Remembering: Private Thomas Smyth who died Tuesday, July 03, 1917

Important Notice - 6 June

On June 2nd we experienced a major problem with an unauthorized disruption to the site. This, unfortunately has caused some data loss, approximately 30 hours worth from 6:00 PM on June 1 until the site was completely unusable on June 2. I was not able to recover any of the data and had to resort to a backup that I took at 6:00 PM on June 1.

Note: I believe that I have plugged the holes that were used to cause the problems, but I have also made the decision to switch to a different web hosting service. Please contact me if you'd like any more details.

Thank you for your patience and I apologize for any entries that were lost.

marc

Want to help?

We are always looking for help in building this database. Any first time users interested in adding new entries please see this page for directions or send either Marc or Chris an eMail.

About this site

Between 1914 and 1918, Canada participated in the most devastating war mankind has known. The Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) fought in France and Flanders (Belgium), in battles at Ypres, Passchendaele, the Somme, Hill 70 (Lens), Mount Sorrel, and Vimy Ridge. In 1918 the Canadian contingent spearheaded the drive to end the war, fighting from Amiens and Arras in Northern France, through Cambrai and on to Mons in Belgium, which the Canadians secured on 11 November, 1918. Click here for a chronology of Canadian participation in the Great War. See our Notices section below for the most recent information.

Site Recommendations Web Site Soldiers of the 38th Book The Official History of the Canadian Expeditionary Force, 1914-1919 Site Tip Adding images to the site Previous Recommendations The Canadian Great War Project is intended to promote interest in Canada's participation in World War 1, commonly referred to as the Great War, to research the Canadians who participated in the Great War 1914-1919 or other nationalities who served in the CEF. The content is primarily database driven to facilitate searches for information. The site is, and will continue to be, a work in progress; there are currently over 84,534 entries of individual soldiers, and has become a collaborative effort among those interested in researching Canada and the Great War. While searches through the database are available to all, only registered users may update information. Registration is free and simple. See here for more information.

A growing number of volunteers have put a lot of effort into this site, so please leave us some feedback and let us know if you found this site useful and what we can improve. We rely on volunteers to transcribe information from attestation papers, war diaries and other sources to provide a better picture of the men and women who served Canada during the Great War, and we hope that you will join us.

Notices

Chris Payne Trust Fund: Corporal Randy Joseph Payne was killed in action in Afghanistan on 22 April 2006. A trust fund has been established for his children. Details can be found here. Please consider a donation, large or small, to this fund.

80,000 Entries : We reached this milestone on December 5, 2007. Thanks to all who are contributing. This type of participation certainly emphasizes the group project atmosphere.

Konfabulator Remembrance Widget : Remember the soldiers that have died on your desktop. Download the Konfabulator remembrance widget here.

What's New!

2007 in Review	What happened in the Canadian Great War Project during 2007
16th Battalion	The Awards list for the 16th Battalion has been completed
17th Battalion	Nominal Rolls for the 17th Battalion. Over time, the links to the soldiers will be completed.
New Cemetery Report	Now you can get a listing of where Canadians are buried
LAC War Diary Index	Grandson Michael's Guide to the LAC War Diaries is now available. This is an indispensable resource for browsing through the LAC War Diary Entries.
Awards List	Added lists of Awards and Decorations to the Nominal Roll list
Map Section	Add a Map section to include scans of maps I have in my collection
New searches	Added a new regimental number/unit lookup, and also replaced the site text search with a better alternative.
31st and 73rd Battalion	Nominal Rolls for the 31st Battalion and 73rd Battalion are on line. Over time, the links to the soldiers will be completed.
Cross Linking	The Soldier display now includes links to letters and war diaries
Transcription Notification	Now you can be informed when new Letters from the Front or Newspaper Transcriptions are available. This is available to registered members from the Letters or Newspaper pages.
New Database	Since the site has become more popular, the demands on the database have been growing, and this resulted in severely degraded performance at times. We've upgraded the database to a more robust environment.
Letters from the Front	A collection of transcribed letters from soldiers to their loved ones back home.
Images of the Great War	A new section that showcases the images that have been added to the database. Look at them from the main images page, or launch a Slide Show of them (pop-up blockers may restrict seeing the slide show).
Soundex Search:	Soundex has been added to the "Search by name"
Nominal Rolls:	A growing number of nominal rolls
New Search Page:	Now with the ability to restrict by date range!
Famous Canadians:	Some famous Canadians who served during the Great War.
Books:	Registered users can create their own personal list of books owned, or books wanted.
Memorials:	Information on some of the men whose names are inscribed on local Canadian monuments.
War Diaries:	Browse through entries for a particular unit, or a specific day.
On this Date:	What happened on this date in Canadian history, plus a list of all soldiers killed on this date.

A more detailed list of changes can be found here.

Want to Help?

At present there are over 84,534 records of individual soldiers in the database. Not all entries have full details, these are being built up, soldier by soldier. We are looking for volunteers to help complete these records, and add new soldiers, primarily based upon their attestation papers.

It doesn't take much. As you run across information on soldiers, update the listings if they exist, or enter his/her information from attestation papers. Whatever you contribute will be shared by many others; our objective is to make as many people aware of the contributions their ancestors made as possible. Take the first step by registering for the site, and contact either marc or Chris if you'd like more information.

Contributions to other parts of the site, including any descriptions of books or reviews, transcribed letters from soldiers, nominal rolls, war diary entries or other areas would be much appreciated.

Features of this site:

Searches

This search section allows the entry of a variety of search criteria and will return matches against these criteria. It is possible to search soldier entries, war diaries, letters and newspaper extracts.

Canada and the War

Some writings and general information on Canada and the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) during the War.

Statistics

Some statistics about Canada, Canadians and the Great War

Books and Media

Books and reviews of books concerning the Great War (Not exclusively Canadian)