Edward ("Ted") Brock served overseas with the 48th Highlanders and fought in the Italian campaign and later in Holland. As a Lieut. Platoon Commander is was Brock's duty to write letters to the families of men killed or missing from his platoon. The collection consists of a letter of condolence, reponses from families to whom he wrote, and a short memoir.
Title
WWII
These collections contains all materials relating to Canadian from 1939 to 1945. Some individual collections may contain materials beyond this time frame. External links in collection descriptions are to casualty and burial information at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
Ronald Francis Broome enlisted in Winnipeg, Manitoba, in August 1940. Broome served overseas during the war with the 3rd Canadian Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment. The collection currently consists of letters, photographs, his paybook, a regimental history, a copy of the Maple Leaf Scrapbook, and other miscellaneous items.
Hughie Patrick ("Sandy") Brown was born December 29, 1935, in Trail, British Columbia. He enlisted in 1953 in Vancouver, B.C., and served as a Para Rescue SAR Tech and later SAR Jumpmaster with the R.C.A.F. until his honourable discharge in 1979. He completed 735 aircraft jumps in the peacetime service and rescue of both civilians and military personnel over his career, and retired with the rank of Sergent. This collection consists of three photographs and Brown's flight log.
Sydney Brown was from North Bay, Ontario. He was born in 1918 and enlisted with the RCAF. Brown was flying with the 420 Snowy Owl Squadron when his Wellington bomber was shot down and he was killed April 15, 1943. The collection currently consists of a dozen photographs and some miscellaneous materials. See also the collection for Zave Brown, his brother, who was killed in 1945.
Zave Brown was born in September, 1925 and enlisted with the Royal Hamilton Light Infantry. Brown served overseas with the RHLI until his death in Holland on March 9, 1945. The collection currently consists of a number of personal photographs of Zave and of his time in the service. See also the collection of his older brother Sydney who was killed in 1943.
Edward Bryer was born in May, 1920, the son of George and Annie Bryer of Marchwell, Saskatchewan. He enlisted with the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders of Canada and served overseas until his death on August 3, 1944. Bryer is buried in Brettevill-sur-laize Canadian cemetery in France. The collection currently consists of seven letters.
Stewart Hastings Bull was born in Windsor, Ontario in 1916. He was educated at the University of Toronto and enlisted with the Essex Scottish in 1940. Bull was wounded at Caen, France by a mortar a few months after D-Day. He was hospitalized for several months and never returned to the front. Bull finished with the rank of Major. The collection consists of his memoir of the war transcribed from a recording by Bull in September, 2002 at the age of 86, as well as two photographs of Bull from 1941.
Lt. Harvey Simion Burnard was from Theodore, Saskatchewan. Burnard enlisted in January, 1942 and served overseas with the South Saskatchewan Regiment, R.C.I.C until he was killed at age twenty-five on July 25, 1944 in France. The collection consists of more than fifty letters written by Burnard.
Rifleman Edgar Dawson Butler was born on May 9, 1918, in Arkona, Ontario, to parents James and Hannah (“Annie”) Theodoria (née Thornicroft) Butler, part of a large family with eight siblings. On July 13, 1940, he married Gertrude Donna Butler. Prior to his enlistment Butler worked as a farmer.
He enlisted into active service on August 18, 1941, with the Queen’s Own Rifles of Canada, Royal Canadian Infantry Corps. Shipping to England in December of 1941, Butler remained there until the Normandy landings in 1944. As part of D-Day operations on June 6, 1944, Butler was with 14 Platoon of Charlie Company near the village of Bernières-sur-mer when he was killed by mortar fire. He is buried at Beny-Sur-Mer Canadian War Cemetery, Calvados, France.
Content notes:
The letters are written by Butler to his sister Leona (Mrs. John Cadman), of Sarnia, Ont., between November 1941 and May of 1945 . Only twenty-five letters have transcriptions available at this time.
External links:
Rfn. Dawson Butler’s service record (Serv/Reg# B64737) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.
Burial information is available at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
A memorial page honouring Dawson can be visited online at the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.
Karl Vincent Butler was born May 6, 1912, son of Horace and Violetta Butler of Sydney, Nova Scotia. Butler served as a Lance Corporal with the West Nova Scotia Regiment, R.C.I.C. and was part of the invasion of Italy in 1943. He was killed August 2, 1943 in Italy, age 31. The collection consists of more than seventy letters, some photographs, postcards, and other miscellaneous items.
