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Acting Sergeant Geoffrey Walter Adams was born in Toronto, Ontario, on October 5, 1888, to parents John and Elizabeth Walters. Prior to enlistment he worked as a lawyer in Toronto.

Enlisting with the 67th Depot Battery, Canadian Field Artillery, in Toronto on June 19, 1916, Adams shipped for England on board the SS Empress of Britain in July of 1916. He spent several months in training before proceeding to France where he served with the 82nd and 48th Howitzer Batteries, Canadian Field Artillery. Adams was demobilized on February 7, 1919.

Content notes:
The collection includes a commemorative booklet of the 67th Battery, Canadian Field Artillery, Canadian Expeditionary Force’s 60th Anniversary Celebration (1916-1976), posted below in the “Memoir” category.
All photos are of military content, and include subjects such as a field review by Sam Hughes, and a group photo of the draft of the 67th Battery, C.F.A., C.E.F., University of Toronto.
Also included are identification records kept of over 250 members of D 48th Battery, C.F.A. These have been grouped alphabetically and posted in the “Diary” category of the Collection Contents.  

External links:
A/Sgt. Adams’s service record (Serv/Reg# 337947) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.

Able Seaman Bill R. Curtis served with the Royal Canadian Navy during WWII. While stationed in England he served aboard a Landing Craft Infantry vessel, HMCS LCI(L)-285. In 1944 he returned to Canada where he served on a Boom Defense Vessel, HMCS BDV 19, in Esquimalt, British Columbia.

Collection notes:
The letters in the collection were all written by Curtis to his sweetheart Miss Audrey Addison of Nanaimo, B.C., between January 1943 and November 1944.
Transcriptions of the postcards have been included in the letter section. Due to funding constraints, only twenty-five letters have been transcribed at this time.
[Collection update August 2023: Thirty-five new letters added (as jpgs only).]

External Links:
A/B Bill Curtis (Serv/Reg# V69246) survived the war; his service record is not open to public access at this time.

Corporal* Patricia Mary Jones Carter was living with her family in Halifax, Nova Scotia, at the start of  World War II. In August of 1941 the Canadian Women’s Auxiliary Corps (CWAC) was founded (it was later integrated into the Canadian Army as the Canadian Women’s Army Corps). Carter was quick to enlist. Her service in the CWAC began on October 17, 1941, working as a clerk at District Depot, Military District No. 6, and then transferring the following January to District Headquarters, both located in Halifax, N.S. Further service details are unknown, other than a posting at Regina during 1943.

Collection notes:
Central to the collection is a memoir that was written by Carter recounting the first six months of her service in the CWAC, beginning in September of 1941. Her father, World War I veteran Gunner Albert Edward Carter, is mentioned often in her writing, and is the subject of two of the photographs. A link to his service record has been included below.  

External links:
Cpl. Patricia Mary Jones Carter’s service record (Serv/Reg# unknown) is not publicly available at this time.
Gnr. Albert Edward Carter’s service record (Serv/Reg# 43972) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.

[* The rank of Corporal has been used here as this was Carter’s rank at the end of her memoir in April of 1942. Her final rank on leaving military service is unknown..] 

Margaret Anne Urquhart (future married name Slydell) was born in Durisdeer, Dumfriesshire, Scotland, on May 8, 1891. In WWI she worked as a nurse at Stobhill Hospital, Glasgow, which had been requisitioned during the war to the Royal Army Medical Corps to use in treating sick and wounded soldiers. Urquhart immigrated to Canada following the war.

Content notes:
The collection contains just one document, an autograph book from 1917-18, that Urquhart kept while nursing at Stobhill. Amongst the soldiers who added their poems, quips, and drawings to Urquhart’s book, two have been identified with links to Canada: Newfoundlander Private William John Culleton of the 1st Newfoundland Regiment (page 6), and Canadian Sapper Maynard Arthur Yetts of the 5th Divisional Signal Company (page 15).

External links:
Urquhart worked with the Medical Corps in a civilian capacity, and as such there are no military service records of her time spent as a nurse during the war.
Private William John Culleton’s service record (Serv/Reg# 999) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through the Newfoundland Government’s digital archive of WWI Newfoundland Regiment military records.
Spr. Maynard Arthur Yetts’ service record (Serv/Reg# 507463) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.

