Help in finding out if these 2 are the same person

[Meggiejayne]

Hello

I'm trying to research my husband's grandad.

We know that he was a Canadian serviceman during WW2 and was from Toronto.

From extensive research and help from people on the WW2 Forum I think I may have found him. From reading war diaries I believe he was in The Queens Own Rifles. Dates and locations tally .

I've also used FindMyPast to do further investigating and have found a grave.

What I'm trying to ascertain now is whether these 2 people are the same person. I don't have Worldwide Ancestry access so cannot search through there.

We know that the serviceman's name was Jack Cooper and I have found the following but not sure if they are the same person.

The soldier who is my MIL's father I believe to be this person

B138893 RFN Cooper HJ

This information comes from embarkation records for the QOR for around D Day. He is the only Cooper listed in these records and I know that the QOR were billeted 10 miles from where my husband's nan was living at the time.

I have then found the following through searching on FindMyPast

HJ Cooper (Jack)
Birth Aug 13 1916
Death July 31 2003

Buried in Calgary Cemetery, Calgary, Alberta

I know its a long shot that are the same person but any information that could be found to prove or disprove this would be really helpful

Thank you

[*Sandra*]

Obituary Herbert John Cooper (Herb Jack) - 1916 - 2004

Calgary Herald
Calgary, Alberta, Canada 
Mon, Aug 4, 2003 Page 41

https://www.newspapers.com/article/calgary-herald/129642491/

Sandra

[Meggiejayne]

Obituary Herbert John Cooper (Herb Jack) - 1916 - 2004

Calgary Herald
Calgary, Alberta, Canada 
Mon, Aug 4, 2003 Page 41

https://www.newspapers.com/article/calgary-herald/129642491/

Sandra

Thank you. Well at least I can now rule that one out and they are not the same person.

Back to the drawing board.

[*Sandra*]

Sadly, back to the drawing board

Sandra

[Meggiejayne]

Sadly, back to the drawing board

Sandra

The drawing borad proved fruitful. I found a Herbert James Cooper born 1909 and his obituary reported in the Toronto Chronicle, stating he served as a rifleman in the Queens Own Rifles and was involved in D Day.

So this is my Cooper HJ, now whether its my Jack I don't know. Need to try and see if I can find out who his parents were and see if that gives me any clues.

[polarbear]

A possibity?

Do you know where he was born? There is a Herbert James Cooper registered in Strood Kent in Jan qtr 1909. He appears to have arrived in Canada in 1922. It looks like he may have been a Home Child….his passage was paid by the Strood Board of Governors and he was going to a receiving home in Toronto.

PB

[*Sandra*]

also this thread

https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=875386.msg7471422

[Meggiejayne]

A possibity?

Do you know where he was born? There is a Herbert James Cooper registered in Strood Kent in Jan qtr 1909. He appears to have arrived in Canada in 1922. It looks like he may have been a Home Child….his passage was paid by the Strood Board of Governors and he was going to a receiving home in Toronto.

PB

All I know is that he was from Toronto, whether he was born there I do not know.

[eileenwilson]

From the Montreal Gazette, 19 July 1944:

Wounded List
Royal Canadian Artillery, Central Ontario Regiment

Cooper, Herbert James, Rfn, B-138893, Mrs. Martha A. Bushell, mother, Rochester, Kent, England

This service number matches up with what you posted elsewhere and does not jive with letters received from his mother thanking your family for looking after him while he was in England so unlikely he was born in the UK.