External links:
L/Cpl. Butler’s service record (Serv/Reg# F54612) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.
Burial information is available at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
A memorial page honouring Butler can be visited online at the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.
Clifford Henry Callcott was born in August, 1916 and served overseas with the RCAF as a mechanic from 1943 to 1945. The collection consists of nine letters, photographs, cards, and miscellaneous items. Callcott died in 1969.
Corporal* Patricia Mary Jones Carter was living with her family in Halifax, Nova Scotia, at the start of World War II. In August of 1941 the Canadian Women’s Auxiliary Corps (CWAC) was founded (it was later integrated into the Canadian Army as the Canadian Women’s Army Corps). Carter was quick to enlist. Her service in the CWAC began on October 17, 1941, working as a clerk at District Depot, Military District No. 6, and then transferring the following January to District Headquarters, both located in Halifax, N.S. Further service details are unknown, other than a posting at Regina during 1943.
Collection notes:
Central to the collection is a memoir that was written by Carter recounting the first six months of her service in the CWAC, beginning in September of 1941. Her father, World War I veteran Gunner Albert Edward Carter, is mentioned often in her writing, and is the subject of two of the photographs. A link to his service record has been included below.
External links:
Cpl. Patricia Mary Jones Carter’s service record (Serv/Reg# unknown) is not publicly available at this time.
Gnr. Albert Edward Carter’s service record (Serv/Reg# 43972) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.
[* The rank of Corporal has been used here as this was Carter’s rank at the end of her memoir in April of 1942. Her final rank on leaving military service is unknown..]
William Austin Cauthers was born in March, 1925, the son of William and Margaret Cauthers of Mansfield, Ontario. Cauthers served as a Pilot Officer with the 407 Sqdn. of the R.C.A.F. He and his crew went missing when their Wellington MK IV failed to return on a mission over the English Channel on June 22, 1944. The collection currently consists of fifteen letters and three photographs.
External links:
Pilot Officer William Austin Cauthers’ service record (Serv/Reg# J89129) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.
Burial infomation is available at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
A memorial page honouring Cauthers can be visited online at the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.
Frances Charman was born in Joggins, Nova Scotia. After graduating from Aberdeen hospital in 1926, she nursed briefly in Truro, Nova Scotia before joining the staff of the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. She enlisted with the United States Nursing Corps in 1942. After service overseas during WWII with the rank of Captain she returned to work at the Massachusetts General. The collection consists of more than forty letters written between 1942 to 1945.
Wren Margaret (Peggy) Helen Chesney was born in Wolseley, Saskatchewan, on July 24th, 1922. She enlisted with the Women’s Royal Canadian Naval Service (WRCNS) in the summer of 1943. She was first posted to H.M.C.S. Conestoga in Galt, Ontario, and then in September to H.M.C.S. Cornwallis in Nova Scotia. Her final posting was in St. John’s, Newfoundland, beginning in November of 1944.
The letters in the Chesney Collection were written to her friend Miss J. Eira Williams of Regina, Saskatchewan, between September of 1943 and June of 1946. (Williams was also a correspondent in the CLIP Collections of P/O Lloyd Wesley Cuming, Cpl. Eunice Frances Davies, and L.A.W. Jean Isabel Turner.)
External links:
Wren Chesney’s Service Record (Serv/Reg# W-2601) is not available through Library and Archives Canada at this time.
Craftsman Allen G. Cochrane, son of Wayne and Hannah Cochrane, grew up around Arrowwood, Alberta.
He served overseas in WWII with the 1st Canadian Ordnance Base Workshop, Royal Canadian Ordnance Corps (mid-1944 onwards as Royal Canadian Electrical and Mechanical Engineers), and later with No. 2 Canadian Advanced Base Workshop.Cochrane was demobilized following his return to Canada at the end of the war.
Content notes:
The collection’s letters were written by Allen Cochrane between May 1942 and June 1945, mainly addressed to his sister Phyllis Cochrane in Calgary (or in Arrowwood), Alberta. Often mentioned in the letters is their brother Gunner Keith Cochrane, M34923, who was serving overseas with the 15th Field Regiment, Royal Canadian Artillery.
Letter transcriptions have been limited to twenty-five only at this time.
External links:
Cfn. Allen Cochrane’s service record (Serv/Reg# M40905) is not currently open to public access through Library and Archives Canada.
