| INTRODUCTION |
| Since its inception in 1998, MAPLE
LEAF UP has grown into the most comprehensive site on the internet
in its subject field. Along with the tremendous support we have enjoyed
from collectors and enthusiasts alike has been a steadily increasing volume
of mail from around the world seeking information on relatives and loved
ones who served with the Canadian Army Overseas in WW2, in whatever capacity. |
|
| IT
CAN BE TOUGH |
| Sadly, in many cases, these requests come
from the children or grandchildren of veterans long since passed away,
and the theme is almost universal: "...my dad died 15 years ago and
never spoke about the war. How can I find out where he was and what he
did?" |
| The fact is that many veterans did indeed
take their stories to the grave, for a variety of reasons. Some came home
from up to six years of continuous overseas service and simply wished to
forget the whole thing, to pick up their lives as best they could. Others
saw no point in reliving the horrors safely buried away under iron-hard
layers of protective silence. Still others learned very quickly upon their
return to Canada that the civilian populace had no understanding of, and
little interest in, the hardships they endured. For thousands of their
children, this meant growing up with little other than a vague notion that
'dad was in the war'. |
|
| NEW
INTEREST |
| Since the mid-1990s, though, Canada has
enjoyed a public resurgence of interest in veterans' affairs and in the
reconstruction of the history of that time. Through the miracle of the
internet, a legion of veterans' descendants have taken it upon themselves
to research their fathers' pasts, if for no other reason than to gain a
better understanding of 'the way things were' and 'what he went
through'. |
| But in some cases today, we even find
some of these middle-aged 'kids' coaching their veteran fathers in the
mysteries of the internet, as the latter attempt to find whatever has been
written about their service in those distant times. |
| MAPLE LEAF UP can help in all cases.
Please follow the guidelines below to begin your search, and Good Luck! |
| |
| RESEARCH
ON THE INTERNET |
| As many of you know, the internet of today
has developed into a hodge-podge of hundreds of millions of pages, most
of it garbage and little of it properly searchable. For a subject as specialized
as this one, you're going to have to 'work smart' to get results - a few
keywords typed randomly into a form on your screen will rarely lead you
where you want to go. |
|
| FIRST
STEPS |
| Your first step is to list, on paper,
what you know about your subject. Do you have discharge papers, paybooks,
citations, medals, old letters? Put them all together and go through them.
Look for dates of service, regiments, postings, qualifications and any
other qualitative data you can find. Note down any details you can remember
from conversations past, and ask other members of the family what they
remember. |
| If your subject had friends of the same
age, approach them with an explanation of what you're trying to do, and
ask them if your subject ever confided any information about his service.
Likewise, if your subject belonged to the local Legion branch or any Regimental
Association, approach them for possible leads, especially other veterans
your subject may have been friendly with. Please be tactful and open --
the truth of the matter is that many men who never uttered a word to their
families or other 'civilians' may well have shared confidences with other
servicemen with the mutual understanding that they were the only ones capable
of appreciating their experiences. To this day, there are some who will
not speak about the war to any others save 'those who were there'. |
| If you have little basic information to
go by other than a name and perhaps a service number, regiment or location
of service (England, Italy, France etc), then you next have to make a stop
at the National Archives (do it anyway if you're serious about researching
your subject). |
| This next bit doesn't really fit in anywhere,
but it needs to be said nonetheless. If your Loved One died in the service
of his country, your family has our respect and commiseration. May He Never
Be Forgotten. You may look up his record at the Commonwealth
War Graves Commission through this link. And thank you. |
|
| EXCELLENT
RESOURCE |
| The National
Archives of Canada is a government-run repository for any and all documents
related to any aspect of Canadian history of all eras. Included in their
depository are the basic service records of all ex-servicemen. These records
are available to the public on a limited basis, according to the statutes
of the federal Privacy Act, and requests for information can only
be made in writing (not online). Full explanations and instructions may
be found on the Archives' Military
and Civilian Personnel Records web page. Read them carefully and have
patience! |
| These records will at the very least give
you a basic sketch of your subject's military career, from date of enlistment
to date of demobilisation. You'll find out in which units he served, where
he served and the range of qualifications he earned during that service.
