Saturday, November 11, 2006

List of Milton Soldiers

Updated March 3, 2009:

The following shows the postings for each Milton Soldier killed in the Great War. The death may have occurred from accident or illness prior to service, or while preparing for battle, during the battle, or as a result of wounds from which the soldier did not survive. The site provides the links to the Library and Archives Canada for the Attestation Papers and to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission for the Casualty Details.

The soldier's name is linked to the page of the Canadian Virtual War Memorial at the Parliament Buildings in Ottawa, Canada. The Regimental Number link takes you to the Attestation Papers and the Cemetery or Memorial Link takes you to the Casualty Details of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Our newest addition is the photographs of the tombstones, taken as part of our participation in the Maple Leaf Legacy Project.

Although the date remains at November 11, 2006, the information is being updated on a regular basis. The information has now been updated on the web site version to show where their unit was active at the time of the casualty, and and what the War Diaries report for that specific date. Information for some soldiers is limited, as officers do not have Attestation Papers unless they moved up from the enlisted ranks. As well, some Canadians took officer positions with the Imperial Army, thus there records are in the UK National Archives.

The Fall 2006 release of "Milton Remembers - World War I and The Men and Women We Never Knew" provided additional information to track some of the unknown names. Where possible, we have corrected errors that appear in the book. The blog has now been updated to include the 2007 and 2008 research on the Milton Soldiers that were listed on the Victoria Park and Haltonville Cenotaphs, as well as those known to have died but not listed on the Cenotaphs.

The Milton Historical Society has generously allowed us full access to the soldier's service records that were collected by John Challinor for the preparation of "Milton Remembers". All of these records have now been scanned and are available through the link on the web site. Those records have been used to identify the time and place of death of each soldier, which has now been linked to the unit war diary and historical references.

Here are Milton's Soldiers:



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1 comment:

Ron Sinclair said...

Richard and all.
It was nice to find your link at the Vimy Memorial site on Google Earth. What a pleasant surprise as I visited there tonight.
I am Ron Sinclair and Hugh C Sinclair from Milton was my father's step brother.
It was just a year ago that I was over to visit the Milton Memorial and see Hugh's name after working with some of my Dad's historical notes from the 60's and learning a little about Hugh. I then learned about Milton Remembers World War 1 and located a copy in Milton, which provided much more information about Hugh.
This month, November 2007, I visited France to continue my quest. I went to Vimy to see the beautiful memorial and find Hugh's name, and then headed over to Courcelette near The Somme,where Hugh and so many other Canadians died. I saw the Adanac cemetery where Hugh would have been buried, had he been found, and noticed a grave marker for another from the 24th battalion that died on the same day, September 17, 1916. A very moving visit as you might imagine. The 24th Battalion diary said they were fighting on the east side of town that day, near the quarry and (German) practice trenches, and I was able to leave a Canadian Poppy on a fence in this area.

For those that haven't read it, the little book on Courcelette by Paul Evans (part of the Battleground Europe series} is excellent. He covers the events from Sept 15 until mid November in great detail, including the fight for Regina trench where I would think most of the casualties occured. Paul has a home in Coucelette and has learned a lot about the area.
Thanks so much for the work you and the folks at Milton have done to bring forward the information on our ancestors. It is much appreciated, particularly by those of us with a direct link.

6:09 PM

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