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.

Website on the "Canadian Wartime Experience"

The Archives and Special Collections section of the University of Manitoba Libraries operates a website called The Canadian Wartime Experience: The Documentary Legacy of Canada at War. The opening page notes:

The differing roles played by Canadians during times of conflict, at home and abroad, are featured in this website. The website provides access to a portion of wartime-related textual records and photographs that have been selected from larger collections within the holdings of the University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections and digitized for research purposes.

Categories listed include the Red River Resistance (1869-1870), the Boer War (1899-1902), World War I (1914-1918), World War II (1939-1945), the Korean War (1950-1953) and the Vietnam War (1957-1975). There is also an educational portion directed at Grades 4, 6, 9 and 11.

Interview with retired Major-General Lewis MacKenzie

The Maple Leaf Web, a self-described "non-profit, non-partisan Canadian political education web-site that aims to provide educators, students and the attentive public with a creditable source for political education and information" out of the University of Lethbridge, has posted an interview with retired Major-General Lewis MacKenzie.

A little more recent chronologically than most of what I write about on this blog, this interview is quite interesting and touches on some points of extremely recent Canadian military history.

Online collection of pamphlets and broadsides

I recently was made aware of an interesting collection of online published material, some of which is specifically relevant to Canadian military history. The managers of the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library at the University of Toronto have placed online "Canadian Pamphlets and Broadsides: Pre-1930 Canadian pamphlets and broadsides from the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library (http://link.library.utoronto.ca/broadsides/index.cfm).

As the main page notes: "This site provides access to the pre-1930 Canadian pamphlet and broadside holdings of the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library by supplying both page images in full colour, and full searchability of the contents of each item. To date the site consists of 597 broadsides (single sheets, printed on one or both sides) and 2062 pamphlet titles which amounts to 71508 page images. Additional titles will be added on a regular basis. The collection includes items printed in Canada, by Canadian authors, or about Canadian subjects, mainly of a non-literary nature."

A quick review of the collection - visitors can search the collection by specific words or browse it based on subjects - shows quite a few items of interest to students of Canadian military history. Three examples include: J.D. Craig (comp.), "The 1st Canadian Division in the battles of 1918" (London, 1919); G.E. Hewitt, "The story of the Twenty-Eighth (North-West) Battalion, 1914-1917" (London, 19?); and Henry Charles Fletcher, "Memorandum on the militia system of Canada" (Ottawa, 1873). In each of these cases, the images of the publication are available in "small", "medium" and "large" formats, each of which can be captured as a downloadable JPG graphic.

A Reader's Guide to Canadian Military History

Library and Archives Canada has revised its online guide to publications in Canadian military history, "From Colony to Country: A Reader's Guide to Canadian Military History". In addition to the implementation of a new design, two new campaign themes - the Rebellions of 1837-38 and the Second World War - and material on Aboriginal Soldiers in the First World War has been incorporated. The revised series of campaigns discussed include: Canadian Military History: An Overview; War of 1812; Rebellions of 1837 and 1838; Northwest Campaign; South African War; First World War; and, Second World War. As the site notes, "Each military campaign has been divided into ten new subsections that contain texts, notes and bibliographic references." These subsections are: general references, government and the military, troops and traditions, personal stories, aboriginal peoples, multicultural communities, women, art, music and literature, commemorations, and web research.

The Legion's Legacies website

I recently discovered a new (to me, at least) website built to incorporate visitor-submitted stories of Canada's veterans. The Legion's Legacies, describes itself as follows:

Our new online community allows everyone to post online stories of Canadian war veterans. Proud Canadians, who want to embrace the ideals that are brought forth on Remembrance Day, can share what it means to them personally.

This is your chance to share a family story, or adopt a veteran, post a tribute to our Canadian Forces and contribute to Canada's Legacy...by posting tributes of their sacrifice for our freedom.

The result of this ongoing project - will be a growing volume of connected stories, pictures, songs, educational resources and videos; a kind of Facebook meets YouTube for Remembrance.

