, C.F.A. The collection currently consists of two photographs and his diary from 1918.

Neil McMillan was born at Uragaig, Scotland, in May 1885. Sometime prior to the war he immigrated to Canada, settling in Toronto, Ontario, where he worked as a teamster. McMillan enlisted at Toronto in February 1916 and served overseas with the 48th Highlanders. McMillan was killed on August 8, 1918. The collection consists of one photograph of McMillan, photographs of the Colonsay War Memorial and of his CWGC headstone.

Ira Layton Holmes was born on Prince Edward Island in July, 1893. Holmes enlisted in Regina, Saskatchewan in January, 1915 and served overseas. The collection currently consists of two letters, a short diary from 1916, photographs, and miscellaneous items.

John Labatt Scatcherd, MC, was born in Batavia, New York State, in October 1895. At sometime prior to 1914 he immigrated to London, Ontario, where he enlisted in July 1916. He served overseas in France and was awarded the Military Cross for bravery in 1917. He was killed in action September 3, 1918. The collection consists of five letters written from 1914 to 1915, and one photograph.

James Douglas McAdam was born in Beeton, Simcoe, Ontario, in June 1892. McAdam was a teacher at the time of his enlistment in Toronto, Ontario, in January 1917. He served overseas in both the Canadian and Siberian Expeditionary Forces. The collection currently consists of four letters and one photograph.

John Walter Ellis was born in Reading, England, in February 1895. At some time unknown he immigrated to Canada and settled in Tillsonburg, Ontario. In May 1916 he enlisted at Tillsonburg. He served overseas in France, where he died May 13, 1917. The majority of the letters are addressed to his wife Katherine "Kitty" in Glasgow, Scotland, who, when her husband enlisted, returned to Scotland to live with her parents. The collection consists of more than thirty letters, several photographs, and a small number of postcards.

Einar Stefansson Long was born in Iceland in December 1891. He immigrated to Canada prior to the war and was a student in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Long enlisted in February, 1916, in Winnipeg. He served overseas with the 8th Battalion and was killed on August 9, 1918. The collection consists of one photograph of Long and his friend Gudmunder Gudmundson.

Duncan Wallace Livingstone was born in Asbestos, Quebec in May, 1895. Livingstone enlisted in March 1915, and served overseas as a Lance Corporal with the 5th Canadian Mounted Rifles. Livingstone was killed at Passchendaele on October 30, 1917. The collection consists of photograph of Livingstone and a letter of condolence concerning his death.

John Newton, MC, was born in Limehouse, Ontario, in 1887. He attended The University of Toronto where he was the captain of the University of Toronto football team that won the first Grey Cup in 1909 and then coached the Toronto Argonauts for three years prior to the war. Newton enlisted in May 1916 and served overseas with the Canadian Field Artillery until the end of the war. He was awarded the Military Cross for actions on September 30, 1918. The collection consists of two letters to his wife, several photographs, and his diary from 1916 to 1918.