[Editor’s note: Collection updated July 2023. Two new photographs added.]

Private John "Jack" Wakefield was born in Toronto, Ontario, on June 16, 1896, to parents John and Eliza Wakefield.

He enlisted in Toronto with the 1st Depot Battalion Central Ontario Regiment on May 9, 1918. Shipping for England on board the SS Cassandra in June of 1918, Wakefield served with the 12th Reserve Battalion before proceeding to France to join the 15th Battalion later that October. Following his return to Canada, he was demobilized July 11, 1919.

Content notes:
The collection contains one letter written by Wakefield to his parents in December 1918, and his 15th Battalion Record of Services Card (a link to the complete index of these cards, digitized as part of the 15th Battalion Memorial Project, is included below).

External links:
Pte. Wakefield’s service record (Serv/Reg# 3036963) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.
The 15th Battalion Memorial Project’s Record of Services Card Index.

Private Edward James Power, also known as “Joe Dowey,” was born in North Sydney, Nova Scotia, on July 10, 1931, to parents Edward and Jean (née MacDonald) Power.

Enlisting in Halifax, N.S., on January 4, 1951, he served with the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, Royal Canadian Infantry Corps, in Korea. Power was killed when hit by shrapnel while deployed at the “Hook” (located near the Samichon River, along the border region of North and South Korea), on December 24, 1952, and was buried in the United Nations Cemetery, Busan, South Korea.

Content notes:
Photos only.

External links:
Pte. Edward James Power’s service record (Serv/Reg# SF14075) is not open to public access at this time.
A memorial page honouring Power can be visited online at the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.

Bombardier Walter Taylor Fitzpatrick was born in Ottawa, Ontario, on January 4, 1890.

Fitzpatrick enlisted in Ottawa in January 1916 with the 32nd Battery, Canadian Field Artillery. He sailed February 5, 1916, aboard the SS Metagama, arriving in England on February 14. Here the 32nd Batty. was assigned to the 9th Brigade, 3rd Divisional Artillery, C.F.A. They proceeded to France on July 13, 1916, where they were reassigned to the 8th Army Field Brigade.

At the end of the war Fitzpatrick returned to Canada aboard the SS Northland, arriving in Halifax, Nova Scotia, April 5, 1919. He was demobilized three days later.

External link:
Bde. Walter Taylor Fitzpatrick's service record (Serv/Reg# 311885) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.

Able Seaman John Teaton Gray was born in Central Kingsclear, New Brunswick, on November 25, 1924, to parents Robert Michael and Florence Grace (née Pincombe) Gray.

Gray enlisted with the Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve on October 28, 1942. The letters in the collection were written while he was stationed at the shore establishments of H.M.C.S. Brunswicker, H.M.C.S. Cornwallis, and H.M.C.S. Stadacona; and while serving aboard H.M.S. Caldwell and H.M.C.S. Huron. Gray was demobilized on September 20, 1945.

Most of the letters in the collection were written by Gray to members of his family back home on the family farm near Fredericton, New Brunswick. But also included is a letter written to Florence Grace Gray from her brother Private Phillip H. Pincombe (Ser# G50737), serving with 25th Canadian Forestry Corps in Scotland.

External links:
Gray’s Service Record (Serv/Reg# V50367), as with most records of WWII veterans not killed in service, is not publicly available at this time.

UN Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus Collection

Lt.-Col. Kenn W. Doerksen was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, to parents Lt.-Col. Clarence John (Dirk) Doerksen, CD, and Maudie (née Brommell) Doerksen.

Doerksen was a Royal Canadian Air Force pilot who in the summer of 1974 was serving with the Canadian Airborne Regiment (C.A.R.) as Regimental Emplaning Officer, when he was deployed with the C.A.R. to join the Canadian Contingent of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP). Doerksen served as the UNFICYP’s Economics and Humanitarian Officer for the Nicosia District between August and December of 1974, a position that brought him into contact with various government agencies, utilities, businessmen, farmers, refugee camps, Red Cross, etc. on both sides of the Green Line. For nearly two months he was the only U.N. officer with regular access to the Turkish side. Doerksen returned to Canada on December 15, 1974.

