Reginald Carl Francis Duffy was born in 1920 and enlisted with the RCAF in January, 1941. During the war he flew as a pilot on Wellington bombers and served overseas in Britain, Africa, and Malta. Following the war Duffy returned to Canada and worked as a school teacher and principal in New Brunswick. Duffy died in 1986. The collection consists of his diary which he kept from January to August, 1943.
James Claude Whyte was born in Galletta, Ontario, in November 1891. Prior to the war Whyte served with the 99th Manitoba Rangers Band. He enlisted in Brandon, Manitoba, in March 1916 with the 181st and served overseas with the band. The collection consists of his diary of 1917 and early 1918.
Private Arthur Lawrence Turner was born in Liverpool, England, on September 10, 1890. Prior to WWI, Turner had served in the British Territorial Army with the Royal Engineers and in the Canadian Militia with the 58th Westmount Rifles.
He enlisted with the 148th Battalion in Montreal, Québec, on March 8, 1916. Turner proceeded overseas on September 27, 1916, aboard the SS Laconia from Halifax, Nova Scotia, arriving on October 6 in Liverpool, England. He was sent to France in December of that same year, where he served with the 24th Battalion. Turner returned to Canada and was demobilized in November of 1918.
External Link:
Pte. Arthur Turner’s service file (#841715) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format from Library and Archives Canada.
Earl Winstel Sutherland was born in Hamilton, Ontario, in 1885. He enlisted in September 1914 and served five years overseas until he returned to Hamilton in 1919. The collection consists of one letter written from France in 1919.
Thomas James LeDuc was born in Cache Creek, British Columbia in February, 1882. In 1911 he joined the B.C. Horse, and then enlisted in December, 1914 in Victoria, British Columbia. Leduc served overseas with the 2nd C.M.R. and returned to Canada at the end of the war with the rank of Major. The collection currently consists of five letters.
The collection consists of one letter from May Grenville, a nurse who had served overseas with the A.E.F. home to her mother in Thorold, Ontario, at the end of the war in 1918. Used with permission by Heritage Thorold.
Herbert Stanier Beckton was born in Cannington Manor, Saskatchewan, in June 1892. He later moved to British Columbia and served with the 88th Victoria Fusiliers. Beckton enlisted in February 1915, while overseas. The collection consists of an undated memoir, one letter, and five photographs.
Michael Francis Murphy was born February 27, 1894, in St. John's, Newfoundland. Murphy enlisted on December 15, 1914, with the Royal Newfoundland Regiment (sevice #754), part of the original "C" coy. Murphy served in Gallipoli, Egypt, and France, and returned to Newfoundland at the end of the war. The collection currently consists of two photographs of Murphy and one letter to his daughter. Murphy's service file is available online through the Provincial Archives of Newfoundland and Labrador (The Rooms).
William Wallace Haig Martyn was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba in December, 1915. He joined the RAF in 1936 and during the war he flew with Squadron Nos. 802, 758, 759, 760, and 880 and was awarded the DSC. The collection consists of more than 140 letters written by Martyn from 1939 to 1945.
William Monro was born in County Down, Ireland, in 1895 and immigrated to Canada sometime prior to the outbreak of war. He enlisted in Toronto, Ontario, in July 1915 and served overseas in France. The collection consists of seven letters.
Sydney Rhodes was born in Mansfield, England, in May 1888. Prior to the war Rhodes immigrated to
Canada, where he enlisted in Toronto, Ontario, in November 1914. Rhodes served overseas with the 20th Battalion. The collection currently consists of postcards and photographs.
Harry Morris was born in Montreal in 1882 and enlisted 87th Battalion in Montreal in November 1915. He served in France with a trench mortar battery and was wounded early in 1917. Morris was discharged in February 1918 as a result of his wounds and returned home to Montreal. The collection consists of numerous photographs, telegrams, four letters, one poem, and miscellaneous documents. One of the letters is an extended account of the being wounded and the process of medical treatment.
Gordon Stuart Robinson was born in Fort William, Ontario, in August 1897. Robertson enlisted in April 1916 in Fort William with the 94th Overseas Battalion. The collection currently consists of eighteen letters, as well as several photographs and postcards.
Lawrence Earl Johns was born in Elimville, Ontario in December, 1893. Johns enlisted at Exeter, Ontario on April 11, 1916 with the 161st Huron Battalion, C.E.F. He served overseas with the 58th Battalion and died September 12, 1917. The collection consists of more than one hundred twenty letter as well as a rich visual component of photographs, postcards, and other personal items.
