Major Summerford CEF

[Kate Wills]

I was leafing through a book called 'What a Way to Go' earlier today. It is a collection of strange deaths, and one case that caught my eye was that of Major Summerford of the CEF, who was discharged from the army in 1918 through injuries received when he and his horse were struck by lightning. The horse died.

He returned to Canada, where lightning continued to seek him out. He was struck again while out fishing, and another strike eventually killed him in 1932. He was buried in the Vancouver area, but a few years later his grave was struck by lightning.

Can any of our Canadian pals confirm this strange story, and tell us more of Major Summerford?

[chris.wight]

Kate, I looked through the CEF attestation papers using a variety of possible spellings (Sumerford, Sumersford, Summersford, Sommerford, Somerford, Sommersford) and could find no one with a matching name or even rank. I looked through the M.I.C.'s and nothing there either.

I did see one site list his first initial as R. Summerford.

It would be interesting to find out if he actually existed.

[Kate Wills]

Mmmm...not looking good for the veracity of the book is it. Thanks for checking this out Chris. I'll have to go back and sneak another look, though the story sounds a bit far-fetched to me.

[chris.wight]

Kate, maybe British Columbia pal, Peter Broznitsky, could help, link.

[Broznitsky]

Kate/Chris, I did some googling; same story in ten different places, except half of them describe him as a British officer. Perhaps attached to the CEF?