CEFRG – Canadian Expeditionary Force Research Group 1914-1919
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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…
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CSM Robert Hill Hanna VC in the Great War
The fourth Irish-Canadian Victoria Cross of the CEF CSM Robert Hill Hanna VC born on his father’s farm in Aughnahoory Townland, near Hanna’s Close, Kilkeel, County Down in the north of Ireland on 6 August 1887, the second of 11 children born to Robert Hill Hanna Snr and his wife Sarah Hanna. Kingdom of Mourne…
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Second Lieutenant Eric Skeffington Poole in the Great War
Shot at Dawn Second Lieutenant Eric Skeffington Poole born in Nova Scotia, Canada but served with the BEF in the Great War. Shell-shocked a week into the Battle of the Somme, Shot at Dawn by the end of 1916, becoming the first British Officer executed by his own men in the Great War. Erik born…
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Company Sergeant Major Robert Kennedy in the Great War
CSM Robert Kennedy DCM, MM & two Bars served with the 16th Battalion (Canadian Scottish) in the Great War. Only Lt Edward Slattery of the CEF similarly medaled posthumously. Kirriemuir, Scotland Son of Robert and Euphemia Kennedy, of Beach Cottage, Southmuir, Kirriemuir, Scotland. Born 27 September 1888 in Kirriemuir, Scotland. Peter Pan Kirriemuir the birthplace…
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Lieutenant Edward Slattery in the Great War
Lieutenant Edward Slattery, DCM, MM & Two Bars, killed in action while gallantly leading his men at Vis-en-Artois, France, 30 August 1918. Only Company Sergeant Major Robert Kennedy of the 16th Battalion (Canadian Scottish) similarly medaled. Lt. Edward Slattery, DCM, MM and Two Bars, from Montreal and late of the 3rd Battalion, Toronto Regiment, who…