This is basic documentation, but not a definitive history -- for that we
have to look elsewhere. |
| At this point, having identified the basics
of your subject's service, you have two choices as to how to proceed. First,
you can take what you know and go on with your research yourself, or second,
you can hire an experienced archivist to help you. |
|
| UNIT
HISTORIES |
| The National
Archives of Canada also contains a wealth of information on unit histories,
usually in the form of unit War Diaries and all original documentation
processed by the unit and its parent organization. All of this is available
to you, but retrieving, and interpreting, what you need can be a frustrating
and time-consuming experience if you don't know your way around. There
are numerous private archivists who for a fee, can unearth and synthesize
the information you require. The National Archives website offers you access
to a list of accredited private researchers who you can contact yourself.
A good hint before you follow this course -- have as much information as
possible before you engage the services of one of these individuals...
being able to specify what you want can save you a lot of time and money! |
|
| GOING
TO THE WEB |
| If you're going to go it alone, you can
get a good start right here on the internet. Again, have patience... it's
a large, complex medium! |
| You must understand right away that the
fighting regiments get most of the 'airtime' and attention on the web (most
of the online resources are privately produced and hosted by amateur historians
and enthusiasts). If your subject served in any capacity with one of the
almost 100 armoured, infantry or artillery regiments which fought at some
point either in one of the five fighting divisions, at corps level or independently,
basic historical information is usually available on the internet, either
through specialized sites such as MLU or through the regimental sites of
current-serving units. |
| To assist you in tracing these paths,
we at MAPLE LEAF UP are in the process of completing a detailed
unit chart which will show the relationships between the larger organizations
(Corps, Division, Brigade) and individual Regiments. This will at least
allow you to place "your" Regiment or unit in context. Look for it soon! |
| If on the other hand, your subject belonged to one of the many support
units upon which the fighting units depended, researching its history can
be a little more complex. There were many hundreds of such units, sometimes
as small as company size, and many of these were disbanded forever, quietly
and without fanfare, almost as soon as the war in Europe was over. Sometimes
few details survive, as many of these units have no direct descendant in
the modern army. Most of these smaller units are also not shown on the
basic organizational charts which may be found online. While we are endeavouring
over time to chart these sub-units, as above, going to a private archivist
may be your only hope if all else fails. |
|
| UNIT
DESIGNATIONS |
| Before you start wading through the internet
morass, at least ensure you have your terminology correct! It will save
you a lot of time and frustration. Try to place your subject in one of
the following basic arms of service (this is a VERY abbreviated list!): |
|
|
ARM
OF SERVICE
|
NOTES
|
|
Infantry
|
footsoldier; rifleman; the most numerically numerous
of the services |
|
Armoured Corps
|
tank; armoured car; reconnaissance ('recce') regiment |
|
Artillery
|
'Field', 'Medium' and 'Heavy' regiments; antiaircraft
and antitank guns |
|
Engineers
|
RCEME; built, repaired or maintained anything mechanical |
|
Service Corps
|
RCASC; kept all other services supplied |
|
Other
|
(try to identify the job he did) |
|
|
| Next, have his unit identification as
correct as possible. The basic unit is the Regiment, and if possible,
that's what you should know. Sub-units for the various Arms of Service
are different, and can be virtually impossible to trace unless you stumble
on to a definitive Regimental History. The following chart gives some examples
of how they break down, in order from top to bottom (as above, this is
a very abbreviated list): |
|
| 1ST
CANADIAN ARMY |
| CORPS
(eg, 1st Canadian Corps, 2nd Canadian Corps) |
|
DIVISION
(eg, 1st Canadian Infantry Division, 4th Canadian Armoured Division, etc) |
|
|
BRIGADE
(eg, 9th Infantry Brigade, 2nd Armoured Brigade, etc) |
INFANTRY
REGIMENT
(eg,
The Essex Scottish Regiment)
|
ARMOURED
REGIMENT
(eg,
The South Alberta Regiment)
|
ARTILLERY
REGIMENT
(eg,
4th Field Regiment)
|
|
SUB-UNIT
|
EXAMPLE
|
SUB-UNIT
|
EXAMPLE
|
SUB-UNIT
|
EXAMPLE
|
|
Company
|
'A Company'
|
Squadron
|
'C Squadron'
|
Battery
|
'2nd Battery'
|
|
Platoon
|
'No. 9 Platoon'
|
Troop
|
'1 Troop'
|
Troop
|
'3 Troop'
|
|
Section
|
(approx 10 men)
|
(individual vehicle)
|
(includes crew)
|
(individual gun)
|
(includes crew)
|
|
|
| If you know where in the pecking order
your unit falls and how it is properly designated, you will have an easier
time unearthing information about that unit and its campaigns! You are
far more likely to get hits on your search if you specify 2nd Medium
Regiment rather than 25th Medium Battery, for example. |
|
| UTILIZING
THE POWER OF THE WEB |
|
| In terms of recorded military history, there are four distinct classes
of websites you can investigate in your search. The first, and largest
group are private sites produced and hosted by enthusiasts who by the virtue
of their own interest in a given subject have chosen to share the information
they have collected. Some of these sites are admittedly better than others,
with more or less relevant information depending on the primary interest
area of the individual and his attention to detail. Sometimes even the
'bad' sites can be useful, though, for almost everyone displays links to
other sites, which may in turn be just what you were looking for. |
| The second class of website you will find
are the 'official' Regimental sites of current Canadian Army units (mostly
militia). Almost all these units have a history dating back to well before
WW2, and while their primary interest is in promoting the current iteration
of the Regiment, many include a detailed synopsis of their WW2 history.