One part of the collection consists of letters written by Harry Clark, Jr., to his mother, Jane (Jennie) Clark, in London, Ontario, after he had enlisted in the Canadian Army. The other letters were received by a distant relative, Kathleen Jackson (ne Hastings), while she was recovering from tuberculosis in London, Ontario. The letters, which describe conditions in wartime Britain, were written by relatives of Kathleen,s father Hugh Hastings, who died while convalescing from wounds sustained in the First World War.
James R. Chisholm was born in Inverness, Scotland, in 1885 and immigrated to Canada sometime prior to the war. He enlisted at Lethbridge, Alberta, in December 1914. James served overseas in France and was killed June 3, 1916. Alexander Chisholm was born in Inverness, Scotland, in March 1888 and immigrated to Canada prior to the war. He enlisted in Brandon, Manitoba, in April 1915. He served overseas in France and was killed October 9, 1916. The collection consists of one undated photograph of the brothers.
Lewis G. Billard was born in Glace Bay, Nova Scotia, in 1923. He joined the R.C.A.F. in 1943 and worked on the Rolls-Royce Merlin engines in Lancaster bombers in England and in Mosquito Nightfighters in Europe. The collection consists of more than one hundred letters written home by Billard from 1943 to 1946.
Gerald Vincent Montague was born in London, England, in August 1910. He immigrated to Canada in the 1920s. Montague enlisted in September 1939 and served with The Canadian Scottish, 7th Division, 3rd Battalion, C Company in France, Belgium, Holland, and Germany before returning to Canada in 1946.
Henry Ralph was born in Dover, England, in November 1885 and immigrated to Toronto, Ontario, sometime prior to the war. Ralph enlisted in September 1914 and served overseas with the 48th Highlanders. During the war he was taken prisoner and returned to Canada after the war. The collection consists of an extended letter written in 1918 describing his experiences as a prisoner, as well as one photograph.
Maurice Melville Maloney was born in Meaford, Ontario in February, 1918. Maloney served overseas with the 15th Canadian Ambulance Corps as well as the 4th Canadian Armoured Division Medical Corps. He returned to Canada at the end of the war and died in 1996. The collection currently consists of fourteen letters, poems, telegrams, clippings, and other miscellaneous items.
William Douglas Watson was born in 1924 and resided in Grand Valley, Ontario. He enlisted in the R.C.A.F. in 1943 and graduated as a Navigator in December, 1943. He was killed on July 23, 1944 along with all of his crew while practicing night flying in a Wellington bomber over Cardigan Bay in Wales. The collection consists of twenty seven letters written home to his parents in 1944.
External links:
Flying Officer William Douglas Watson’s service record (Serv/Reg# J39281) 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 Watson can be visited online at the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.
Ed Gallagher was from Australia, born in 1916. He was a Wireless Airgunner who spent his war years (1941-1943) flying out of Mt. Batten (Plymouth, England) and Pembroke Dock (Wales) on Sunderlands. These two letters, part of a collection of 106 letters, describe his impressions of Canada as an Australian on his way to war in 1941 and in 1943 waiting to return to Australia. He was at the time writing to Molly Thomson, who he married in 1943 on his return to Australia.
George Edward Steele was born in Rutland, England, in October 1889. Steele immigrated to Canada prior to the war with his two brothers. He enlisted in September 1914 and served overseas until the end of the war. Terrence Steele was born in Rutland, England, in October 1894 and immigrated to Canada with his brothers prior to the war. He enlisted in November 1914 and served overseas with the 21st Battalion until the end of the war. The collection currently consists of three photographs.
Pte. George Leslie Adkins was born to mother Alice Mary Adkins on March 4, 1889, in Banbury, England. He enlisted with the 49th Battalion, C.E.F., in Edmonton, Alberta, on March 25, 1915, and sailed overseas with his battalion from Montreal on June 4, 1915, on board the SS Metagama. Adkins arrived in England on June 14, 1915, and then embarked for France on October 9, 1915, where he remained with the 49th Battalion until the end of the war. He returned to Canada, sailing from Liverpool, England, on March 8, 1919, and was discharged in Edmonton, Alberta, later in March.
External links:
Pte. George Leslie Adkins’s service record (Serv/Reg #433085) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.
The letter of August 27, 1928, which described his brother Martin’s death, was written by Inar William Anderson, DCM, who had served with Martin and George in the 49th Battalion. Lieutenant Inar William Anderson's service record can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.
The service record for George’s brother Pte. Martin Adkins, who was killed June 27, 1916, can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada. Burial information for Martin Adkins is available at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
Charles Bovyer Hamm, MM, was born in Bunbury, Prince Edward Island in June, 1889. Hamm enlisted in April, 1915. He served overseas, where he was wounded in September, 1916. The collection consists of more than forty letters, as well as postcards and other items.