The letters in the collection were written by Doerksen, while stationed in Cyprus, to his family in Edmonton, Alberta (his wife Susan and their two young children Tonia and Cameron); and to his parents in Kelowna, British Columbia.

External links:
Lt.-Col. Doerksen’s Service Record is not open to public access.

A memorial page honouring Private Claude Joseph Berger can be visited online at the Canadian Virtual War Memorial. (Doerksen writes about Berger’s death in his letter of September 11, 1974.)

Able Seaman Kenneth Francis Henderson was born in Saint John, New Brunswick in 1922. As a sailor with Royal Canadian Navy in WWII he served for several years aboard the Bangor­-class minesweeper H.M.C.S. Thunder. He married Elsie Marie (née Goodwin) on February 8, 1944, in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

The letters in the Henderson collection were written to Elsie during the period of June 4–25, 1944, and describe Henderson’s experiences during the D-Day landing operations on the coast of Normandy, France.

External links:
AB Henderson’s service record (Serv/Reg# unknown) is not open to public access at this time.

[Editor’s Note: The rank of “Able Seaman” was Henderson’s rank at the time the collection’s letters were written. His final rank upon leaving  the Navy in the 1960’s is unknown.]

Cadet Douglas (“Dug”) Moncrieff Goudie was born in Liverpool, England, on May 8, 1895. Immigrating to Kamloops, British Columbia, prior to the war, he was a member of the Militia’s 102nd Regiment at the time of his enlistment with the 48th Battalion in Victoria, B.C., on April 19, 1915.

He shipped for England in July of 1915, and then to France in March of 1916 with the 3rd Canadian Pioneer Bn. (redesignation of the 48th Bn, January 1916). At his own request he transferred to the 29th Bn. in April of 1917. In July of the following year he joined the British Royal Air Force and was still in training as a Cadet when hostilities ceased (hence his final rank as “Cadet” in his service history, despite his previously held ranks of Private and Lance Corporal within the Canadian Expeditionary Force). Following his return to Canada he was demobilized at Kamloops on June 15, 1919.

The materials in the Goudie Collection were donated as part of the Sydney Winterbottom Collection. Goudie and Winterbottom had been friends in Kamloops before the war, and following Goudie’s transfer to the 29th Bn. in April of 1917, they served together in France until Winterbottom’s death at Passchendaele that November. In the letter section of the Goudie Collection is a letter that he wrote to their mutual friend Adrian Thrupp following Winterbottom’s death, as well as a reference list of links to the numerous letters by Winterbottom in which he writes about Goudie.

External links:
Cdt. Douglas Goudie’s service record (Serv/Reg# 430974) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.

Private Adrian Cracroft Thrupp was born in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, England, on August 3, 1897. His family immigrated to Canada prior to World War I and settled in Kamloops, British Columbia.

Thrupp enlisted with the 11th Canadian Mounted Rifles in Vernon, B.C., on August 20, 1915. Shipping for England on board the SS Lapland in July 1916, he proceeded that October to France where he served with the 29th Battalion.

On April 11, 1917, at Vimy Ridge, Thrupp suffered a serious head wound. After many months of hospitalization in England, he returned to Canada and was medically discharge on March 13, 1918.

The materials in the Thrupp Collection were donated as part of the Sydney Winterbottom Collection. Thrupp and Winterbottom had been friends in Kamloops before the war. Both having enlisted in 1915, they served together in the 11th C.M.R. and 29th Bn. until finally separated when Adrian was wounded in action at Vimy in 1917. Winterbottom was killed later that fall at the Battle of Passchendaele.

In the letter section below is correspondence Thrupp wrote to his father describing his voyage to England on the SS Lapland, as well as a reference list of links to the numerous letters in the Winterbottom Collection in which Winterbottom writes about Thrupp.

External links:
Pte. Thrupp’s service record (Serv/Reg# 116579) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.

Captain Alex James Kaine, MC, was born in Gorrie, Huron County, Ontario, on March 30, 1870, the seventh of ten children of parents John and Mary (née Pentland) Kaine. Prior to his enlistment in World War I, he worked as an immigration inspector, and had been a member of the Canadian Militia for almost twenty years.

