Coaldale seeking knowledge of World War veterans

Sunny South Photo by Nikki Jamieson

By Nikki Jamieson
Sunny South News

Coaldale is putting out the call to find heroes of old.

As part of the “Our Stories of Service” project, Coaldale community services manager Cindy Hoffman is looking for photos and stories about Coaldale veterans who have served in WWI and WWII

“We have a list of names, we know it’s probably not complete, so that’s our starting point though,”  said Cindy Hoffman, community services manager for the town of Coaldale. “We don’t even have first names for half of these people.”

Around the time when Hoffman started working as community service manager, she came across a box, and in this box was a framed photo and brief biography of a WWII pilot, Veral Clarence Bullock.

Bullock was a Pilot Officer Bomb Airner attached to the #622 (R.A.F.) Squadron, who were part of the main force of Bomber Command. He was killed in action on Jan. 3, 1945, and is buried in Reichswald Forest War Cemetery in Kleve, Germany.

The bio had been done up by the Canadian Fallen Heroes Foundation and sponsored by the town of Coaldale. That inspired the idea to do similar frames for other Coaldale veterans. But although she doe have a list of names, there is little else to go on.

The goal of the project is to be able to identify the person behind those names. Ultimately, they are hoping to get photographs and a summary of that person’s service, so help preserve and honour their sacrifice.

With a name, it makes it easier for people to remember these heroes, remember the history of the war.

“The thing is If I go to a school, go to Kate Andrews (high school), I can talk about this guy who won the highest medal from Toronto. ‘Who cares?’, goes a grade 10 student,” said Glenn Miller, a speaker for the Memory Project of Canada. “Now what’s your name? Okay Smith, I can tell you (about ) a guy, probably your uncle and I can tell you whatever the context is locally.”

Miller says that right now, “there is no tool box” for them to find this information by themselves. Additionally, if people don’t talk about it, that knowledge doesn’t get passed on, and is lost.

“It’s common since the Boer War, people didn’t talk about their war time experience. So their wives don’t know, their children don’t know,” said Miller. “And if the first generation of children don’t know, how can they pass that on to their children?”

“I think it’s so important for the youth in our community to realize that there’s a lot of sacrifice done for us basically, and the way we live now,” said Hoffman. “And I think a lot of them just don’t understand what was given, and for me personally, I think it’s really important that the young people bring this back to the forefront.”

If you recognize one of the names on their list, or had a family member who was a veteran or a RCMP officer who served overseas, please contact Hoffman at 403-345-1324 at commserv@coaldale.ca.

You can also arranged to meet with Hoffman, either at her office or she could come and visit you.

Although they are taking submissions all year round, they encouraging people to get them in by the third week of October, so they can gather the information ad have it ready when the WWI anniversary goes next year.

“The legacy any community can best honour, the veterans who came to their community, is to know the veterans’ service, sacrifice and commitment, and no better way then to do it know, when it’s first hand knowledge., to preserve and share for future generations, let we forget,” said Miller.

The following is a list of veterans’ names that the Our Stories of Service project has. If you recognize someone who is on the list, of know of someone who isn’t listed, contact Cindy Hoffman at 403-345-1324 at commserv@coaldale.ca.

WWI

Baldry, Robert E.

Bathgate, George

Bollands, E.

Bond, Frank

Campbell, Albert

Connelly, A.

Cunningham, Leo C.

Dale, A.L.

Fairhurst, Lyle Sr.

Gardiner, F.F.

Graham, Jack

Graham, William

Granfield, W.

Holberton, E.J.

Irvine, Morris

Key, A.W.

King, William

Lawrence, Robert

Long, Charlie

MacKay, Wm. M.

McCann, Earl

McCann, Mel

McCann, Orville

McLeod, A.M.

Melville, D.

Mitchell, Charles

Mitchell, Jim

Naylor, Jack

Newbold, J

Newbold, Mrs. J.

Onyfrychuk, P.

