Canadian Soldiers' Records

[Guest Simon Bull]

I believe I recollect having read in some Pals' postings that the records of those who served in the Canadian Army during the Great War are available on the Internet. If I am correct in this, could some kind soul please tell me the website address to which I need to go? Will I be able to find the records I am looking for if I have no more detail than the man's name?

[BeppoSapone]

I believe I recollect having read in some Pals' postings that the records of those who served in the Canadian Army during the Great War are available on the Internet. If I am correct in this, could some kind soul please tell me the website address to which I need to go? Will I be able to find the records I am looking for if I have no more detail than the man's name?

Simon

Try here: http://www.archives.ca/02/020106_e.html

[Guest Simon Bull]

This looks a truly superb site. When I have some time I shall investigate it further. Thanks.

Simon Bull

[Borden Battery]

CEF - Canadian Government Websites - Part 1

Note: CEF Study Group member websites denoted with asterisk "*"

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Library and Archives Canada - Military History

The fundamental URL for most CEF researchers. This site contains a wide range of basic links and represents a "starting point" for many people just beginning research on the CEF in the Great War.

http://www.collectionscanada.ca/war-military/index-e.html

Library and Archives Canada - Soldiers of the First World War (1914-1918)

Over 600,000 Canadians enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) during the First World War (1914-1918). The CEF database is an index to those personnel files, which are held by the National Archives. To date, over 800,000 images of Attestation papers have been scanned and are being made available on-line.

http://www.collectionscanada.ca/archivianet/02010602_e.html

Library and Archives Canada - War Diaries of the First World War

This database contains the digitized War Diaries of the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) units. From the start of the First World War, CEF units were required to maintain a daily account of their “Actions in the Field.” This log was called a War Diary. The War Diaries are not personal diaries, rather they are a historical record of a unit’s administration, operations and activities during the First World War.

http://www.collectionscanada.ca/archivianet/020152_e.html

Official History of the Canadian Army in the First World War

- Canadian Expeditionary Force, 1914-1919, Colonel G. W. L. Nicholson, C.D., Army Historical Section

This is the classic reference text [the Bible] for any student of the Canadian Expeditionary Force during the Great War. The original text is very difficult to obtain, however, the document is now available in .pdf format directly from the historical section of the Canadian Armed Forces website. [Note: The pagination in the online document is different than the original document - therefore citations with page number references cannot be used.]

http://www.forces.gc.ca/hr/dhh/downloads/O...ories/CEF_e.PDF

The Canadian War Museum

The Canadian War Museum (CWM) is an affiliated museum of the Canadian Museum of Civilization. The Canadian War Museum, the national military history museum is also a centre for research and the dissemination of information and expertise on all aspects of the country's military past from the pre-contact era to the present. The new museum opens in May 2005.

http://www.warmuseum.ca/

Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae Dec 2005

A Canadian federal government website with general background on Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae and includes the South African War and the Great War. The day before he wrote his famous poem, one of McCrae's closest friends was killed in the fighting and buried in a makeshift grave with a simple wooden cross. Wild poppies were already beginning to bloom between the crosses marking the many graves. Unable to help his friend or any of the others who had died, John McCrae gave them a voice through his poem. It was the second last poem he was to write.

Source: http://www.vac-acc.gc.ca/general/sub.cfm?s...firstwar/mccrae