CEF Circumstance of Death document

[Terry]

I had been led to believe that soldiers who had died of wounds rather than been killed in action often did not have a Circumstance of Death sheet. This morning's mail included a batch of research from Arnie Kay, and one page was the C of D sheet for 138559 Pte. Joseph Buchanan Duffie, 60th Bn.

Duffie was from Londonderry, Northern Ireland. His date of death is 26 Sept.,1916, so I had assumed that he was a casualty of the fighting in or around Courcelette. However, the C of D document states the following:

"Died of Wounds" During military operations at Hill 60, in "Deep Support Trench" on the night of August 14th 1916, he was hit in the leg, behind the knee, by a piece from an enemy Trench Mortar Bomb. His wounds were immediately dressed and he was removed to No.17 Casualty Clearing Station, where he succumbed to his wounds about six weeks later.

Once again, a person can see the advantage of obtaining this single page.

Sadly, the other C of D page in this packet simply stated "Killed in Action", which is often the case.

[koyli]

Hi,

Could you tell me where you can get hold of these

"Circumstance of death" documents. Are they available on line?

Koyli

[Terry]

Hi Koyli,

We had a discussion last year on these C of D files. Normally, a serviceman's file is available in Ottawa from the National Archives, or through a private researcher. The files are quite comprehensive, with enlistment, medical, casualty,pay, and medal information,etc.

However, there is a separate document in the case of casualties called the Circumstance of Death page. It was not, for some unknown reason, kept in the person's file, but is a separate entity unto itself. It has survived over the years, with the exception of those casualties whose last names start with the letters W-Z. Therefore if you are looking for the page for 12345 Cpl. John Young, you are out of luck.

I was alerted to the files by researcher Arnie Kay, and there have been some real treasures amongst the pages. It is true that most simply state "killed in action" but others go into considerable detail. It is always worth the nominal cost involved to ask for the C of D page when checking out a CEF casualty.

As far as I know they are not available on line. A friend of mine who has a very good collection to one particular CEF battalion simply sent off all his casualty names to Arnie.

Arnie's address is: akay@comnet.ca

[Borden Battery]

I have used the service of Arnie for CEF research ... good man.

[Guest Hill 60]

A good bloke, but don't expect too much at the moment...he's on holiday

[Terry]

Yes, he left last week I think for a month in Europe.

[koyli]

Thank you all,

Especially Terry

For this interesting information.

I shall doubtless have to make use of Arnie's Services.

Koyli.

[Guest Hill 60]

Koyli - You can still e-mail Arnold. I got an e-mail yesterday regarding some research he's doing for me (which arrived this morning ) from him, he's obviously picking up mail from around Europe (Greece at the moment!)

[koyli]

Hi Lee,

Thanks.

However I need to do some more homework before I contact him. I'm researching the casualties in Kemmel Chateau cem and am at the moment making a database of those buried there. Once I have all the names I'll be contacting Arnie.

Thank's again.

koyli.