Category: Soldiers

Between 1914 and 1919, over 650,000 Canadians served at home and overseas during the Great War. On the Western Front in Belgium and France, Canadian soldiers of the Great War distinguished themselves in numerous battles, including Second Battle of Ypres, Battle of Vimy Ridge, and Second Battle of Passchendaele. In Canada’s Last Hundred Days of the Great War, Canadian soldiers at the sharp end of the spear breaking through the enemy’s formidable trench defences, the Hindenburg Line. Their efforts have inspired these soldier stories.

Collections

Many collections used to bring the soldier stories to life. First, and foremost, the Personnel Records of the soldiers serving in the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF). This collection, like the others to follow, digitized and made available by Library and Archives Canada (LAC). Secondly, the War Diaries of the CEF often provide vital information about a soldier’s life not contained in their service file. Finally, Circumstances of Death (CoD), War Graves Registers (GRRF), and Veterans Death Cards provide further information on The Fallen. These three collections in conjunction with records of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) vital to cases of identification and recovery of The Missing.

Courts Martial Records (FGCM)

Additional collections used to present the soldier stories include Courts Martial Records. Courts martial had the authority to try a wide range of military offences that resembled civilian crimes like fraud, theft or perjury. Others, like desertion and cowardice – purely military crimes. Records of individual courts martial consist of an average of 20 to 25 documents, mainly standardized forms. These document the trial and the charges under the Army Act.

MIKAN photo collection

Finally, the most powerful way of bringing soldier stories of the Great War to life, the images of the MIKAN collection digitized by LAC. Often complementing these photos – images held by the Imperial War Museum (IWM), some of which also contain images captured by the Official Canadian War Photographers (CWRO) during the Great War. Both LAC and IWM have film collections which further bring the reality of the soldier stories of the Great War to life.

Honourary Captain Eric Franklin Johnston in the Great War
Honourary Captain Eric Franklin Johnston one of four members of the Canadian Chaplain Services buried in France during the Great War.

Honourary Captain Eric Franklin Johnston

“I spent last Sunday at No.3 Canadian Casualty Clearing Station, and strangely enough one of the sisters asked me ‘Who is Captain Eric Johnston, a padre?’ I asked her why she wished to know. She replied that all the boys who came from his unit wounded, to pass through the Casualty Clearing Station, simply raved about him.” – LtCol G. O. Fallis, A.D.C.S.

Lieutenant-Colonel George Oliver Fallis, CBE, ED, BD, DD, (1885–1952) a Canadian military chaplain during the Great War and the founder of the Canadian Memorial Church in Vancouver.

Canadian Memorial Church in Vancouver

Pastor at Collingwood

Eric Franklin Johnston graduated from Victoria College in 1915. Served as pastor in Collingwood.

Son of Joshua Reynolds Johnston and Jennie Poole Johnston, of Carleton Place, Ontario. Husband of Jessie Louise Johnston, of Toronto, Ontario.

1916

Eric enlisted with 201st Overseas Battalion on 1 April 1916, having had one year with high school Cadets, and one year with COTC (Military College). Transferred to the 198th Overseas Battalion on 1 October 1916.

198th Battalion (Canadian Buffs)

Organized in February 1916 under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel J. A. Cooper. Mobilized at Toronto and also recruited in Toronto. The unit assembled at Exhibition Camp for a unit photo on 20 February 1917.

198th Battalion (Canadian Buffs), 20 February 1917, Exhibition Camp

Officers 198th Battalion, Lt Eric Franklin Johnston second from left in back row

The 198th Battalion embarked from Halifax 28 March 1917 aboard METAGAMA. Disembarked England 10 April 1917. With a strength of 31 officers, 841 other ranks. 5th Division, 15th Canadian Infantry Brigade, 10 May 1917 – February 1918. Drafts of 100 to 3rd, 19th, 20th and 75th Battalions on 15 February 1918.

His Majesty’s Troopship Metagama Sailing from Montreal, May 6, 1915 No 3 General Hospital

1917

Embarked Canada from Halifax on 25 March 1917. In August 1917, SoS of the 198th to Chaplain Services at Witley Camp. To be Honourary Captain with a Canadian Infantry Battalion from 30 August 1917.

Scenes at baseball match between Epsom Canadians and 198th Battalion at Goldaming, October 1917. One of the championship games. MIKAN No. 3384464

Attached to HQ of the 5th Canadian Division on 30 November 1917. The 5th division would eventually contributed reinforcements to the four Canadian Divisions overseas.