A great resource for families, educators, students and veterans. No post is too small or seemingly insignificant. We encourage everyone to participate. Our tribute section is not meant to be legalistic in it's nature. It's about sharing what we (as Canadians) know and in some cases believe to be true. If your grandmother baked cookies for the young men on the front lines or worked in a munitions factory or served with the Resistance in Europe, she deserves to be remembered on our site! If your grandfather was a merchant sailor who bravely sailed the Atlantic Ocean during the war, or worked at home in the Civil defence corps, he deserves to be remembered on our site too!

This website includes the tributes, of course, but also links to other educational, historical, and military websites, as well as detailed instructions on how to post a tribute.

Online bibliography on Quebec and War

Béatrice Richard has researched and posted online Bibliographie, la guerre et le Québec as the result of two years of work on the first inventory of published works concerning Quebec and war. Professor Richard has consulted various bibliographies and numerous journals, and placed the results in a preliminary classification. The bibliography is presented in three categories: New France (1500-1760), the British regime (1760-1867), and Confederation (1867-1914). Each part is further sub-divided into general works and war and society, before moving into specific period conflicts and themes.

Nomination for a Canadian Blog Award 2007

I discovered, quite by accident, that The Cannon's Mouth was nominated for one of the 2007 Canadian Blog Awards in the category "Best Military Blog". I don't know who nominated me - but thanks. I must be honest and admit I'd never heard of these awards until that point. Their website notes: "The Canadian Blog Awards is an annual event on the Canadian Blogosphere in which Canadian Bloggers and Blog Readers vote to decide which blog is the best - either overall or within a category."

Alright, like I said, The Cannon's Mouth has been nominated for "Best Military Blog", and voting amongst the nominated blogs is currently underway. If you want to vote for this blog, please visit the 2007 CBA site - the voting page is here. Thanks in advance for your vote if you think The Cannon's Mouth is worthy.

Historical Papers at the Canadian Forces Leadership Institute

The Canadian Forces Leadership Institute, part of the Canadian Defence Academy of the Department of National Defence, was created in 2001 "as the Centre of Excellence for leadership research and concept development in the CF. The purpose of the CFLI is to disseminate core concepts of leadership and the Profession of Arms to the CF." Among its many activities, the CFLI has issued many Research Papers, some of which are specific to subjects of Canadian military history, including:

H. Coombs, "Dimensions of Military Leadership: The Kinmel Park Mutiny of March 4/5, 1919 (2003) [direct PDF link];

H. Coombs, "The Search for Certainty: Sackets Harbour, May 28/29, 1813" (2003) [direct PDF link];

A. English, "Professionalism and the Military: Past, Present, and Future: A Canadian Perspective" (2002) [direct PDF link];

R. Goette, "Squadron Leader N.E. 'Molly' Small, RCAF, DFC, AFC: A Study of Leadership Successes and Failures in the RCAF's Eastern Command, 1942" (2003) [direct PDF link];

C. Mantle, "The 'Moral Economy' as a Theoretical Model to Explain Acts of Protest in the Canadian Expeditionary Force, 1914-1919" (2004) [direct PDF link];

C. Mantle, "For Bully and Biscuits: Charges of Mutiny in the 43rd Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force, November and December 1917" (2004) [direct PDF link];

C. Mantle, "Polished Leathers and Gleaming Steel: Charges of Mutiny in the Canadian Army Service Corps at Bramshott Camp, England, November 1917" (2004) [direct PDF link];

R.O. Mayne, "Keeping up with the Jones's: Admiralship, Culture, and Careerism in the Royal Canadian Navy, 1911-1946" (2002) [direct PDF link]; and

K. Wenek, "Looking Back: Canadian Forces Leadership Problems and Challenges" (2002) [direct PDF link].

Undoubtedly, many of the other research papers on this site also touch on issues of specific interest to Canadian military history.

