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A Lucky Presentiment By G.A. Mitchell (D Company, 78th Battlalion, C.E.F.) January 1954 Undoubtedly there are many who do not believe in presentiment, but a large number of soldiers, especially those of the First World War, were firm believers in it and I for one...
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Letter From Vimy By Gordon MacKinnon April 1992 The envelope of my grandfather’s last letter to my uncle, Private Ronald MacKinnon of the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, dated April 5, 1917, is marked “Return to Sender: Deceased: Killed in Action 9.4.17.” He was one...
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Uncle’s Song By Dr. R. Byrnes Fleuty April 1989 ‘We would sooner f— than fight.’ That’s Uncle’s favourite song these days. He says he doesn’t know why the song came back to him; “guess it’s just one of them things.” I arrive at his door...
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FRANCE: THE FIRST TIME By Hugh Laughlin April 1989 School principal Hugh Laughlin of Chilliwack, B.C., pulled no punches in letters home from the front lines during the First World War. He enlisted with the 196th (Western Universities) Battalion, formed at Winnipeg. These excerpts...
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Tait McKenzie One of the Immortals By: Ernest Rivers Macpherson January 1957 Last June a large gathering of Scots and Canadians of Scottish extraction met at the Old Mill of Kintail near Almonte, Ontario. The meeting, held under the aegis off the Clan Chattan Association,...
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Mobilizing for War By Wilfrid Bovey October, 1953 Before July, 1914, was over, militia regiments all through the country were alerted for the coming trial by battle. The source of power was a human atomic engine whom hundreds of us had met, Colonel Sam Hughes...
Brass Hats in Red Tape
Brass Hats in Red Tape By Wilfrid Bovey February 1954 The task of the officers responsible for the administration of the Canadian troops in Britain in the early days of the First World War was complicated by enough red tape to tie us all up in knots. The over-riding factor was that the only...
