Creating a WWI Military Records Pathfinder

Our assignment this week in Dr. Don Spanner's Understanding Archives course was to create a one page (double-sided) pathfinder that would be useful to genealogy enthusiasts searching for records of Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) soldiers who served during WWI (1914-1918). The assignment further stipulated that we must highlight only 3 relevant resources and that we must address finding the soldier's full military service record as well as his burial information (if relevant).

The assignment was an interesting one -- not only did it require me to familiarize myself with a number of wonderful archival and genealogical resources on the web, but it also forced me to work on the rather difficult and little utilized skill of technical writing. I had to focus my usually long-winded writing style in order to be clear, concise, orderly and informative. I must admit, writing for a technical purpose is much harder than it sounds. I definitely have a whole new appreciation for those that write How-To manuals after this assignment!

Although it's text heavy, I've decided to post the finished result of my assignment here in the hopes that it might be useful to someone out there in their search for information about their ancestors.

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WWI Military Records Pathfinder

This genealogy pathfinder has been created to help make the search for the WWI military records of your loved ones easier. It will help you to understand where to look and what information is available in the archives and on the web concerning the military records of those who served as part of the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) from 1914-1918.

A great place to begin any genealogical search is through the Canadian Genealogy Centre available via Library and Archives Canada (LAC) (their homepage can be found here).

For WWI military records you will want to consult the First World War topic within the Military section of this website. Here you will find the personnel records of more than 600,000 Canadians who enlisted and served as nurses, chaplains and soldiers during the Great War (1914-1918) as either part of the Canadian Expeditionary Forces or the Royal Newfoundland Regiment and Newfoundland Forestry Corps.

Under the section marked “Canadian Expeditionary Forces” click on the Soldiers of the First World War database and search by surname, given name(s) or regimental numbers. This database is indexed to the personnel records of CEF soldiers and contains copies of nearly 800,000 Attestation papers that have been digitized and made available for viewing online. Once you have located the desired soldier, you can access their full service record either on-site at LAC in Ottawa or by ordering a copy of the complete service file to be shipped to you (further details about both of these options can be found here).

According to the LAC website, a soldier’s full service record should include the following documents: his attestation paper, record of service, casualty form, discharge certificate, war service gratuity, hospital cards, medical history sheet, medical case sheet, temperature chart, last pay certificate, dental history sheet and medical examination certificate upon leaving the service. For help with interpreting these documents and others, please see the How To Read a Record of Service or Casualty Form, How to Read a Memorial Cross Card and How to Read a Medal Card guides available under the Canadian Expeditionary Force section of the website.

Once you have more information about your desired WWI soldier, you may want to revisit the Military section of the Canadian Genealogy Centre’s website and consult the sections on Military Medals, War Diaries and War Graves to check for applicable resources and/or details.

LAC Pathway Recap: Library and Archives Canada --> Canadian Genealogy Centre --> Military --> First World War --> (Canadian Expeditionary Force) Soldiers of the First World War --> Search

A second resource that you may wish to consult when looking for military records is Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC) (their homepage came be found here). Under the VAC sidebar you will find a link for Canada Remembers which is a program that aims to “keep alive the achievements and sacrifices made by those who served Canada in times of war and peace.” This program provides a wealth of background information about various wars and battles Canada has been involved in, links to archival documents and film footage, and a number of VAC remembrance initiatives. Those links most applicable to the majority of genealogical searches are the Canadian Virtual War Memorial and the Books of Remembrance.

The Canada Virtual War Memorial contains information about the graves and memorials of 116,000 Canadians and Newfoundlanders who lost their lives serving their country. This database is searchable by surname, given name(s), initials and/or year of death. A soldier’s record in the CVWM will provide information concerning their military service (service number, age, force, unit and division) and additional information including date of birth, family connections, hometown, a link to view the page on which they have been memorialized in the First World War Book of Remembrance (1914-1922), and any available digital images (including copies of obituaries, photographs, etc.). The CVWM also provides burial information where it is known (often courtesy of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission).

VAC Pathway Recap 1: Veterans Affairs Canada --> Canada Remembers --> The Canadian Virtual War Memorial --> Books of Remembrance --> First World War

VAC Pathway Recap 2: Veterans Affairs Canada --> Canada Remembers --> The Canadian Virtual War Memorial --> Commonwealth War Graves Commission

Finally, you may wish to consult the Canadian Military Heritage Project (homepage found here) which contains a large section on Canada in World War I, including a How to Find Your WWI Soldier pathfinder and a link to the CEF Nominal Rolls (which are available for viewing online or download via Archive.org). CEF Nominal Rolls are lists of soldiers that are part of a unit on a particular date (thus they are broken down by battalion and year). The first page of any nominal roll contains a list of officers, arranged in order of rank. Enlisted soldiers are listed on succeeding pages (arranged alphabetically). Nominal rolls show a soldier’s full name, rank, and regimental number. Most of the nominal rolls found on Archive.org can be viewed in a searchable PDF format.

The Canadian Military Heritage Project also contains links to the Courts-Martial of the First World War database (via LAC) and a large list of WWI databases available in partner with The Canadian Great War Homepage.

