This summer marks the 100th anniversary of the start of the First World War and as part of this significant milestone in the history of Canada and the world, the 2014-2018 First World War Centenary is being used to commemorate the war that saw nearly 65,000 Canadians killed on European soil.
Just under 620,000 Canadian men and women served in uniform during the war years, with 424,000 of them serving overseas, according to the Canadian War Museum.
It is believed that 8.5 million people were killed during the war.
The federal government is planning to recognize the Centenary – and the 75th anniversary of the start of the Second World War – with events, activities and ceremonies marking significant milestones during both wars.
In January, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages Shelly Glover announced commemorations would begin this year.
As part of these commemorations, Glover stated the government plans to partner with organizations, including community-based groups, foundations and other initiatives. One such initiative is The Never Forgotten National Memorial Foundation, which is planning a new national memorial to honour Canada’s war dead.
The foundation is planning to build this monument along the Cabot Trail in Cape Breton Highlands National Park.
Library and Archives Canada (the national library and archive) is planning to digitize 640,000 records from the First World War, while a new education centre will be built at the Vimy Memorial in France.
Commemoration ceremonies will also be held in 2015 to mark the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Gallipoli, in 2016 to mark the centennial of the Battles of the Somme and Beaumont-Hamel and the centennial of the Battle of Vimy Ridge in 2017.
In total, 90 Bow Valley soldiers, many of whom were serving with the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry (PPCLI), the 31st Battalion (Alberta) and the 50th Battalion (Calgary), were killed in the First World War. That number includes 52 from Banff, eight from Bankhead, 14 from Canmore and 16 from Exshaw.
Capt. Robert Mansfield of the Calgary-based PPCLI was the first Banff man to be killed during the war. He died during the night of Jan. 26, 1915 at St. Eloi, Belgium. St. Eloi is the location of some of Canada’s most difficult fighting of the war. The 2nd Canadian Division faced its first battle at St. Eloi with 1,373 casualties between April 3-16.
Mansfield, who also went by Frederick Fitzgerald, was from an upper crust Irish family, but he lived and worked in Banff as a labourer for two summers. His alias, F. Fitzgerald, which he enlisted under, is on the cenotaph at the Col. Moore Royal Canadian Legion in Banff.
Thomas and Elizabeth Lomax family had two sons, Jack and George, die of wounds received during the Battle of Vimy Ridge. A third son was gassed and later died in August 1917.
Mansfield’s story and the story of the Lomax family are just two of the many stories to emerge from the Bow Valley during the First and Second World Wars. Each year I undertake the goal to tell some of these stories of the wars – from the Bow Valley and beyond – in its many different facets at Remembrance Day. This year, as it is the start of the centenary commemorations, I’m hoping to tell the stories of Bow Valley veterans of the First World War, those who lived and those who died – and of veterans not from this area, but connected to current residents – and to that end I’m seeking help.
Do you have stories of our veterans, journals, letters, photographs, artifacts or other memorabilia you’d be willing to share to help me tell the story of our First World War veterans this Remembrance Day?
If so, please contact me at [email protected] or 403-609-0220.
And it is through our stories, as Michael Morpurgo, author of War Horse, pointed out in a story in The Guardian at the beginning of the Centenary, that we honour the memory of our veterans.
“We should honour those who died, most certainly, and gratefully too,” Morpurgo wrote, “but we should never glorify … To tell the story is the only way we have left to remember, and the only way to pass it on … It is through their words and our stories that we must and will remember this and remember them. Then we really will be honouring their memory.”
To learn more about the Centenary go to www.1914.org or www.centenarynews.com