Orr, A.

Paulson, Paul T.

Perry, Harold

Priestley, Norman F.

Renfrow, Elmer

Richards, Edmund

Richards, Frank

Robertson, Alex

Roberston, Peter

Rogers, Ward

Sandever, Tom

Scott, Walter

Smith, G.E.

Smith, Stanley H.

Stitt, William

Suggitt, F.W.

Wade, Arthur

Warren, N

Warren, Mrs. N

Wilson, R.G.

Wooley, A.

WW II

Adams, Jack

Adams, R.B.

Anderson, W. Bruce

Anderson, Gordon

Anderson, James

Baldry, Wilfrid E.

Baldry, Arthur E.

Bond, Frank Jr.

Bond, Larry

Bond, Gerald

Bond, Richard

Baldwin, Joe

Berg, Isaac

Berg, Jake

Barg, Henry G.

Billings, N

Burton, Fred

Bohner, George

Buhlin, Averth P.

Bullock, Veral Clarence

Cluff, Clarence

Conner, John

Corey, Dorthy

Coutts, John C.

Dyck, Henry

Dyck, Peter

Durkozy, Peter

Emery, Jack

Epp, Ben

Ens, George

Ewert, John

Engel, Herbert

Foxall, J Earl

Field, Carson

Friesen, Nick

Friesen, Dick

Funk, H

Frey, Ronald

Foster, Jack

Friesen, H

Friesen, T

Green, Gordon

Gordon, Cecil

Gschaid, Louis

Graham, Lyle

Graham, Robert

Graham, Willis

Grunewald, Homer

Grunewald, Wally

Harder, Peter

Harder, Cornelius

Harris, Gallen

Hoad, Dora

Hoesom, Art

Huzuda, Mike

Habijanic, Victor

Hildebrandt, Peter

Hiebert, J.E.

Hubert, A.E.

Hiebert, H.R.

Irvin, Jack

Karp, Emil

Knapp, Stanley

Knapp, Harvey

Knapp, I.

Knapp, Chester

Koop, Jake

Kornelson, Wally

Kornelson, Pete

Kroecker, David

Kroekcer, J.C.

Lough, Edwin

Lavalley, Peter

Lavalley, Manuel

Lawrence, John

Langeman, Jake

Loewen, Ben

Loewen, John

Loewen, William

Mallalieu, William

Matsuoko, Tom

Mannington, Eric

Mantler, Abe H.

MacKay, W. Elmer

Martens, Jake

Meronuik, John

Nickel, John

Niessen, Peter

Odenvold, John

Ponech, Nick

Ponech, Pete

Ponech, George

Petranech, Gordon

Patapoff, Mike

Patapoff, William

Pankratz, Jack

Peters, Patsey

Peters, Bob

Peters, J.

Peters, George

Peck, Eugene

Pearson, Freddie

Poulson, Glen

Reimer, Peter

Robertson, Bernice

Robison, Murray

Regehr, Jack P.

Regehr, Peter F.

Russel, William

Rutt, Byron

Sandever, Johnnie

Sandever, Tommy

Sandever, Kathleen

Stokes, Dois

Stokes, Ry

Shologan, Peter

Smith, Floyd

Smith, Leon

Sverek, E.

Shrumm, Arthur

Slemko, Steve

Stanko, Mike

Tomasta, Joe

Thompson, Marion Jr.

Thorpe, Walter

Thiessen, J.

Thiessen, H.

Thiessen, N.

Thiessen, Frank

Thornton, Harold

Trencansky, Mike

Triska, Joe

Voth, Henry

Voth, Edward

Voth, William

Voth, Kay

Wade, Burton

Wade, William

Wall, A.J.

Wall, H.

Wahl, J.

Wills, R.R.

Wills, Roy

Wills, Gearld

Wills, Edna

Wills, Frank

Willms, Cornie

Willms, A.B.

Wiens, Frank

Wiebe, P.J.

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