AIF & CEF

[munce]

Hi Garth

Congratulations to your grandson and thanks for the information. It's not related at all to my own WW1 research, but I think it's a very interesting subject reflecting a world not so far away in time, but light years away in character.

James

[Guest stevebec]

Other bit on the AIF may also be of interest.

From the unit history of the 11th Bn AIF it shows the break up of those who embarked born from the following;

UK 28%

Scot 5%

Ireland 1%

other 3%

remainder born in Australia

The book also mentions that some 54,000 British Imigrants arrived in Perth WA between 1903 and 1913.

S.B

[Neil Burns]

Hi Peter,

I was re-reading this thread I seem to recall that the CEF had a recruiting office in New York I also have a BWM/Victory Pair to a Spr. Staples CE who lived in England and attested in England, he was a miner. I could be wrong I will check when I get home.

I know from research on an unrelated topic (Polish-Americans in Haller's Army) that you could volunteer in the US for Haller's Army if you were not subject to the draft, mostly recent immigrants fell not this category.

So it would seem if you were a 'British' subject and not a US citizen you could also volunteer for service in the CEF,AIF, BEF etc. as long as it was an Allied force.

Take care,

Neil

[Broznitsky]

Neil, I have checked my references and can't find anything about an office in New York. Can you check this, and also give us Staples first name so I can check his attestation.

I know the British government asked the Canadians to "cease and desist" recruting Americans, so as not to violate neutrality. I assumed there would be newspaper ads in American papers to attract volunteers, but I wonder if there were recruiters actually travelling in the States, luring impressionable young men up to Canada to enlist. Men recruited for an "American Legion" were dispersed to other battalions, after the Brits complained.

Has anybody else ever seen an attestation signed in a place outside of Canada?

Peter

[Neil Burns]

Hi Peter,

I will check the NY office reference when I get home, I think I got it from Love's book, I don't know where else I would've found it!

My Great-Uncle (see signature below) was working as a rancher in Montana and crossed over to Cardston to enlist, the family story has always been that he got some type of Land Bounty for enlisting but I've never seen any mention of this and he returned to New York/New Jersey area after the war and remained until he passed away in 1966.

Below is James Staples attestation papers Shorncliffe England June 14, 1916.

Take care,

Neil

James Staples

[Muerrisch]

Anecdote on this thread. My grandfather was one of many brothers, all unusually mechanical/transport orientated. One brother emigrated to Canada, worked on Canadian Pacific. My grandfather a chauffeur/mechanic, joined ASC for war. Drove lorries to and from the front.

One day came head to head with convoy PPLI going in other direction. War stopped, the two brothers fell into each others arms, both lead drivers. Of course, shouts of TROTT! WHAT THE **** DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING? were answered by two Trotts.

My grandpa had not seen this brother for many years, and never ever saw him again. Happily, both survived. My grandpa used to tell me this story with very little prompting, and the tears would run down his face.

[Neil Burns]

Hi Peter,

If you check Love's "A Call to Arms" pg 78 they mention certain serial numbers being alloted to those recruited in England. There's no mention of New york so that may have been a hallucinatory moment

The NY thing sticks with me because I recall when I saw it thinking that my Great-Uncle was from NYC so he could have enlisted a few blocks away instead of in Cardston! This will be bugging me all week-end.

Take care,

Neil

[Jonathan Saunders]

David a similar story of two brothers I have researched. One joins the Royal Navy and the other goes out to Australia. War breaks out and one is in Turkish waters with the RN and the other finds himself wounded and on a hospital ship, via the AIF and Gallipoli. I am not sure whether the RN brother had news in some way or whether he was crewing the hospital ship, but they meet for the last time, and probably the first time in 5 or 6 years or more. They were both sadly killed in action in the space of ofur months during late 1917 and early 1918 and their aged parents home in Rainham, Kent, lost there only two sons.

RIP Thomas Rayner Swan DCM and FrederickCharles Swan