Remember Them November 11

My genealogical research has provided me with many details about the role that many of my ancestors played in the two world wars as well as wars prior to the First World War. I try to imagine the impact this military service had on the ancestors as well as their families at home.

• A widow in Windsor awaits word after being notified that her only son, Leo Joseph Martin Broderick, is missing in action after his plane was shot down over Germany. He never made it home to Windsor, Ontario and is buried in Durnbach War Cemetery, Germany.
  
• A young man, James Coveny, enlists at eighteen years of age naming his sixteen year old sister as his only next of kin. Probably due to his skill with horses, he is assigned to the 5th Battalion Canadian Mounted Rifles. He arrived in England in May 1916 and while riding through Remy Wood on his horse August 1918 he was "severely wounded by shell fire", was evacuated by No.4 Field Ambulance where he died. He never made it home to Tilbury, Ontario and is buried in Achicourt Road Cemetery, France.
  

When November 11 comes every year, I remember them. The ancestors who never made it home and those who made it home and were changed forever by their experience.

This is part of Leo Joseph Martin Broderick's file that I was given for review when I visited the Library and Archives of Canada in 2014.

"Knowing about an ancestor who served (in the military) and learning about the role they played and how war impacted their life can be an emotional experience that brings relevance to Remembrance commemorations." (Lesley Anderson, spokesperson for Ancestry)

In November, the Canadian War Museum offered "Researching Family Military History: How to Start" with tips for research in each of the following four categories.

• Pre-First World War (PFWW)
  
• First World War: 1914 - 1918 (FWW)
  
• Second World War: 1939-1945 (SWW)
• Post Second World War (PSWW)
  

Do you know the names of any of your ancestors who served in any of those periods? Would you like to learn more?

The Canadian War Museum is a great resource for researching our military ancestors and one that is overlooked.

 

The November 4th session was facilitated by Paul Durand, Vincent Lafond and Jessica (Learning Specialist) and they explained the research methods, tools and resources used by the Canadian War Museum’s Military History Research Centre to help people learn more about family members by exploring their military service.

• Pre-First World War (PFWW): Few records exist and any records that do exist likely have not been digitized.
  
• First World War (FWW): These records are the easiest to find and research in large part because of the 100th Anniversary of the end of ‘The Great War’ and the efforts to have these records digitized and made easily available online
  
• Second World War (SWW): These records exist (with Library and Archives Canada) but are generally not digitized and are protected under privacy legislation. (The exception is Service Files of the Second World War - War Dead, 1939-1947)
  
• Post Second World War (PSWW) : These records, being the most recent, are incredibly difficult to find - but not impossible.They cover such things as service in Korea, Bosnia, Afghanistan and peace keeping missions around the world, etc

 

Source: CWM 19860180-031 George Metcalf Archival Collection Canadian War Museum

The Canadian War Museum has developed Research Guides for military personnel to assist you in your research: one for women in the military,  one for ancestors in the navy, one for ancestors in the air force and one for ancestors in the army.

Canadian War Museum Research Guide categories

Military Heritage at Library and Archives Canada and The War Museum of Canada

During the session, many special features found at Library and Archives Canada (LAC) were highlighted:

• The First World War service files have been digitized by Library and Archives Canada (LAC). There is also a LAC Guide to Military Abbreviations in service files that is an important tool for when you read your ancestor's service file.

Other helpful collections that were highlighted

• Searching for the ships our military ancestors sailed on: From the service file, note the ship your ancestor disembarked. At LAC – Military Heritage go to Ship Logs
  https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/military-heritage/Pages/military-heritage.aspx
• Democracy At War is a searchable collection of more than 140,000newspaper clippings arranged by subject and date, includes news stories and editorials from newspapers, mostly Canadian, documenting every aspect of the war.
  
• Images can help us decipher particulars about photographs of our ancestors in their military uniforms
  
• Medals: At Veterans Affairs Canada go to Medals https://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/medals-decorations
• Uniforms: Search the collection
  
• Organization of Military Museums of Canada is a "national organization for the promotion of military museums in Canada. The OMMC was established in 1967 by a group of military museums, historians, and military history enthusiasts. It has over 40 individual and 60 institutional members including Canadian Forces museums, Parks Canada sites federal, provincial and municipal museums".
• Canadian War Graves Commission honours and cares for the men and women of the Commonwealth forces who died in the First and Second World Wars, ensuring they will never be forgotten.They have cared for the graves of my cousins James Coveny (FWW, France) and Leo Josepph Martin Broderick (SWW, Germany) and they host a searchable database https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/
  

 Marking Remembrance Day 2021

Since 2019, many Remembrance Day commemorations have either been cancelled or delayed by the current pandemic. The way we mark Remembrance Day has changed.

In addition, in 2021, flags were lowered on May 30 following the discovery of hundreds of unmarked graves at the site of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School in British Columbia. At the time of writing this post, the Canadian government was in dialogue with Indigenous communities and leaders to determine how flags can be raised in time to be lowered for Remembrance Day.  