Commissioned as a Lieutenant into the Army’s 8th Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force, (C.E.F.), he served as the First Contingent recruiting officer in Fort Frances, Ontario, and then as a training officer in Valcartier, Québec. Proceeding to England with the 8th Bn. on October 3, 1914, he remained in England with the C.E.F. until March of 1916 when he was discharged to serve in the British Army as a Lt. with the 2nd Battalion, Sherwood Foresters (Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment).

While serving with the Sherwood Foresters, Kaine was awarded the Military Cross on November 16, 1916. From The London Gazette (link below): “His Majesty the KING has been graciously pleased to confer the Military Cross on the undermentioned Officers and Warrant Officers in recognition of their gallantry and devotion to duty in the Field:— . . . Temp. Lt. Alex James Kaine, Notts. & Derby. R. For conspicuous gallantry in action. He gallantly led his company in attack. Later, with great skill and determination he consolidated the position won. He set a fine example.”

Health issues resulting from multiple wounds suffered while in action at the front led to his eventual discharge from the British Army in June of 1918. Kaine returned to Canada and settled in Fort Frances, Ontario.

The majority of the letters in the collection were written by Alex Kaine to his sister Robina (“Bina” or “Bi”) Kaine, who was working at the time as a schoolteacher in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. Several of the letters were written to Robina Kaine by Ada (last name unknown), a relative living in Knock, Dublin, Ireland. Alex stayed with Ada for several weeks while recovering from a gunshot wound in 1916. Also included is a biographical document written by Alex’s sister Robina describing some of his wartime experiences; this has been posted below under the “Memoir” content section.

External links:
Capt. Kaine’s service record (Serv/Reg# not assigned*) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.
The awarding of the  Military Cross to Kaine was published in The London Gazette on November 16, 1916 (#13012, p.2081). He was granted the honorary rank of Captain upon leaving the British Army, as published on June 25, 1918 (#30769, p.7602).

*WWI officers were not routinely assigned Service/Regimental #s

[Editor’s Note:
There are conflicting records regarding Kaine’s date of birth. The date given above is taken from his service record with Library and Archives Canada.]

Captain Jordan Mott Fowler was born in Redbank, New Jersey, U.S.A. on April 16, 1884, to parents Jordan M. and May Pricilla (née Harvey) Fowler. He was a student at the University of Toronto, graduating as a medical doctor in 1908. After spending two years interning in Michigan and New York, Fowler moved to Vancouver Island, British Columbia, eventually going into practice in 1914 with Dr. R.L. Fraser in Victoria, B.C.

He received his commission as Captain in the Canadian Army Medical Corps (C.A.M.C.) on April 13, 1916. Arriving in England in September of 1916 he served as a Medical Officer with the 15th Brigade, Canadian Field Ambulance (C.F.A.). In early 1917 Fowler was posted to the 14th Brigade, C.F.A., and was sent over to France later that August. With the conclusion of the war Fowler returned to Canada and was demobilized on June 24, 1919.

The Fowler Collection contains the diary he kept from December of 1917 to December of 1918. Also included are the letter and certificate that he received in recognition of his being Mentioned in Dispatches by Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig, in Haig’s letter of March 16th, 1919, “for gallant and distinguished services in the Field.”

External links:
Capt. Fowler’s service record (Serv/Reg# not assigned) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.
Fowler’s Mentioned in Dispatches was published in The London Gazette on July 8, 1919 (#31448, p.8824).

Major James Parker Hooper, MC, was born in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, on February 21, 1888. Prior to WWI Hooper worked as an accountant, as well as serving for fifteen years in the Canadian Militia with the 82nd Regiment (Abegweit Light Infantry) and 4th Regiment Canadian Garrison Artillery. 

He enlisted with the 98th Canadian Siege Battery (C.S.B.) in Charlottetown, P.E.I., on September 23, 1915. Shipping for England on the S.S. Lapland in late November of 1915, Hooper proceeded to France with the 98th C.S.B. in May of 1916. He was awarded the Military Cross (MC) on January 1, 1917. Following his return to Canada Hooper was demobilized May 18, 1919.

