Lest we forget
Remembrance Day – November 11
— by Mike Manson, 20 November 2019
— updated: 1 Dec 2022, 20 Nov 2022, 9 Nov 2022
This Monday, November 11, 2019, will mark the 101st anniversary of the end of hostilities in the First World War.
Last year, as part of the 100th anniversary, the Canadian government digitized the records of the personnel who served in the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) and have made these records available to the public through the Library and Archives Canada (LAC). The records are very detailed, averaging 60–70 pages per soldier, and include information such as Regimental Number, unit, rank, particulars of the soldier’s height, weight, eye and hair colour, dental records, next of kin, pay rate, wills, hospital treatments, injuries, and discharge papers.
In conjunction with interviews of Cortes Island old-timers, researching the LAC records, and reading through Jeanette Taylor’s book Tidal Passages and June Cameron’s book Destination Cortez, a number of men with roots to Cortes were identified. Some of the names are familiar, such as Bartholomew, Huck, Jeffery, and Manson. In total, 28 men served, some were raised on Cortes from an early age while others moved here after the war to start a new life.
Of the 28 men who enlisted and called Cortes Island home either before or after World War One (WW1), 20 would serve overseas, with 18 seeing action on the front lines in France, 12 of these men were wounded, and two would not make it home. The following is a list of 27 of those men. Two names have been omitted from the list at the request of those men’s families.
ALLEN, James, Phillips, *driver, Whaletown
ALLEN, Charles Isaac, Whaletown (no records available)
ALLEN, Bernard, Robinson, teacher, Whaletown
BARRETT, William, James, chauffeur, Squirrel Cove
BARTHOLOMEW, Albert, logger/rancher, Cortez Island
BEESLEY, Edmund, Mansons Landing
BYERS, Charlie, Seaford
BYERS, Andrew, logger at Seaford
CAFFERATA, Clement Chamberlain, rancher, Whaletown
CAMPBELL, Fraser, Alick, machinist, Cortez Bay
CONLIN, Patrick, farmer, Cortez Island
DANIELS, Harry, rancher, Cortez Island
FINNIE, Henry, clerk, Cortez Island
FROUD, Robert, Whitefield, clerk, Mansons Landing
GREEN, Alan Dallas, clergyman, serving Cortes Island through the Columbia Coast Mission
GRUNLAND, Harvey, fisherman, Squirrel Cove
HAWKINS, Thomas Henry, farmer, Seaford
HAWKINS, William Frank, Cortes Isle (as per spelling on military record), Killed in Action
HUCK, William, Edward, farmer, Whaletown
JEFFERY, Frederick George, Smelt Bay, Cortez Island, WW2
JEFFERY, Henry, Charles, chef, Cortez Island
MANSON, John Bruce, logger, Cortez Island
MANSON, Michael, Wilfred, customs clerk, Hernando Island
MORRISETTE, Elmore, Murray, hotel clerk, Cortez Island
MORRISON, Herbert, logger, Cortez Island
MUNN, Montague, woodsman, Whaletown
MUNRO, George Edward, engineer assistant, Whaletown
POLICE, Peter, labourer, Whaletown
POOL, John, clerk, Whaletown
SMITH, Richard Arthur, fisherman, Squirrel Cove
TAIT, John Franklin, clerk, Whaletown
TESSIER, Henry Allen, logger, Squirrel Cove
VALLEY, Joseph, blacksmith, Whaletown
WELLS, Harold John, blacksmith, Cortez Island
*The occupations listed above are those shown on the enlistment papers.
One Response
Hello Mike
Loved your article on Remembrance day , thank you for all the work you put into it. Bye the way my name is Lorraine Wydenes (Byers) daughter of Clarence & Etta Byers. Reading your list of veterans I notice you had a Charlie Byers listed but to the best of my knowledge he did not serve it was my great Uncle Andrew Byers who went to war in the first world war. He enlisted in Winnipeg and moved to Seaford on Cortez Island after the war.