CMHP Pathway Recap 1: Canadian Military Heritage Project --> CEF Nominal Rolls --> Archive.org

CMHP Pathway Recap 2: Canadian Military Heritage Project --> (Find Military Ancestors) Courts-Martial of the First World War

CMH Project Pathway Recap 3: Canadian Military Heritage Project --> (Quick Links) The Canadian Great War Homepage

And Doesn't That Just Say It All...?

In the summer of 2007, I was fortunate enough to be able to spend a few weeks touring some of Central Europe’s most famous cities (Budapest, Vienna, Prague and Munich). And, because my travel partner was also a like-minded history major, the two of us were able to indulge in the local history and culture to our hearts content. Although I enjoyed them all for different reasons, it was the city of Munich that made the most lasting impression on me in terms of how its recent history was being conveyed to the public, both its own citizens and those visiting the Bavarian capital.

On our first afternoon in the city, my friend and I opted for a WWII-themed walking tour (I’m not positive, but I think it may have been billed on the brochure as a tour of “Hitler’s Munich” – insert *eye roll* here). Over the course of the next hour and a half, our guide pointed out dozens of things that peaked my interest as someone concerned with how history is communicated to and understood by the public. Perhaps a future blog will touch on more of these examples, but for now, I want to focus solely on the war monument in front of the Bavarian Parliament Building.

At first glance we barely noticed the monument. Its sandy colour and position (lowered into a hole in the ground and further hidden behind a small hedge) do a pretty good job of camouflaging it from visitors without tour guides as savvy as ours. The shape of the monument also helped to conceal its purpose for being - giant blocks of stone piled on top of each without easily understandable visual clues (like gigantic arcs, bronze soldiers, eternal flames, flags, etc) don’t exactly scream ‘honoring our war dead’ to me. Turns out, you have to go even further down a set of stairs to get inside the monument (hmmm… not-so-metaphorically burying your wartime history, Munich?!?).

Once you are inside the monument, there are two inscriptions carved into the walls in German, the first of which is for those that perished during WWI. Loosely translated it says, “Built for the city of Munich, Bavaria’s brave soldiers – 13 000 heroic fallen sons of the city of Munich.” I find this phrasing pretty typical of the WWI war monuments I’ve seen in the past. Use of the words ‘brave’ and ‘heroic’ show that despite Germany’s position on the losing side of the conflict, there was still a sense of pride in the individual soldiers who had acted honourably while giving their lives for their country. Further, the inscription’s use of the phrase “fallen sons” seems to show the sense of ownership the city of Munich felt towards these soldiers and their actions, just as a parent would have towards a child; they were truly a beloved part of the community and therefore deserving of a monument in their honour.

So, although the physical location of the monument doesn’t automatically convey a sense of nationalism or pride in the part that Munich’s soldiers played in the war, I could clearly see the impact that carefully chosen phrasing can give a monument in terms of the messages about the past that are being recorded for future generations to read and interpret.

Underneath the inscription in honor of those who died during the First World War is the dedication to the soldiers and citizens of Munich who were lost during WWII. Although both inscriptions were written under similar circumstances (that is, the German loss of a world war), the second inscription is markedly different than the one for WWI. Roughly translated, it reads:

“Built in memory of the
99 000 fallen
11 000 missing
6 600 victims of the air war
of the city of Munich
1939-1945.”

The differences between the two inscriptions are striking. Compared with the word choice of the WWI inscription, this one is cold, clinical even. Gone are phrases such as “heroic sons” and “brave soldiers.” In their place are emotionless numbers and one word descriptors. Essentially, the inscription boils down years of hardship and loss, tragedy and horror to a pile of emotionless statistics. Reading the inscription more than 60 years after it was first inscribed, the shame that this phrasing captured was still palpable to me.

What caused this change in the tone of the two inscriptions should be no mystery to anyone reading this blog, but it did bring to my mind the larger question of commemoration. Specifically, how do nations commemorate wars and how does the approach of a nation towards commemoration change depending on the outcome of the conflict? More to the point, perhaps, how does the approach to commemoration change when a portion of the soldiers and citizens of the nation in question participated in or benefited from such a horrific genocide?

I think the inscription that was added to the Munich war memorial following WWII is an interesting example. It strikes me as an obvious attempt by the city’s leadership to distance themselves from the ugly role Munich played during the 1930s and 1940s in regards to the Holocaust. Soldiers are now referred to only as “fallen” or “missing”; no longer are they the beloved “sons of Munich.” They are mentioned, not glorified. At the same time, however, it is clear that the city still tried to honour the sacrifices that their citizens and soldiers had made on their behalf (the fact that Germany had participated in and lost a second world war couldn’t exactly go unmentioned on German soil).

That said, I find the statistics dehumanizing. Presumably there were many people in Munich at the time who disagreed with or even acted against their government’s policies during WWII. I’m sure that they went missing or died in air raids with equal measure to those that supported Hitler and his regime. Perhaps they deserve to be remembered more fondly than they have been?!

I guess the question that I am posing is this: how does one, as an historian, find the balance between acknowledging the loss of the nation during wartime without glorifying the reprehensible actions that the country’s leadership put into motion?

Any thoughts?

[Note: For the purpose of this blog, I attempted to translate the inscriptions as closely as possible. Please be aware, however, that I don’t speak German. :) The translations above are a combination of my tour guide’s efforts two years ago in his second or (possibly) third language and an online translation program that I accessed as I was writing this post earlier this morning.]