The Hooper Collection shares with the Gunner Walter James Lantz Collection the memorial album created by Hooper for Lantz’s parents following the death of their son on July 12, 1916. When the Lantz collection was originally posted, the author of the memorial album was unknown, as Hooper had signed only with his initials “J.P.H.” Recent research has identified “J.P.H.” as James Parker Hooper and the Hooper collection has been added in recognition of his role in the creation of this remarkable album chronicling the 98th C.S.B. soldiers working in the observation posts at the front-line trenches in and around the Somme/Mametz region of France. The photographs were taken by Hooper and Lantz in the days and weeks immediately preceding Lantz’s death in July of 1916.

The photo album can also be viewed on Gunner Walter James Lantz’s WWI Collection page, along with information on other identified members of the 98th C.S.B. who appear in the album’s photographs.

External links:
Major Hooper’s service record (Serv/Reg# not assigned*) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.

Hooper’s Military Cross award was published in The London Gazette on January 1, 1917 (#29886, p. 45).

*[WWI officers were not routinely assigned Service/Regimental #s]

Private Alexander White was born in Glasgow, Scotland, on January 10, 1886. Prior to immigrating to Canada he served eighteen months with the British Army in the 4th Scottish Rifles.

White enlisted at Valcartier Camp, Québec, in September of 1914 and sailed to England as part of the First Contingent of the Canadian Expeditionary Force in October of that year aboard the SS Lapland. From England he proceeded to France with the 5th Battalion and from there to Ypres, Belgium. White was part of the Second Battle of Ypres during the first gas attack of the war. As a result of a head wound and the effects of gas, White was sent to hospital in England. He returned to Canada in October, 1915, and was demobilized as medically unfit for further service due to his injuries.

The collection consists of the diary White kept from February to May of 1915. Of particular note is his detailed account as a participant in the Second Battle of Ypres, written during the battle between April 22-25.

External links:
Pte. Alexander White’s service record (Serv/Reg# 13693) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.

[Editor’s note: The dates in the above description have been taken from White’s military service record and in some cases may conflict with those found in his diary.]

This collection consists of letters and/or related articles published in the Ladysmith Chronicle newspaper. The materials were compiled by the Ladysmith and District Historical Society in conjunction with the Ladysmith Archives. There are currently ten individuals represented in the collection; the links below are to their individual collections within the World War One section.

Appleby, William*
Day, Thomas*
Fisher, John Lindsey
Grant, John*
Kemp, Edward Harold*
Lapsansky, John Robert*
McCoy, Frank
Morrison, Frederick James Duncan*
Pickup, Alfred James
Simpson, Thomas Nesbit*

Soldiers who are represented on the Ladysmith Cenotaph are denoted with an asterisk (*) after their name.

Carry On: Letters in War-Time, written by Coningsby William Dawson.

Lieutenant Coningsby William Dawson was born in High Wycombe, England, on February 26, 1883, the second of six children of parents William James and Jane (née Powell) Dawson. After completing a degree in history at Oxford University in 1905 he lived with his family in Taunton, Massachusetts, spending summers with them at the family’s orchard-farming property on Kootenay Lake near Nelson, British Columbia. Working as a writer, he published several novels in the decade prior to the outbreak of WWI.

Early in 1916 he travelled to Ottawa, where after training at the Royal Military College in Kingston, Ontario, he was commissioned as a Lieutenant with the 53rd Battery, Canadian Field Artillery. Embarking for England in July 1916, and to France later that September, he was wounded several times during the war before being demobilized in June 1919.

The Dawson letters were originally published together as the book Carry On: Letters in War-Time in 1917. Now in the public domain, the book was digitized by the Internet Archive Digital Library in 2007 from the collection of the Robarts Library, University of Toronto. The formatted letters that have been made available here were created from the book as part of a research project at Vancouver Island University.

The book’s introductory poem “When the War’s at an End was written by Coningsby’s younger brother Lieut. Eric Powell Dawson who served during the war in the British Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve and in 1918 published the wartime memoir Pushing Water (link below). Following the war Eric settled in Victoria, B.C.

External links:
Lieut. Coningsby Dawson's service record is available through Library and Archives Canada. (WWI officers were not routinely assigned Service/Regimental #s.)
Carry On: Letters in War-Time, written by Lieut. Coningsby William Dawson, with introduction and notes by his father William James Dawson; provided online by the Internet Foundation at archive.org, from collection of the Robarts Library, University of Toronto.
Pushing Water, written by Lieut. Eric Powell Dawson.