Others have also put their Regimental Associations online. Regardless,
if you find the website for your Regiment, you can contact them directly
even if there's little or no historical information on the site; they will
generally be happy to put you in touch with the curator of their museum
or someone else who can answer your questions. |
| Yet another class of site is that of government
and museums. Canada's Department
of National Defence has an enormous amount of information online, although
it takes a great deal of time and patience to wade through. Likewise, the
website for Veterans
Affairs is chock full of facsinating tidbits. |
| The museum sites can vary in usefulness,
but more importantly, can offer you information on how to research their
records for your information. You can see links to a lot of these sites
on our own Links page. |
| The fourth avenue you can follow is that
of public internet forums and discussion boards [usually] provided by some
of the same people who produce and host the private sites as discussed
above. Our own MLU
Forum is a good example; it is frequented by dozens of amateur historians
and enthusiasts from right around the world, and generally speaking, if
they don't know the answer to your question, they know whom to ask or where
to direct you. Most of these individuals are only too happy to help if
they can, for their prime interest (which brings them there in the first
place!), is in perpetuating our history. If you don't get an answer to
your question within a couple of days, feel free to ask it again. |
|
| THE
MLU INFOSEARCH REGISTER |
| As an adjunct to MAPLE LEAF UP
and this essay, we are also pleased to offer you a free online service
we call the INFOSEARCH REGISTER.
This tool allows you to input your questions into a web form, which when
submitted, will be posted online for others to look at, and perhaps reply
to. Feel free to use this Register to ask any relevant questions regarding
the Canadian Army Overseas in WW2, or even to ask after the whereabouts
of individuals (for instance, if you're a WW2 or Korean veteran looking
for an old army buddy, we might be able to help! More and more of you are
online these days). |
| |
| SUMMARY |
| With our WW2 veterans aging and passing
on as rapidly as they are, it's becoming crucial to preserve our military
heritage and the memories of these amazing men before they're just ...
memories. If you have chosen to try and record a serviceman's history for
posterity, we support you 100 percent! These men endured what you and I
can only imagine, at a time when the fate of the civilised world itself
was in jeopardy. |
| In so many cases now, we cannot thank
them, but we can preserve the record of what they accomplished. It is a
duty of love and of honour. |
| Good luck, and keep us posted! |
|
| The team at MAPLE
LEAF UP |
| |
| P.S. : Regards the preservation of
information, if you have anecdotes, photos etc that you feel might assist
us in telling the story of the Canadian Soldier in WW2, and which you might
like to share, we would be happy to consider putting them online at MLU,
in your name. Please contact
us to discuss. |
| |
|
LINK
|
DESCRIPTION
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Canadian military archival
records |
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How to research service
personnel |
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All aspects of Canada's
military past & present |
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Simply a great site! |
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Talk to our historians &
enthusiasts |
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Post your questions about
history or people |
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Jump to other similar sites
and services |
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For those who didn't make
it back. Lest We Forget. |
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Copyright © Maple
Leaf Up, 2001, All Rights Reserved. None of the foregoing may be reproduced
without written permission.
|
