Photo: Borden-Carleton Branch Service Officer Pieter Valkenburg doing research (Credit: Daria Valkenburg)

July 28, 2017.  After the first article about the Borden-Carleton Cenotaph Research Project ran in October 2016, Pieter decided to focus on the WWI soldiers listed on the cenotaph, and began intensive research over the winter.

In the meantime the first article ran in the PEI Genealogical Society Newsletter and a shorter version ran in Charlottetown’s Guardian.  The Carr descendants of Vincent CARR had said that he was single, and the military attestation paper when he signed up agreed with this.  However, we found out that sometime between enlisting on June 5, 1915 and his death on October 30, 2017, he married Bessie H. Carr of Summerside.  Sadly she died a year after her husband.  Unfortunately, we have no photo of Bessie Carr, nor were we able to find a marriage record.  Can anyone help?

In his research, Pieter found two soldiers on the monument whose names are inscribed on the Vimy Memorial in France.  One was in the wrong place at the wrong time due to a name mix-up and died, the other survived the battle, only to perish a month later.  Their tales became the subject of the second article about the project.

Patrick Raymond ARSENAULT was the soldier who was transferred by error and ended up in the Battle of Vimy Ridge, died on April 11, 1917.

Plan of Attack for Vimy Ridge where Patrick Raymond Arsenault died. The 2nd Canadian Brigade, part of the 1st Canadian Division, is in red. (Source: Library and Archives Canada/First World War map collection/e000000519_a4)

John Lyman WOOD survived the battle, but died on May 3, 1917 during the Battle of Arras.

Battle of Arras near Fresnoy where John Lyman Wood died (Photo credit: Official History of the Canadian Army in the First World War: Canadian Expeditionary Force 1914-1919, G.W.I. Nicholson)

We have not been able to find any photo of Patrick Raymond Arsenault. Can you help?  John Lyman Wood is well cherished in the memories of his family, and his nephew Gene Rogerson provided a photo and background information to bring his story to life.

We hope you enjoy this second article that ran in April 2017, “Two Unsung Heroes Of Vimy Ridge” in the County Line Courier.   CLC Apr 5 2017 p9 Two Unsung Heroes of Vimy Ridge A shorter version of this article also ran in Charlottetown’s Guardian.

If you have photos or documents you’d like to share, please email them to dariadv@yahoo.ca.  Comments or stories?  You can share them by email or by commenting on this blog.