Honour Roll of Guysborough County - Research Update

Over the past two years, I have 'published' a background post at the middle of each month, followed by a profile of a Guysborough County veteran at month's end.  While I will continue to research and write a monthly profile, I have decided to forego the mid-month post, unless a veteran's story requires background information.  As this month's veteran served with the 85th Battalion and my mid-October 2012 post already provided background information on its service, there will be no 'mid-month' post this month.

My main focus at present is researching and writing the stories of the 125 veterans listed in the Honour Roll of Guysborough County post (September 17, 2013).  Five veterans died in 1915, followed by 23 in 1916, 40 in 1917, 48 in 1918, and 9 in years immediately after the war.  My initial plan was to produce one volume containing profiles of all 125 veterans.  In the interest of creating a final product that is reasonable in length, I have divided the veterans into two groups.  The first volume will contain profiles from 1915 to 1917, with the second volume covering the years 1918 to 1921.  I hope to complete the first volume sometime in 2015, as we mark the 100th anniversary of the Canadian Expeditionary Forces' arrival in France its initial service in Belgium. 

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I want to provide readers with a connection to another blog that focuses on the stories of Canadian First World War veterans.  For several years, Debbie Marshall, an Alberta writer and editor, has been gathering information on Canadian nursing sisters who died while serving with the Canadian Army Medical Corps.  Titled 'Finding the Forty-Seven' after the initial number of nursing sister deaths believed to have occurred during the war, Debbie's project has grown as her research progressed.  She now estimates that as many as 76 Canadian nursing sisters died in uniform or shortly after the war, some as a result of enemy fire, others of sickness or disease sometimes contracted while working in Canadian hospitals in England or France.

Debbie's most recent post provides information on the tragic death of Minnie Follette, a Nova Scotian native and one of fourteen nursing sisters who perished in the June 1918 sinking of the hospital ship Llandovery Castle.  Check out Minnie's story, along with other interesting posts and pictures available on Debbie's blog, at the following link:

Finding the Forty-Seven: Canadian Nurses of the First World War

Debbie is currently working on a book that will contain the stories of all nursing sisters who died in the service of their country during or shortly after the war.

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