Canadian Chaplains at Shoreham. MIKAN No. 3405132

1918

Ceases to be attached to HQ on 19 May 1918. Repatriated from Witley to Bramshott area on 7 August 1918. SoS Chaplain Services on proceeding overseas to the 2nd Canadian Division, 17 September 1918.

Canadian Padre gives wounded Canadian hot tea at a Soup Kitchen, only a 1/4 mile from the Front Line at Hill 70. MIKAN No. 3395501

Bronchial Pneumonia

Honourary Captain Eric Franklin Johnston admitted to No. 6 CFA, myalgia, 9 November 1918. 11 November 1918, admitted to No. 20 General Hospital, Camiers, seriously ill. Died of bronchial pneumonia, 18 November 1918.

A Canadian Field Ambulance in the forward area during the advance. Battle of Amiens. August, 1918. MIKAN No. 3395883

Etaples Military Cemetery

During the Great War, the area around Etaples the scene of immense concentrations of Commonwealth reinforcement camps and hospitals. Remote from attack, except from aircraft, and accessible by railway from both the northern or the southern battlefields. In 1917, 100,000 troops camped among the sand dunes and the hospitals, which included eleven general, one stationary, four Red Cross hospitals and a convalescent depot, could deal with 22,000 wounded or sick. In September 1919, ten months after the Armistice, three hospitals and the Q.M.A.A.C. convalescent depot remained.

Honourary Captain Eric Franklin Johnston, 10 August 2019, CEFRG.ca

The cemetery contains 10,771 Commonwealth burials, the earliest dating from May 1915. Only 35 of these burials unidentified.

Soldiers’ Tower

Situated at the western end of Hart House and standing 43.5 metres (143 feet) tall, the Soldiers’ Tower a memorial to the 628 members of the University of Toronto who gave their lives while on active service in 1914 to 1918 and to the 557 men and women lost from 1939 to 1945.

The Soldiers’ Tower – The Soldiers’ Tower was built at University of Toronto between 1919-1924 in memory of those lost to the University in the Great War. Funds were raised by the Alumni Federation, now called the University of Toronto Alumni Association. The name of “Capt Rev E. F. JOHNSTON C.C.S.” is among the 628 names carved on the Memorial Screen. Photo: K. Parks, Alumni Relations.

Carved in stone on the memorial screen are the ranks, names and units of those lost to the university in the Great War. Stained glass windows, paintings, inscriptions and artifacts commemorate those who served and those who fell in the two World Wars.

Memorial – Memorial Room, Soldiers’ Tower, University of Toronto. Photo by David Pike, 2010; courtesy of Alumni Relations. Honourary Captain Eric Franklin Johnston

Canterbury Cathedral

The “Canadian Buffs Memorial” at Canterbury Cathedral a memorial dedicated to officers of the 198th Battalion (Canadian Buffs). The memorial was erected by their comrades and was dedicated in 1917 when the battalion’s colours ceremonially deposited in the Cathedral’s Warrior’s Chapel.

Memorial – Canadian Buffs Memorial, Canterbury Cathedral, Canterbury, Kent. Honourary Captain Eric Franklin Johnston

Canadian Chaplains buried in France

Including Reverend Johnston, four Canadian Army Chaplains buried in France during the Great War.
- The Rev. GEORGES ETIENNE R. CROCHETIERE, BAILLEULMONT COMMUNAL CEMETERY
  - Killed-in-action 2 April 1918 at Mercatel.
- The Rev. DONALD GEORGE MacPHAIL, LAMPAUL CHURCHYARD, ILE D’OUESSANT
  - Llandovery Castle victim, 27 June 1918. Body recovered from the sea months later.
- The Rev. WILLIAM HENRY DAVIS, LE QUESNEL COMMUNAL CEMETERY
  - Killed-in-action 9 August 1918 at Le Quesnel.
Llandovery Castle, with Union-Castle tender Falcon, Owned by Imperial War Museum, Oil on Canvas
Artist – Maurice Randall

Canadian Chaplains buried in England

Two Canadian Army Chaplains buried in England during the Great War. One Chaplain wounded on the Western Front and later succumbed to wounds.
- The Rev. WEBSTER HENRY FANNING HARRIS, BROOKWOOD MILITARY CEMETERY
  - Paralyzed by a shell on the Somme in September 1916.
  - Evacuated to England, and died of wounds in May 1917,
- The Rev. GEORGE LEYCESTER INGLES, BULFORD CHURCH CEMETERY
  - Spinal meningitis victim on Salisbury Plain, 1 January 1915.
Canadians mudlarking on Salisbury Plain, 1914. MIKAN No. 3404435

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October 30, 2025