Category: Soldiers
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Captain Henry Edward Knobel in the Great War
Captain Henry Edward Knobel born 4 September 1871 in Burton-on-Trent, Derby England. Father Edward Knobel Residing at 32, Tavistock Square, Derby, England. Rising steadily in the ranks, Knobel became O/C of the 8th Battalion, then Staff Captain of the 2nd Canadian Infantry Brigade, and finally a special assignment as the first Official Photographer of the…
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Corporal Henry Edward Wyer in the Great War
Corporal Henry Edward Wyer born in Caston, Attleboro, Norfolk on 8 October 1895. Son of Frederick and Violet Ellen (Wright) Wyer. A plasterer by trade. Brother of Dorothy May, Mabel Ellen (Holyoak), Basil James, Daisy Louisa, Hilda Maud and finally Martha Elizabeth Wyer. Henry in the Wyer household in both the 1901 and 1911 England…
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Piper James Cleland Richardson VC in the Great War
Piper James Cleland Richardson died the day after his actions, for which he earned the Victoria Cross. He had inspired his comrades shortly before the bloody capture of Regina Trench. “Things looked very bad and then it was that the piper asked if he would play his pipes—“Wull I gie them wund (wind)?” was what…
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Lieutenant Samuel Lewis Honey VC in the Great War
Lieutenant Samuel Lewis Honey, teacher, soldier, and officer, born 9 February 1894 in the hamlet of Conn, Ontario, eldest child of the Reverend George Edward Honey and Metta Blaisdell. Early Life of Samuel Lewis Honey Honey’s father served several Methodist churches in the area around Conn, with the Honeys moving frequently. Lewis attending school at Drayton in…
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Lieutenant John Vercoe-Rogers in the Great War
Lieutenant John Vercoe-Rogers, husband of Susie, Birch River, Manitoba (later moved to Cornwall, England). They had 1 boy, 2 girls, John James (7), May Seaborn (9), and Gertrude Gwendoline (18 months). John a lumberman, father Thomas Rogers of Cornwall, England. Enlistment of Private John Vercoe-Rogers John enlisted 9 May 1916 at Winnipeg, Manitoba with the…
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Private Charles Aumond in the Great War
Honour and Disgrace Was Private Charles de Bellefeuille Aumond the most undisciplined soldier in the CEF during the Great War? Or was he a whistleblower, and victimized by his fearless, hard-drinking Commanding Officer (a VC recipient in the Boer War), and his two brothers in Borden’s Armoured Battery? Is this a story of honour and…
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Private Charles Welsh in the Great War
Shot at Dawn Last Soldier Executed in Mazingarbe Private Charles Welsh of the 8th Battalion (90th Winnipeg Rifles) three times sentenced to death, finally executed at the abattoir in Mazingarbe on 6 March 1918. One of four Canadians executed in March of that year, and the last of 11 soldiers of the British Army to…
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LCol Russell Lambert Boyle in the Great War
LCol Russell Lambert Boyle, Mentioned in Despatches and killed in action leading his men of the 10th Battalion on 22 April 1915 during the Second Battle of Ypres. Only Mentioned in Despatches. Boyle’s actions certainly worthy of a Military Cross medal, or the higher award of a Distinguished Service Order. Lieutenant Colonel Russel Lambert Boyle,…
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Private Russell Clarence McCollom in the Great War
Private Russell Clarence McCollom a casualty of Spanish Influenza during the Allied Occupation of Germany in January 1919. At first interred among several famous figures of Bonn in Poppelsdorf Cemetery, McCollom later exhumed and placed in Brussels Town Cemetery. Brussels Town Cemetery contains several mysterious cases of civilians buried among men and women having served…
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Captain Thain Wendell MacDowell VC, DSO in the Great War
Ultimate Badass Captain Thain Wendell MacDowell VC, DSO awarded his Victoria Cross for valour in the presence of the enemy at Vimy Ridge. It was during this battle that Captain MacDowell would prove himself to be among the ultimate badasses of the Great War. Early life of Thain Wendell MacDowell Son of John Vincent MacDowell…