A 2021 National Remembrance Ceremony will be conducted live at the National War Memorial in Ottawa on 11 Nov 2021. (Read modifications and changes here: https://www.legion.ca/remembrance/remembrance-day/the-national-ceremony/changes-to-ceremony)

There are a number of online multimedia channels offering activities such as https://www.warmuseum.ca/remembrance-day/#/  and on November 11 at 10:45 a.m. (EST) you can view a livestream of the light shining through Memorial Hall at the Canadian War Museum. https://www.warmuseum.ca/event/memorial-hall-livestream/ 

Remembrance Day activities :

• Wear A Poppy: This is the traditional symbol of Remembrance in Commonwealth countries with proceeds going to veterans from the Royal Canadian Legion. You can wear a virtual poppy on your social media profiles and/or create a digital poppy and/or locate a Poppy Box near you . There are also lapel pins honouring Aboriginal Veterans as well as beaded poppies where part of the proceeds will go to Residential School survivors.
  
• Observe Two Minutes Of Silence At 11am: This is the time when the First World War ended (Armistice) over 100 years ago on 11 November 1918 at 11 a.m. It is customary to stand for the two minutes of silence and think about the contributions of the men and women who have served in the Canadian military, the sacrifices made in war and how we might strive for a more peaceful world.
  
• Work for World Peace: Unfortunately, there are many ongoing conflicts and wars happening right now around the world. (See: Mapped: Where are the World’s Ongoing Conflicts Today?) Many organizations, like some faith-based groups (Quakers and Mennonites), as well as non-government organizations (NGOs) and United Nation branches work for world peace. Connect with an organization in your city/country to learn ways you can contribute.
  
• Honour An Ancestor: Find out if you had any relative who served in the military or in conflicts such as the First or Second World War
• Ancestry will be offering free access to all Canadian Military records (offer ends November 13)  https://www.ancestry.ca/search/categories/mil_lists/ and https://www.ancestry.ca/search/categories/ca_remembrance_2021/#collections

https://www.ancestry.ca/c/remembrance

Ask A Relative What They Remember

I am so fortunate that I have my father who remembers many details from his early years in Windsor, Ontario. I recently asked him, "What do you remember about World War Two?" Here is what he said:

My father on Remembrance Day marching with Royal Canadian Legion Cooksville Branch 582

My Ancestors Remembered

This list of ancestors whom I honour on Remembrance Day grows every year. I am reminded by cousins or I discover an Ancestry clue to some military records for an ancestor in my family tree. I invite distant cousins to contact me to add names I have may have omitted to this ever-growing honour roll.

My Pre-First World War Ancestors

• BRODERICK, Martin (Fenian War)
  
• COUGHLIN, Michael (Civil War - New York)
  
• CRICHTON, Archibald  (Fofar & Kardine Militia 1802)
• CRICHTON, Robert  (Royal Garrison Artillery 1823-1846)
• CRICHTON, Charles Douglas  (Royal Garrison Artillery)
• CRICHTON, Charles Robert  (Royal Dockyard Worker)
• MINIHAN, James (Civil War - Michigan Co.)
  
• MOYNAHAN, Denis (1864 Commander of the Sandwich Infantry Co. No. 1)
• MOYNAHAN, James (Civil War- Michigan Co.)
  

My First World War Ancestors

• CHANDLER, William Joseph (Sgt  UK Army)
• CONLON, John Aloysius (Face badly burned and disfigured)
• COUGHLIN, Daniel John (US Draft Registration)  
• COVENY, James (5th Royal Canadian Mounted Rifles / KIA)
  
• FOREMAN, Oscar  (Veterinarian with the Canadian Army Veterinary Corps)
  
• FOREMAN, Everett (#3212852)
  
• MELHUISH, William (Royal Navy 1911-1919)
• MORELAND, John (Corporal RCGA #1257597)
• PUCINO, John Carmen (US Army 4,567,958)
• SIMPSON, Graydon  (#845286)
• SUTHERLAND, James (enlisted at 40 years of age #880816)
  

My Second World War Ancestors

• BRODERICK, Leo Joseph Martin  (RCAF/RAF - Air Force Bomb Aimer R/109822)
• GARRISON, Clyde  (Royal Canadian Army)
• HARRISON, Edwin Frederick (US Army)
  
• HUSTON, Myron (US Navy)
• KROLICKI, Ray (US Army - lost both legs in Battle of The Bulge - founding member BLACA)
  
• LAIDLAW, Charles
  
• MOYNAHAN, Gerald (RCAMC - Medical Corps - Field Ambulance)
  
• MOYNAHAN, Bernard  (RCOC & RCEME - Ordnance Corp & Electrical & Mechanical Engineers)
• MOYNAHAN, Jerry ( Signalman A21902 Essex Scottish Reg't)
• ROLAND, David Vaughan Signals Officer awarded the Order of the Member of the British Empire
• VAN HUYSE, Julien Cyril (RCAF)

My Post Second World War Ancestors

• CREIGHTON, Jack (RCAF)
  
• CREIGHTON, Ken (RCAF 1959-1969)
  
• CREIGHTON, Bruce (Royal Canadian Navy)
• CREIGHTON, Frederick Miller ("Bud") (RCAF)
  
• HUSTON, Dale (US Army)
• MORKIN, William (US Army) 
• MOYNAHAN, Ernest (RCAF)
• MOYNAHAN, Dawn (Creighton) (RCAF)
• O'CONNOR, Cyril (Peacekeeper Cyprus)
  
• TREMBLAY, Rolande (Nurse RCAF)
  

Mennonite Button

Links:

Requesting Second World War Files from LAC in Oct 2021: what you need to know now by Linda Yip on Past Presence.