Charles Frederick Ritchie, DSO, MC, was born in Trois Riviere, Québec, in October 1888. Ritchie enlisted in Montreal in October 1914 and served overseas until his return to Canada with the 24th Battalion, Victoria Rifles of Canada, in 1919. Ritchie returned to Canada with the rank of Lt. Col., as well as being awarded the Distinguished Service Order and Military Cross. The collection consists primarily of photographs, including photos of Canadian participation in a victory parade in London, England.

Eric Gauntlett Steele was born in Hamilton, Bermuda, in 1891 where he enlisted in August 1916. He served overseas and was killed in action July 7, 1917, at Vimy. The collection consists of a copy of the Bermuda Colonist & Daily News 1918 and various documents and letters concerning Steele's death.

Thomas Frederick Jackson was born in London, England in November, 1876. At the time of his enlistment in Vancouver, British Columbia in September, 1915 Jackson was living in Vancouver and was married. Jackson served overseas with the 47th Battalion and was killed April 13, 1917. The collection consists of one letter and one photograph, as well as a thank you letter from Buckingham Palace.

Karl Vincent Butler was born May 6, 1912, son of Horace and Violetta Butler of Sydney, Nova Scotia. Butler served as a Lance Corporal with the West Nova Scotia Regiment, R.C.I.C. and was part of the invasion of Italy in 1943. He was killed August 2, 1943 in Italy, age 31. The collection consists of more than seventy letters, some photographs, postcards, and other miscellaneous items.

External links:
L/Cpl. Butler’s service record (Serv/Reg# F54612) 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 Butler can be visited online at the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.

Seymour McLeod Gerard was born in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, on March 31, 1911, the second of five children of Theodore Isaac and Euphemia Estella (née McLeod) Gerard.

He served overseas with the Canadian military in WWII. His demobilization date is unknown.

Content notes:
The earliest letter in the collection was written to Seymour’s younger sister Helen McLeod Gerard, from a Cpl. J Pennington, while Pennington was in hospital in Nijmegen, Netherlands. The other letter was from Seymour to his Aunt “Myrt” (Myrtle Jean McLeod).
Both of the personal items, including an RCAF Pass to the Eastern Air Command Headquarters in Halifax, N.S., belonged to Seymour’s older brother Ira Goodwin, who worked at that time as a plumber in Halifax.

External links:
Seymour McLeod Gerard (Serv/Reg# unknown) survived the war; his service record is not open to public access at this time.

[Editor’s note: Collection reviewed/updated December/2022. Original collection name was “Gerard, Helen and Seymour.” Two photographs and two personal items have been added. Letter transcription been reviewed and any errors found corrected. The Collection Description has been revised and expanded.]

Nurse Sarah Ellen Arnold worked at the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading, England, during the war. While there, she kept a journal in which she asked the patients to write. After the war Sarah married John Harold Bridgeman, one of the Canadian soldiers she had nursed.

External links:
Private John Harold Bridgeman's service record (Serv/Reg #440109) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.

Arthur James Hay was born in Toronto, Ontario in 1895 and enlisted July 22, 1915. Hay served oveseas in France with the 38th Bn. In 1917 he was wounded by a gas attack, and returned to Canada in July, 1918 as a result of his injuries. Arthur James Hay died in 1963. The collection consists of a photograph of Hay and a copy of his pension identification certificate.

Jack Malcolm Brown was born in Ontario in 1895. His only sibling, Olga Brown was born in 1903, and the two of them were orphaned when Olga was about one year old. The two children were then split up, with Jack going to live with a family in Lyndhurst, Ontario, and Olga going to live with her aunt in Frankville, Ontario. When Jack was eighteen he moved west to Saskatchewan to homestead. He worked as a teamster and enlisted at Prince Albert in December 1915. Brown served overseas in France and returned to Canada in 1919. The collection consists of over fifty letters written by him to his sister between 1914 and 1918.

Private John Herbert Bohan was born in Calgary, Alberta, on August 26, 1917, to parents Herbert and Nellie (née Bell) Bohan.

Bohan enlisted in Trail, British Columbia, in December 1941 and after training in Canada he proceeded overseas in August 1943. While serving with the Seaforth Highlanders in Italy, Bohan was killed on September 20, 1944.

External links:
Private Bohan’s service record (Serv/Reg#s K71329) 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 Bohan can be visited online at the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.

Private Thomas Henry (“Harry”) Baird was born on February 28, 1893, at Grant Settlement, Ontario, to parents Andrew and Mary Jane Baird.

Baird enlisted in Ottawa, Ontario, with the 77th Battalion on July 31, 1915, and sailed for England aboard the SS Missanabie in June 1916. He transferred to the 73rd Battalion (Royal Highlanders of Canada) on July 3, shortly before his deployment to France in August. Baird went missing in action and was determined to have died February 4, 1917.

Content notes:
The Baird letters were mainly written home to his family between July and December of 1916 while he was serving in the trenches in France. Both physical damage and writing style have made transcription challenging. In the supplementary documents accessed through the external links below, both “Thomas Henry Baird” and “Harry Baird” appear in Baird’s records as his full given name.

External links:
Pte. Baird’s service record (Serv/Reg# 144246) 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 Baird can be visited online at the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.

[Editor’s note: Collection reviewed/updated January 2022. Transcriptions reviewed and emended. Collection Description expanded. Collection name updated – originally posted as “Harry Baird.”]

Gerald Smedley Andrews was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, in December 1903. He taught school from 1926 to 1930, and then joined the British Columbia Forest Service where he worked as a surveyor until World War Two. During the war he rose to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel and he was responsible for charting the Normandy beaches in preparation for the D-Day landings. At the end of the war he returned to Canada, and served as the Surveyor General of the Province of British Columbia. Andrews was a Member of the Order of the British Empire, and was awarded the Order of British Columbia and was made a member of the Order of Canada. Andrews died in December 2005 at the age of 102. The collection currently conists of more than two hundred eighty letters, as well as telegrams and miscellaneous items.