The Canada at War Books List

Recently, while doing a search for a particular new publication I'd heard about, I came across CanadaAtWar.com: A Books List, a website listing many, many, many publications in Canadian military history. Don (no last name provided), notes on the site that he started it after he "became frustrated with trying to locate books about Canada's military history using keyword searches on the online book sellers. By using key word, isbn, title, author searches and relying heavily on The Canadian Military Experience, 1867-1995: A Bibliography, this list has been created. I hope this site helps others to locate the books they want."

The site is divided into two major parts: the first providing an overall "Booklogue" for the years 1993 to present, each containing all listed titles published in that particular year. The second part divides the booklists into pre-First World War, First World War, Second World War, and post-Second World War categories for easy viewing.

Don explicitly asks visitors to his site to let him know if books listed are no longer available for purchase, to let him know of new titles and where they can be purchased, and to tell others about the site. He closes his "about" page with: "I realize that this site isn't a 'high tech' site, but I do hope it is useful." The Canada at Wars Book List is extremely useful, and proof that substance is still more important than glamour.

Genealogical website on Canadians in the South African War

While searching for something else entirely recently, I came across Hugh Armstrong's Genealogy Site (www.cangenealogy.com/armstrong/index.htm) which, among other things, contains an entire section on "Canadians in South Africa 1899-1902". Mr. Armstrong has transcribed material from the Sessional Papers of the Parliament of Canada and the Canadian Almanac, providing lists of officers who served and the dead and wounded of the six contingents Canada sent to the war, as well as auxiliary troops. Honours and Awards and Pay also have their own sections. An interesting reference site to be sure.

NFB's Images of a Forgotten War

I found this website a while back, but just hadn't got around to blogging about it. Unlike my usual posts, this one deals with a primary resource of Canadian military history - "Images of a Forgotten War" / Images d'une guerre oubliée of the National Film Board of Canada / Office national du film du Canada. As the website notes: "Films of the Canadian Expeditionary Force in the Great War - Discover this unique and rich collection of more than 120 archival films, 65 of which have just been added, accompanied by photos, historical essays by noted Canadian experts and a range of teaching materials / Films sur le rôle du Corps expéditionnaire canadien dans la Grande guerre : Venez consulter cette collection unique, riche de plus de 120 films d'archives, dont 65 ajoutés tout récemment, accompagnés de photos, de textes d'historiens réputés et de matériel pédagogique."

The site uses a built in video viewer to play the clips. A search function allows for textual searches, or the collection can be browsed according to a few menu selections. The coverage of these clips is fascinating, witnessing a wide range of the existence of the Canadian Expeditionary Force. The website also contains an extensive and impressive bibliography on the history of the CEF.

The CEF Paper Trail

Brett Payne, a stalwart member of the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) Study Group (www.cefresearch.com/phpBB2/index.php) and historian of the Canadian Machine Gun Corps, CEF, operates an extremely useful and interesting website called "The C.E.F. Paper Trail: An Unofficial Guide to the Official Canadian Army Service Records from The Great War" (freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~brett/cef/cefpapertrail.html#top).

To quote the site:

"The first phase of this project has involved the collating of examples of each type of document found in a soldier's World War 1 Canadian Expeditionary Force Service Records. Here you will find a preliminary selection, and I would like to encourage other researchers to contribute more. The guide designed partly to show prospective researchers what they can expect to find in a soldiers' service records, and partly to answer questions that I have had from fellow researchers wanting to know how they, too, can find out more of their particular soldier's military service."

The website includes detailed descriptions of the various types of documentation, as well as scans of actual paperwork. Types of documents covered include attestation records, discharge records, miscellaneous service records, medical records, pay records, and other commonly found documents (like passes and tickets). On the surface you might think this is not the most exciting content to read about. However, you'd be wrong, as an understanding of these records are absolutely necessary when trying to piece together an individual soldier's career during the First World War.

Brett welcomes "constructive comments, suggestions and contributions" to the site and can be e-mailed at bpayne@xtra.co.nz.

