30 May 2008

Veterans' Stories at McGill University Website

I recently stumbled across some items concerning Canadian military history on the McGill University website called McGill Remembers: The Veteran. This is a small portal to a handful of stories concerning war and the university. The site quotes former university President F. Cyril James: "We who are alive today, free men and women in a democratic community, can never forget the extent of our obligation to all, but, being human, each one will think especially on the memory of those who were kindred or close friends."

The portal leads to stories on the university's "War Records Office" during the Second World War, the university's "Roll of Honour" and a couple of public contributions.

One of the stories I found particularly interesting, that of Flying Officer William Joseph Allison, one Canadian serving on a Royal Air Force Wellington bomber crew, all of whom perished during a mission on 20 November 1944. The story revolves around the mission and the subsequent search for family in an attempt to bring Allison's relatives to the crash site and memorial.

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