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General => Armed Forces => World War One => Topic started by: AndrewJE on Thursday 25 January 18 17:01 GMT (UK)

Title: CEF records
Post by: AndrewJE on Thursday 25 January 18 17:01 GMT (UK)
My grandfathers brother Albert Swann joined the 54th Canadian Infantry Battalion in May 1915.  No. 443044
He survived the War. I am going to the battlegrounds shortly and would like to visit the places he fought.
The problem is I  can only find his Attestation form not his service record. Reading about the 54th battalion, although they fought at many major battles from August 1916 onwards it seems many men were transferred to other Canadian battalions especially the early recruits of 1915, so he may not have fought with the 54th at all.
I have tried looking at www.canadiangreatwarproject.com where you can look at all the other soldiers with reg numbers either side of Albert and all those  who died, died with other units and those who survived still have 54th Battalion as their unit, only I think because the records have never been updated.
Any ideas?
Title: Re: CEF records
Post by: polarbear on Thursday 25 January 18 17:37 GMT (UK)
Hi there....

Library and Archives Canada are currently in the process of digitizing complete CEF service files and they will be free to view on the LAC website. They are currently up to St. A wonderful resource!

https://thediscoverblog.com/category/digitization-2/

PB
Title: Re: CEF records
Post by: kentishkiwi on Thursday 25 January 18 18:09 GMT (UK)
Hi Polarbear

I am also waiting for the personnel records to be uploaded. My relative joined the 54th Battalion   November 1915. Usually the website uploads the latest records on the 15th of each month and am pretty sure mine will be there in February as the surname is Stevenson.No 443181 Have a look at a random record as there is loads of information.
I believe there are war diaries online . Have you looked at those.
Regards
KK
Title: Re: CEF records
Post by: kentishkiwi on Thursday 25 January 18 18:10 GMT (UK)
Sorry Polarbear message was meant for AndrewJE
Regards
KK
Title: Re: CEF records
Post by: silaswall on Thursday 25 January 18 19:53 GMT (UK)
Thank you Polar Bear. I have just found one record containing 46 pages.
Title: Re: CEF records
Post by: AndrewJE on Thursday 25 January 18 21:41 GMT (UK)
Thank you Polar Bear hopefully ST to SW will not take long!

Kentishkiwi I will wait until I know what unit he served with, it looks like most of the 54th recruits of this time were transferred to other units
Title: Re: CEF records
Post by: kentishkiwi on Friday 26 January 18 11:27 GMT (UK)
After the messages yesterday I was looking at the Canadian great war project website you mentioned but ended up on this search website https://cgwp.uvic.ca/search.php where my guy's record was there to download. Is this where you have been looking?
It wasn't available on the LAC website but was here so I had 38 pages to look at. Great stuff. As my guy was underage I was keen to see where he ended up.
I did look for your man out of interest but no file to download. I believe his number is 443094 not 443044.
Regards
KK
Title: Re: CEF records
Post by: kentishkiwi on Thursday 15 February 18 10:25 GMT (UK)
Hi
I see Alberts record has been digitised. You should find everything you need and more
 I found my guys record very enlightening. What a fantastic resource .
Happy hunting
KK