The Kenora Great War Project ............. Susan Hillman Brazeau
It started out in the late days of 2012 with three local organizations and, in particular, three women - Judy, Becky and Gloria - who were interested in both research and Great War history.
Over a cup of coffee, they discussed ideas about how best to commemorate those fateful years between August 4, 1914 and November 11, 1918.
One suggestion was to research the names of those local servicemen and women who died serving Canada. This thought gradually led to the inclusion of all who had some connection to the Kenora area and who had served in World War 1. Thus began a project, the enormity of which none of them could have imagined.
Kenora sits on the western edge of the vast province of Ontario in Canada. Only a 40- minute drive from the Manitoba border. Its nearest neighbours are the villages of Keewatin, just across the bridge; Redditt, located on the Canadian National Railway line about 40 miles to the north; and the summer village of Minaki only a few miles west of Redditt.
The overall population of this area when war broke out was no more than 10,000. Yet, these communities, in this remote area of north-western Ontario, saw an enlistment of almost 1800 individuals, mostly young men. Despite this sizeable number and resulting sizeable undertaking, the group, which now called themselves, The Kenora Great War Project, decided to learn all their names, research each person, and write individual tributes. These tributes would then be placed on the group’s own site and that of a larger, national website called The Canadian Great War Project.
It was not an easy task, but it was one full of enthusiasm and required dedication and commitment. It was demanding, time consuming, frustrating and challenging. It required careful research to ensure factual detail.
Others who had an interest in researching and writing tributes were invited to participate, but, as time passed, the original three have completed the bulk of the work.
The project required scrutiny of the Personnel Data Base, War Diaries and other relevant databases on the Library and Archives Canada. Contacts were made with Royal Canadian Legion branches; local cemeteries; families, when they could be located; the Lake of the Woods Museum; and, local historians or people who might be able to share stories or information.
Each cross and headstone in the military section of the Lake of the Woods Cemetery was photographed and cemetery records gone through. The names on memorial plaques and the cenotaphs were recorded and also photographed. Local newspaper archives were read page by page to find every war related article from this period. Almost immediately, the research extended beyond the Kenora area, right across Canada and to other countries.
It is now the end of year five, since the project first began to take shape. Over 1400 individuals have their tributes placed on the two websites. The goal is to have most of the tributes, onsite by November 11, 2018, even if only partially completed.
For my part, I will have contributed about 60 tributes, upon completion of the project. Each person’s story is of value and deserved to be written and remembered. Yet, there were those who were a bit more interesting or exciting than others, such as my great uncles and friends of my family.
A particular challenge was the American who enlisted with the Canadian Expeditionary Forces and changed his name three times.
An emotional search was for the veteran who died alone, in a cabin in the woods many years after the war and who was buried under a military cross with the wrong name. I eventually uncovered his history, his name and found his family, who had always wondered what happened to him.
Then, there was the young soldier, who later became a prominent figure in Kenora, and whose very first medical entry in his file, before he even left for England, was his treatment for gonorrhea.
Telling details of the individual, yet collective experiences of the war are found in almost every personnel record: death; hospitalization; shell shock; lifelong respiratory conditions from mustard gas. Shrapnel and gun shot wounds; being covered with mud for days in collapsed trenches; the loss of limbs; or, the loss of the use of one or more limbs, are all found, somewhere, amongst the tributes to the men and women whose names are being etched in the Kenora Great War Project.
I came to the project in August of 2014 and began to learn so much more about the Great War and Canada’s role than I thought I would. Overall, my participation has been one of the most satisfying and meaningful experiences in 30 years of research.
In honour of those who served…
Susan Hillman Brazeau BA, MA-IS
August 27, 2017
kenoragreatwarproject.ca
canadiangreatwarproject.com
Photos courtesy of the Kenora Miner & News; and, the author’s own collection.
It started out in the late days of 2012 with three local organizations and, in particular, three women - Judy, Becky and Gloria - who were interested in both research and Great War history.
 |
| Lake of the Woods Milling Company |
One suggestion was to research the names of those local servicemen and women who died serving Canada. This thought gradually led to the inclusion of all who had some connection to the Kenora area and who had served in World War 1. Thus began a project, the enormity of which none of them could have imagined.
Kenora sits on the western edge of the vast province of Ontario in Canada. Only a 40- minute drive from the Manitoba border. Its nearest neighbours are the villages of Keewatin, just across the bridge; Redditt, located on the Canadian National Railway line about 40 miles to the north; and the summer village of Minaki only a few miles west of Redditt.
The overall population of this area when war broke out was no more than 10,000. Yet, these communities, in this remote area of north-western Ontario, saw an enlistment of almost 1800 individuals, mostly young men. Despite this sizeable number and resulting sizeable undertaking, the group, which now called themselves, The Kenora Great War Project, decided to learn all their names, research each person, and write individual tributes. These tributes would then be placed on the group’s own site and that of a larger, national website called The Canadian Great War Project.
It was not an easy task, but it was one full of enthusiasm and required dedication and commitment. It was demanding, time consuming, frustrating and challenging. It required careful research to ensure factual detail.
Others who had an interest in researching and writing tributes were invited to participate, but, as time passed, the original three have completed the bulk of the work.
 |
| The Keewatin Honour Roll |
Each cross and headstone in the military section of the Lake of the Woods Cemetery was photographed and cemetery records gone through. The names on memorial plaques and the cenotaphs were recorded and also photographed. Local newspaper archives were read page by page to find every war related article from this period. Almost immediately, the research extended beyond the Kenora area, right across Canada and to other countries.
It is now the end of year five, since the project first began to take shape. Over 1400 individuals have their tributes placed on the two websites. The goal is to have most of the tributes, onsite by November 11, 2018, even if only partially completed.
For my part, I will have contributed about 60 tributes, upon completion of the project. Each person’s story is of value and deserved to be written and remembered. Yet, there were those who were a bit more interesting or exciting than others, such as my great uncles and friends of my family.
A particular challenge was the American who enlisted with the Canadian Expeditionary Forces and changed his name three times.
 |
| The Ice Candles, Lake of the Woods Cemetery |
Then, there was the young soldier, who later became a prominent figure in Kenora, and whose very first medical entry in his file, before he even left for England, was his treatment for gonorrhea.
Telling details of the individual, yet collective experiences of the war are found in almost every personnel record: death; hospitalization; shell shock; lifelong respiratory conditions from mustard gas. Shrapnel and gun shot wounds; being covered with mud for days in collapsed trenches; the loss of limbs; or, the loss of the use of one or more limbs, are all found, somewhere, amongst the tributes to the men and women whose names are being etched in the Kenora Great War Project.
I came to the project in August of 2014 and began to learn so much more about the Great War and Canada’s role than I thought I would. Overall, my participation has been one of the most satisfying and meaningful experiences in 30 years of research.
In honour of those who served…
Susan Hillman Brazeau BA, MA-IS
August 27, 2017
kenoragreatwarproject.ca
canadiangreatwarproject.com
Photos courtesy of the Kenora Miner & News; and, the author’s own collection.
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