Tom St. Amand & Tom Slater When most Sarnians enlisted in the Great War they were in their teens or early twenties, but a few defied the trend. Dr. David Bentley was 49 when he volunteered in September of 1914, more than double the age of most soldiers [...]
Phil Egan Dave Thomson has been called a human “medal detector.” It’s an accurate moniker for a man who has, to date, recovered and returned an estimated 800 medals from E-Bay and other auction sites to family members, museums, historical societies, legion halls and military regiments. This fall he brought [...]
Phil Egan It was still early in the Second World War when the attack came, right here in Sarnia. Shortly after 11 p.m. on June 15, 1940, a Canadian National Railways freight car departed Port Huron, Michigan – part of a train travelling through the rail tunnel beneath the St. [...]
Tom Slater and Tom St. Amand For 62 years, Jack Graham never discussed his wartime experiences. The memory was simply too painful. A soldier with the Essex Scottish regiment, Graham was one of nearly 2,000 Canadians captured at Dieppe in 1942. During his 34 months as a [...]
Lou Giancarlo and Tom Slater Ignoring the advice of his parents and brother, Gerald Kelly enlisted in the Canadian army in May of 1943. The eighteen-year-old reasoned he should go because his chums were going, and together they could “get the war over sooner.” Such sentiments were echoed time [...]
Tom St. Amand and Tom Slater The say that “Bad luck comes in threes,” and that old adage certainly proved true for Stephen Powell. When Powell was killed in 1940 he became the first Sarnian to die in the Second World War. And the circumstances of his passing [...]
Tom St. Amand and Tom Slater The Aamjiwnanng First Nation has a proud military history, with at least 34 men and women enlisting to serve with the Canadian and U.S. military during the two World Wars. And they are part of over 8,000 First Nation soldiers who served. Stanley [...]
Tom St. Amand and Tom Slater The Aamjiwnaang First Nation Cenotaph features three vertical stone columns atop a stone base. Inscribed on the centre column are the words “To our glorious veterans who have served our nation and its allies for peace and freedom—Lest We [...]
This following poem was written by Margaret Louisa Foulds Johnston (1860-1964), a member of an early city family. Johnston was the mother of Gunner Gilbert Sutherland Johnston, who served in the First World War with the 63rd Battery Canadian Field Artillery. The 63rd was raised from towns all across Southwestern [...]
Albert Potter, 19 Elliot Watson, 18 Geoffrey Stone, 17 John Dowding, 16 Leonard Meere, 18 Ralph Mellon, 18 Orval Evers, 18 Royal Crawford, 18 Stanley Teskey, 17 Stuart Carr, 18 [...]