The New Brunswick Military Heritage Project

I was reminded, at the recent Laurier military history conference, of the existence of The New Brunswick Military Heritage Project. I remember running across this website previously in my online travels, but for some reason never got around to posting an entry about it. Well, here's my shot at rectifying that. This project, co-directed by Dr. Marc Milner and Brent Wilson, both academics at the University of New Brunswick, consists of publications, a website, and a database - all with the goal of encouraging the discovery and dissemination of New Brunswick's military history from the 18th Century to present. For example, as the pamphlet for the the project notes about the website, it "is a clearinghouse for information on New Brunswick military history: background material on the project, the database, supplementary information on the books we publish, hot links to other sites, past and upcoming lectures and special events (such as the clearing of the Red Head Battery site in Saint John), and in time, a chat room and e-publishing." The project also strongly encourages French-language input: "Malheureusement, en ce moment, le projet sur le patrimoine militaire du Nouveau-Brunswick n'est pas disponsible en français. Nous esperons que dans l'avenir proche toutes les informations seront disponible en français." All in all, a very interesting looking project, which has already accomplished a lot. I'd love to see other provincially-based projects similar to this started up.

British First World War military personnel records online

As an historian with a particular interest - both at work and in my own projects - on Canada's participation in the First World War, I'm still elated at the fact that Library and Archives Canada has digitized many (unfortunately, not all) of the attestation or enlistment papers (one to two pages each) of the members of the Canadian Expeditionary Force.

Can you imagine if LAC was able to digitize and post the entire personnel files for all the members of the CEF? I'm drooling at the sheer thought of it. But, for the moment, if you're lucky enough to be in Ottawa you can only sit down with the paper files to get the rest of the personnel information or, if you're not in Ottawa, you can only order photocopies.

However, it seems that the British may have broken the mold. Well, sort of. Computeractive, a British website, reported in late February on a joint venture between the Ancestry.co.uk website and The National Archives "to make service and pension records of soldiers who served in the British Army between 1914 and 1920 available online." This data has been mined from more than 8,000 microfilm reels held by The National Archives. Just like their Canadian counterparts, these personnel files provide information on the individual's occupation, physical characteristics, movements, postings, next of kin, etc. Officially, the records to be made available are part of WO 363 (British Army Service Records) and WO 364 (British Army Pension Records).

Unfortunately, the project will only ever be able to provide only part of the story. Although about five million soldiers from Great Britain fought during the war, German bombing in the Second World War seems to have destroyed 60 per cent of the service records from the First World War, and severely damaged many others. This project will be carried out in stages, beginning with pension documents for approximately 100,000 soldiers. The project is expected to be completed by the end of 2008.

The records will be available for searching on the ancestry.co.uk website - either through a subscription or pay-per-view - for 10 Pounds per month or 80 Pounds per year.

The Canadian Great War Project

I'm just back from the 18th annual Military History Colloquium hosted by The Laurier Centre for Military Strategic and Disarmament Studies (www.canadianmilitaryhistory.com) at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario. This was an excellent few days of papers delivered on a wide range of topics in Canadian military history, discussions amongst the attendees, and a dangerous (to the wallet) selection of books for sale. The 19th annual conference will held on 2-3 May 2008 at the University of Waterloo. More details to follow.

A while back I came across the Canadian Great War Project (www.canadiangreatwarproject.com), a website and project run by Marc Leroux. As the site notes:

"The Canadian Great War Project is intended to promote interest in Canada's participation in World War 1, commonly referred to as the Great War, to research the Canadians who participated in the Great War 1914-1919 or other nationalities who served in the CEF. The content is primarily database driven to facilitate searches for information. The site is, and will continue to be, a work in progress; there are currently over 73,000 entries of individual soldiers, and has become a collaborative effort among those interested in researching Canada and the Great War."

The options on the site are pretty straightforward and include "feedback", "searches", "war diaries", "Canada in the war", "books and media", "statistics", "from the front", "memorials", "rolls and awards", "images", links and more. At present, the site contains more than 6,500 war diary entries, 380 transcripted letters and newspaper articles, 530 images and 380 book and media descriptions. All in all, a very interesting and commendable project.