Lance Sergeant Clarence Verdun Courtney was born in Toronto, Ontario, on March 26, 1916, to parents (Police constable, was also Toronto police force “the late” CVWM clipping) James and Annie Courtney. He had one sibling, sister Ina Lena. Prior to WWII Clarence Courtney was a Police Constable with the Toronto Police Department. He married Margaret Galbraith Davidson on October 18, 1940.
Courtney enlisted for Active Service on June 8, 1942, in Toronto, Ont., with the 17th Brigade Group Company #22, Royal Canadian Army Service Corps (R.C.A.S.C.). He shipped for England in July of 1943, where he joined the 2nd Armoured Brigade Company, R.C.A.S.C.
Deployed as part of Operation Overlord, on D-Day, June 6, 1944, Courtney was aboard the S.S. Sambut. Crossing the English Channel loaded with men and supplies, the Sambut was struck by long-range German artillery guns and sank in the Strait of Dover. Severely wounded by shellfire prior to abandoning ship, Courtney was declared missing, presumed dead; his body was never recovered. He is ccommemorated on the Bayeux Memorial, Calvados, France.
Content notes:
There are two letters in the collection, both from 1944. The first was written by Courtney to friend and fellow Toronto City Police Constable Charles Gilbert; mentioned is Police Constable Stanley James McIlrath who was killed June 30, 1943. The second is from Courtney’s military service record, and was written to H.Q. in Ottawa in November by his still-hopeful wife Margaret during the time period in which Clarence had been declared as missing but not yet declared dead.
External links:
L/Sgt. Clarence Courtney’s service record (Serv/Reg# B80413) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.
Burial information is available at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
A memorial page honouring Courtney can be visited online at the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.
R.C.A.F. Flight Sergeant Stanley James McIlrath’s service record (Serv/Reg# R112735).
Norvin Smith Crawford served with the 8th Princess Louise's (New Brunswick) Hussars, R.C.A.C., 5th Canadian Armoured Division as a tank driver. Crawford was killed in Italy on September 1, 1944 at the age of 28. The collection currently consists of one photograph of Crawford and one letter from his commanding officer to Crawford's fiance Grace Fulton describing the circumstances of his death.
External links:
Trooper Norvin Smith Crawford’s service record (Serv/Reg# G117) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.
Burial information is available at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
A memorial page honouring Crawford can be visited online at the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.
George Elliot Creswell was born in Saskatchewan in 1924. He enlisted in the RCAF on June 8, 1942, the day after his 18th birthday. Creswell went overseas in the fall of 1943 and served as a Flight Officer with the 432 Sqdn. He was shot down and killed on his 15th mission on February 21, 1945. The collection consists of 95 letters, photographs, and other printed items.
External links:
Flying Officer George Elliot Creswell’s service record (Serv/Reg# J35134) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.
Burial information is available at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
A memorial page honouring Creswell can be visited online at the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.
Warrant Officer Stuart Marshall Cross was born on January 21, 1920, in Verdun, Québec. In 1934 he moved with his family to St. Andrews, Scotland. Prior to World War II he worked as an insurance clerk.
Cross joined Britain’s Royal Air Force in August 1940. In December 1941, with R.A.F. 15 Operational Training Unit, Cross was flying as second pilot in Wellington IC DV416, when a fuel shortage forced an emergency landing near Catania, Italy. All of the aircrew were captured as Italian prisoners of war. In September 1943 Cross escaped from P.O.W. Camp 59 (Servigliano). After many months spent in hiding, he successfully connected up with British forces the following June, and returned to England in July 1944. Cross continued to serve in the R.A.F. after the war.
R.A.F. aircrew flying with Cross on December 28, 1941: Sgt. Edward Ronald Ashton (1282755), F/O Samuel Beckett (106061), Sgt. Robert Charles Davis (644393), Sgt. Ronald Percy Holmes (1375674), and Sgt. Robert Veitch (1107337). All were captured as Prisoners of War; Holmes was later shot and killed following his escape from a detention camp in February 1944.
Stuart Cross’s sister Wilma also served during the Second World War. Photographs from her time with the Canadian Women’s Army Corps are held in the Wilma Cross Collection.
Content notes:
The collection’s letters and telegrams date from late 1941 to early 1942, and pertain to Cross’s status as missing/P.O.W. The January 1942 letter was written by Cross to his parents less than a week after his capture as a P.O.W.
External links:
W/O Stuart Cross’s British service record (Serv/Reg# 1051162) is not available for public access; his P.O.W. Escape Report is held by the British National Archives under reference code WO 208/3320/91.
