Unpublished Memoir Sheds Light on P.O.W Experience
I’ve written several articles on Sgt. Thomas Diplock over the past few years but who better to tell his story than the man himself. I would like to thank Sharon […]
Reunited! Another Diplock P.O.W. Postcard Returns Home
In April 2016 I wrote an article describing how a 1915 Christmas card posted by Sgt. Thomas Diplock from Giessen P.O.W. camp was reunited with his family. That happy outcome […]
Utilizing Trench Maps: Part 2 – Map References & Case Studies
This is the second of two articles on using trench maps in your research. Part 1 provided an overview of digitized trench map resources. This article includes tips on finding and […]
Remembering Two Saanich Soldiers KIA at Passchendaele 100 Years Ago Today
On November 10 1917 two soldiers from Saanich British Columbia, Sgt Frank Willey M.M. and L/Cpl Frank Joseph Webb, were killed in the final assault on Passchendaele ridge. They were both […]
Reunited: 1915 Sgt. Diplock postcard goes home (again)
In December I published an article on a 1915 Christmas card written by Sgt. Thomas Diplock to his future wife Gwen while he was a Prisoner of War in Giessen, Germany. Thomas was […]
In Their Own Words: Oral Histories as a Research Tool
Mining archives and databases for information on an ancestor requires focus, a methodical approach and an eye for detail. However shaping this raw data into a meaningful story, one that you […]
Christmas at the Front – Merry Xmas from Giessen Dec. 1915
As a Prisoner of War in the Giessen P.O.W. camp Sergeant Thomas Bramah Diplock was nearly 300 miles behind enemy lines when he posted this Christmas card 100 years ago. It was […]
Who Goes There? 158th Battalion Regimental Band
This impressive panoramic photograph was donated to the Vernon Museum and Archives by Louise Karlsson, the granddaughter of Private John Grears. “Jack” Grears was born in Whitehaven, Cumberland in 1881 and […]
Christmas at the Front – The Listening Post
If a battered artefact such as this could speak I wonder what stories it would tell? I like to think this early trench newspaper was carried around in the haversack of a […]
Who Goes There? 131st (Westminster) Battalion in 1916
I recently found this wonderful panoramic photograph of the 131st Battalion taken at Vernon Camp in the summer of 1916. At 45-inches long it provides a sweeping view of the tented […]
Doing Our Bit 