Second Lieutenant Alfred James Pickup was born in Croydon, Surrey, England, on October 21 1887, to parents James and Louisa Pickup. After immigrating to Canada in April of 1912 he worked as bank clerk in Ladysmith, British Columbia, before moving to Victoria, B.C.

With the outbreak of war he returned to England in September 1914, where in December he was commissioned as an officer with the 13th Battalion, Hampshire Regiment, British Expeditionary Force. He was serving with the 2nd Battalion, Yorkshire Regiment, when he was killed in the Battle of Loos on September 26, 1915. Pickup is commemorated on the Loos Memorial, at Pas de Calais, France.

The letters in the Pickup Collection were published in the Ladysmith Chronicle newspaper and were compiled, along with those of other local WWI soldiers, through the work of the Ladysmith & District Historical Society (links shown below).
The complete list of soldiers in the can be found in the Ladysmith and District Historical Society collection.

External links:
A member of the British Army, 2/Lt. Alfred JamesPickup (Serv/Reg# 1794) does not have a publicly available service record.
Burial information is available at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
A collection of WWI soldiers' letters published in The Ladysmith Chronicle was undertaken by the Ladysmith & District Historical Society through their work with the Ladysmith Archives.

Private Frank McCoy was born in Mossend, Scotland, on August 15, 1885 (possibly 1886). Prior to the war he was living with his widowed mother, Mary McCoy, in Ladysmith, British Columbia, working as a boat builder.

He initially enlisted at Vernon, British Columbia, with the 62nd Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force, on August 23, 1915, but was soon discharged on December 15th on the grounds (as described in his service record) of “not being likely to become an efficient soldier.” McCoy appears not to have agreed with this assessment as by the following day he had made his way to Vancouver where he enlisted again on December 16, 1915, with 11th Regiment Irish Fusiliers of Canada (The Vancouver Regiment).

Shipping for England as part of the 121st Battalion on board the SS Empress of Britain, McCoy was sent to France the following December with the 54th Battalion. Fighting at Vimy Ridge on March 1,1917, he suffered severe gas poisoning as well as shrapnel wounds, and was evacuated to hospital in England. He was returned to Canada and discharged on medical grounds on December 8, 1917.

The letters in the McCoy Collection were published in his hometown newspaper The Ladysmith Chronicle , and were compiled along with those of other local WWI soldiers through the work of the Ladysmith & District Historical Society (links shown below).

The complete list of soldiers in the can be found in the Ladysmith and District Historical Society collection.

External links:
McCoy’s service record (Serv/Reg# 760583/463934) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.
A collection of WWI soldiers' letters published in The Ladysmith Chronicle was undertaken by the Ladysmith & District Historical Society through their work with the Ladysmith Archives.

Lance Corporal John "Jack" Lindsey Fisher was born in Wales in 1887, and immigrated to Canada in 1899, and by 1910 was living in Nanaimo, British Columbia.

Having previously served with the British Army Royal Artillery, Fisher returned to England and enlisted with the Royal Engineers on May 23, 1916. He was discharged following gas-related injuries in August 1917, and returned to Canada.

The letter in the Fisher Collection was published in the Ladysmith Chronicle, and was compiled along with those of other local WWI soldiers through the work of the Ladysmith & District Historical Society (links shown below).

The complete list of soldiers in the can be found in the Ladysmith and District Historical Society collection.

External links:
L/Cpl. Fisher (Serv/Reg# 649-F-11207) is listed in the Imperial Gratuities records at Library and Archives Canada, but information is limited to the record identification only.
The record of his Medal card with the Royal Engineers, (Reg# 158208), is held by the National Archives, Kew, U.K.; registration is required for access.
A collection of WWI soldiers' letters published in The Ladysmith Chronicle was undertaken by the Ladysmith & District Historical Society through their work with the Ladysmith Archives.

Nursing Sister Barbara Argo Ross was born in Brussels, Huron County, Ontario, on March 27, 1890, one of five children to Reverend John and Elsie (née Watt) Ross.

Already fully trained as a nurse, she enlisted in Toronto on March 4, 1917, with the Base Hospital (Toronto), Canadian Army Medical Corps. Shipping for Liverpool on May 29, 1917, Ross was stationed at No. 16 Canadian General Hospital (Ontario Military Hospital), Orpington, Kent, England. She later served with the No. 16 Can. Gen. Hospital in France. Following her return to Canada Ross was demobilized April 3, 1919.

