Hubby had a shadow box made of his father's medals and photo. He knows little of his father, since he died in 1951 from an industrial accident, working as a lineman in Ottawa.
For JB's birthday last year (Nov. 15, 2015), I sent off materials for hubby's father's war records. (Here's where to find out how to do this.)
It was a long process, taking months. There are quite a few requests and they give priority to more than just the curious.
We were sent a letter, which was all I could give to hubby as a symbolic gift, saying it could take up to six months.
I had to send copies of either his death certificate or a photo of his tombstone, as well as his service number.
Finally a package arrived.
We were sent his discharge papers.
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| This is how much he was given upon discharge: $919.69. |
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| Misspellings happen a lot! I did some research online. |
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| 1920 - 1951 |
We found, from his records, that he served with several companies (Coy): Canadian Forestry Corps in WWII. He was a mechanic.
This is part of the file they sent from his service records. They even sent an acronyms list! I typed it up, since I could read the fine print, and it was a bit convoluted. We can see where he was sent, and that he moved around the UK, then to France.
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| He served in both: 25 COY CFC and No. 22 Company. 1941 - 1945 |
Online, I found maps where the Canadian Forestry Corps served. Boulogne, France.
9 comments:
Thank you Jennifer. I am going to apply for my Dad's records. I know he moved around A LOT while in Europe and sustained injuries he would not talk about.
The shadow box is wonderful, what a great tribute and a great family heirloom for the future
To have all these documents is so important, and what a tribute to J's Dad. I learn something new all the time, and had no idea that Canadians went to Scotland and were in the forestry there. Remembering them all on your Remembrance Day.
Hari OM
I too like the framing of photo and medals - very fine. The link to the CFC page makes very interesting reading! Have bookmarked it to share with father; he was born near Tain and his father (grandad MacLean) was a timber man, based near Invergordon. Every chance there will be memories triggered! I note that a lot of troops (according to that page) landed right across the water from here, at Gourock. You may want to contact the fellow at bottom of the page to have your father-in-law's name added to the 25th Co. service list.
Even as I typed this there was a news report on the Norwegian troops which are also mentioned on that page; they were training for 'special ops' over here and were the prompt for the film "Heroes of Telemark"...
Wonderful research Jenn! YAM xx
You did wonderful research Jenn. And how they responded! Brilliant. Today is a sad day for those of our and the previous generation and I'm far from certain that many of the young ones today do not understand.
Nice touch for Remembrance and a gift.
Lovely. We were just looking at my FIL's medals today, which had been sent away for and look similar to yours. We also found a photo of him when he got home. I really like how you have them framed and think we will do the same.
How neat that you could do this and did do it.
I spent time chatting with a woman at the War Museum who was at a display area about black servicemen in the Canadian forces, who told me stories about the archiving process on their stories, including one man who was a regimental sergeant major and whose family lived in the same town where I grew up.
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