Book tells stories of local fallen soldiers
Legion member David Bruce Johnson has a goal to see fallen soldiers with roots in Creemore and area receive their due.
It is what motivated him to get involved with refurbishing the Creemore Cenotaph and subsequently put in motion a catalogue of information about the First World War soldiers listed on it.
He teamed up with like-minded people who did not want to see soldiers forgotten.
“We have taken on this project because we feel Remembrance Day is not just one day, it is 365 days per year forever,” said Johnson at a formal presentation of the Book of Remembrance to Legion officials on Feb. 9.
“I may have generated the idea but I didn’t do the work,” said Johnson.
June Reed, who has an interest in genealogy, did the majority of the research on the 22 fallen soldiers, many with family names still recognizable in the area.
Reed used several sources to compile service records and biographical information. The file includes photos of the grave from the Commonwealth War Grave Commission, and sometimes a photo of the soldier.
Reed also includes contributions from Paul Woolner and local historian Helen Blackburn, including her columns for The Creemore Echo.
The introduction quotes Blackburn, “Remembering our war dead should not be confined to one day a year so take a moment to think of them from time to time. Not only should we pause to remember the men killed in the two great wars but also to think what they endured: soupy mud to the knees, rotting corpses, seeing friends killed on either side in the charges across No Man’s land, the agonies before death from the gas attacks, the unbearable grief of the families who received the cablegrams announcing death. As one soldier remarked, ‘It’s worse than the worst hell you can ever imagine’.”
Some of Blackburn’s research of that era will be included in a book she is currently working on about the village from 1902-1930, called Creemore Bids You Welcome.
The Book of Remembrance will be available for viewing at the Legion. It contains information about George Butler, Lorne Cherry, Ernest Cleary, John Burt Corbett, Percy Gill, David Johnson, John Kennedy, Kenneth Loudon, Alexander MacKay, William James Martin, Johnson James Matchett, William T. Maxwell, William McCutcheon, John James McKay, John S. More, George Prentice, Harold Stegall, John William Tribble, Charles Wilson and Elwood LukeWines.
Johnson said he hopes to see a second volume of Second World War veterans come together.
Trina Berlo photo: Creemore Legion president Jim Richards (from left) accepts the Book of Remembrance from David Bruce Johnson, June Reed and Helen Blackburn.