Within the Ross Collection is the autograph book that was given to her as a Christmas present by fellow Nursing Sister Agnes Oliver Wharrey while stationed at Orpington in December of 1917. Over the following months Ross collected messages, drawings, poems, and other mementos while working at the No. 16 Can. Gen. Hospital. Many of the contributors to the book were Canadian service members, and where possible their names and a link to their service records have been included below. The jpgs and transcriptions of Ross’s book have been divided into five consecutive parts of approximately ten pages each.

External links:
Nursing Sister Ross’s service record can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.

Identified contributors to the Autograph Book (an asterisk before the name indicates that the location of the soldier’s service information has not been established):

Pg. 1: Nursing Sister Agnes Oliver Wharrey, C.A.M.C., service record.
Pg. 2: *A.M. Brown, 50th Battalion, page 2.
Pg. 3: Sapper Harmon Leslie Cleveland, Canadian Engineers, service record.
Pg. 4: Private George Martin Farrow, 173rd Battalion, service record.
Pg. 5 : Private Edward Boyd, 4th Canadian Mounted Rifles, service record.
Pg. 9: *Sergeant A. Green, 75th Battalion.
Pg. 11: Corporal John Ernest Rodgers, 4th Canadian Mounted Rifles, service record.
Pg. 14: Private John Cecil Kinross, 51st Battalion, service record.
Pg. 15: Private John Street, 87th Battalion, service record.
Pg. 17: Private Fred Kowalski, 102nd Battalion, service record.
Pg. 17: Private Harry Gittleson, C.A.M.C., service record.
Pg. 19: Private David Henry McCann, C.M.G.C., service record.
Pg. 23: Signaller Joseph Laird Dowgray, 13th Battalion, service record.
Pg. 27: *Signaller R. Howe, Canadian Field Artillery.
Pg. 28: Private Oliver Andrew Ferguson, 98th Battalion, service record.
Pg. 37: Private William Albert Pappa, 46th Battalion, service record.
Pg. 38: Private Charles Crawford Hutchins, Royal Canadian Regiment, service record.
Pg. 39: Private Walter Mellick Wood, 134th/48th, service record.
Pg. 40: Sapper Harmon Leslie Cleveland, Canadian Engineers, service record.
Pg. 41: Private Sydney Wallace Kenderdine, 123rd Battalion, service record.
Pg. 43: Private Edward Allan Edson, 244th Battalion, service record.
Pg. 44: Captain Willmot Edward Lenox Sparks, C.A.M.C., service record.
Pg. 45: Gunner Thomas Hatherton Howard Fortier, 4th Canadian Siege Battery, service record.

Flight Lieutenant Lawrence John Drewry was born in Whonnock, British Columbia, on December 21, 1916.

He enlisted during WWII with the Royal Canadian Air Force, initially training in Brandon, Manitoba, and later at the Royal Air Force Flying College on Darrell’s Island in Bermuda. He spent much of the war serving as a R.C.A.F. officer attached to the R.A.F., Middle East, with the No. 47 & No. 294 Squadrons.

The letters in the collection were written by Drewry to his twin sister Mildred (newly married as Mrs. John Flynn) while she was living first in Ottawa and then back home in Whonock (as it was spelled at that time).

External links:
F/L Drewry (Serv/Reg# J8629) survived the war; his service record is not open to public access at this time.

Nursing Sister Lucy Gertrude Squire, RRC, known as Gertrude, was born in Wolverhampton, England, to parents James Lane Squire and Emily Pace Squire in April 1884. The family immigrated to Canada in 1887 and settled in Norwood, Ontario. Prior to the war Squire studied nursing at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Montreal, Québec.

She sailed to England in December 1914 and attested as a Nursing Sister with the Canadian Army Medical Corps, Canadian Expeditionary Force (C.E.F.), in January 1915 in Hampstead, England. After initially serving in England and France, in July 1916 she was assigned to the Anglo-Russian Hospital in Petrograd, Russia, where she remained until the outbreak of the Russian Revolution forced a return to England in April 1917. Later that same year she spent several weeks on leave back in Canada, before retuning to work in Europe.

Squire was awarded the Royal Red Cross, 2nd Class, in October 1917. In March 1919 she was promoted to the rank of Matron (equivalent to that of Captain) but reverted in rank back to Nursing Sister (equivalent to that of Lieutenant) on her return to Canada to work at the Dominion Orthopedic Hospital in Toronto, Ontario. In June 1919 she was awarded the Royal Red Cross, 1st Class, (RRC). Her wartime service with the C.E.F. officially ended on July 5, 1920, with her appointment to Canada’s reconstituted Permanent Force.

External links:
Nursing Sister Lucy Gertrude Squire’s service record (Serv/Reg# not assigned) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.
Squire’s appointment to rank of Nursing Sister (supernumerary) on December 21, 1914, was published in The Canada Gazette on March 6, 1915, (Vol. 48,  No. 36 , p. 2744 [p. 16 of 95 in website’s document viewer]); her promotion to Matron was published in The London Gazette on March 9, 1919, (#31546, p. 11425).
Awarding of the Royal Red Cross (2nd Class) was published in The London Gazette on October 24, 1917, (#30350, p. 10983); awarding of the Royal Red Cross (1st Class) was published in The London Gazette on June 3, 1919, (#31370, p. 6839).  

Lieutenant Robert Hampton (Hammie/Hammy) Gray, VC, DSC, was born in Trail, British Columbia, on November 2, 1917, to parents John Balfour Gray Sr. and Wilhelmina (née McAllister) Gray. Hampton had one older sister, Phyllis Wilma, and one younger brother, John (Jack) Balfour Jr. The young family soon moved to Nelson, B.C., where Hampton’s father established a business as a jeweller and watchmaker. After completing high school in Nelson in 1936, Hampton initially enrolled at the University of Alberta, later transferring to the University of British Columbia.

With Canada now at war, Gray enlisted on July 18, 1940, at HMCS Tecumseh in Calgary with the Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve (RCNVR). After an initial training period in England, Gray was assigned to the Royal Navy’s Fleet Air Arm for training as a fighter pilot.

While serving aboard the HMS Formidable Gray was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross (DSC) for “determination and address in air attacks on targets in Japan” following the sinking of a Japanese destroyer on July 28, 1945. (The London Gazette, August 21, 1945). He was killed on August 9, 1945, while leading an air raid on the naval base at Onagawa Bay, Japan. Gray was posthumously awarded the Commonwealth’s highest military decoration, the Victoria Cross (VC), “for great valor in leading an attack on a Japanese destroyer in Onagawa” (The London Gazette, Nov. 13, 1945).

The letters in the Hampton Gray Collection begin shortly after his 1940 enlistment and continue through the war to the summer of 1945. Almost all were written by Hampton to his parents in Nelson, B.C., or to his sister Phyllis in Calgary, Alberta. Many of the letters mention Hampton’s brother Jack who was serving in England with the Royal Canadian Air Force. More information on Jack Gray, including over thirty of Jack’s wartime letters, can be found in the John (Jack) Balfour Gray Collection.

External links:
Lt. Gray’s Service Record (Reg/Ser# V13438) is available online through Library and Archives Canada.
Burial information is available at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
A memorial page honouring Gray can be visited online at the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.

The awarding to Gray of the Distinguished Service Cross was published in The London Gazette on August 21, 1945 (# 37232, p. 7221); the awarding of the Victoria Cross was published on November 13, 1945 (# 37346, p. 5529).

Among the many memorials and tributes made to Lt. Gray’s service:
Gray is one of fourteen Canadians honoured at the Valiants Memorial in Ottawa, Ontario; is among those commemorated on the Halifax Memorial, Point Pleasant, Halifax, Nova Scotia; and is a member of Canada’s Aviation Hall of Fame.

On March 12, 1946, the Geographic Board of Canada designated “Grays Peak” within the Kokanee Mountain Range, British Columbia, in remembrance of both RCNVR Lt. Robert Hampton Gray and his brother RCAF Flight Sergeant John Balfour Gray.

His mother, Mrs. Wilhelmina Gray, was appointed as the 1969 National Memorial (Silver) Cross Mother, participating in the 1969 Remembrance Day wreath laying ceremony at the National War Memorial in Ottawa on behalf of all mothers of children who have been lost while in military service.