Canadian Great War Project

Happy Holidays to all of you who have visited the Canadian Great War Project in the past.

And a big “Thank You” as well to those that found the time to contribute this past year.

This past year has been a great one in terms of the Canadian Great War Project. When Chris Wight joined me on this project 3 years back (September, 2004), we had an idea that we could provide an environment that would expand on the information available from Government sites and provide it in a format that made it easily searchable. We hoped that others would see value in this, and I believe that in this past year we have really hit our stride.

The initial concept of the project was that we would create a system that anyone could add to; in effect, a site that wasn’t “mine”, but rather “ours”. In 2007, we have achieved this. In 2007 we have had 85 people add in over 7,200 names, and update another 5,000. This puts the total number of names in the database to over 80,000. Additionally, we’ve had 8 people add 3,800 War Diary entries. We’ve also had people contribute “lists”. The Canadian Great War Project now contains several nominal rolls and/or embarkation lists, a few Rolls of Honour and many Awards lists. The site contains what is probably the only comprehensive list of Canadian Nursing Sisters in the Great War available on-line.

The number of Great War related books has stabilized at around 400, but the Letters and Articles in the “From the Front” section continue to grow, with 300 entries being in place. What has really struck me, this year, is that despite my inattention to the site, it has flourished as never before. This is what has really made the point that it is ‘our’ site.

2007 was a challenging year for me, personally. I changed jobs in January, a new position with the same company. It is a much larger responsibility than in 2006, and my workload and travel schedule went up tremendously. I also had a medical setback that took several months to recover from. This has greatly reduced the time I’ve had to devote to the site, and having taken a look at what we’ve accomplished over the past year really emphasizes the collaborative nature of the site.

Ryan Shepard has transcribed 17 pages of the nominal (embarkation) roll for the 19th Battalion. Ryan started this because he wanted to see his Grandfathers name on the site, but he has been plugging along, adding a page every month or so. David Wilkinson added the 17th battalion roll.
Michael Thierens has been entering the members of the P.P.C.L.I and is well into the S’s. By this time next year we will be able to get a complete listing of soldiers that served with the P.P.C.L.I., with their service record, something that is not freely available anywhere else.
Marc Tremblay isn’t far behind Michael, having entered almost 1,500 soldiers in the past year.
Chris Henzler has been entering soldiers, based on what he is currently reading, and has entered quite a few of the 31st Battalion. Additionally, Chris has been responsible for providing a number of photographs of Canadian graves in European cemeteries in the memorials section, and has been patient with me on the amount of time it takes me to get them posted
Andrew Nixon has entered over 2,200 pages of war diaries and Hazel Brook another 1,000.
Carolyn Duckworth led all of us in terms of the number of soldier entries that have been added. She created over 2,200 in the past year.
Nancy Haines, a relative newcomer, found the site a month or so back, and has agreed to pitch in where she can. She is currently filling out entries for the names on the 73rd Battalion embarkation roll.
Byron Griffon, Sniper and Marika Pirie have added a total of 200 images, so we now have almost 840 on-line.
Marj Kohli continues to add some articles to the site, and has provided a wealth of other information.
And of, course, Chris Wight has handled the brunt of the questions and issues raised on the site this year, for which I am very grateful

There are many others that I haven’t called out by name that have done a tremendous job of entering or providing information. You know who you are, and your work is appreciated.

Some of our friends who haven’t been back for a while … we miss you!

If you haven’t seen it lately, take a look through the guest book. We have about 980 people that visit the site on a monthly basis, and only a small percentage leave comments, but they are certainly worth it. A number of people have eMailed comments, as well. Some of the highlights:

A serving Major in the Canadian Armed Forces is considering having his subalterns transcribe some of the war diaries. This is an excellent testimony to the project and the equality of information that we have, as he was the person responsible for developing and publishing a history of the South Alberta Light Horse.
An active Colonel in the U.S. Marines has been on the site, leaving a very nice message.
A number of retired military have expressed their appreciation for what we are doing.
We have had notes from some Canadians serving in Afghanistan and Americans in Iraq, who are finding the site a nice diversion from their duty roles.
And there are many people who have just written to express their thanks. It certainly makes all this worthwhile when an eMail comes in starting with “You found my Grandfather!”. We all know they could have found the same information other ways; we’ve just made it easier for them.

These are messages that we all can be proud of.

There are some changes in store for 2008. The site is now being linked into some of the Canadian teaching networks, which is driving the need for more diligence with some of the information that we are providing. With that in mind, Michael Thierens has agreed to take over the War Diaries section. He, with Lynn Lane, will be adding some process changes, primarily with the consistency and reviewing of the entries.

There are other areas that we can use help with. Things like adding consistency to the units that men and women served with, so that they appear in the regimental searches. The same for the spelling of Ranks or Countries of Birth. Additionally, just choosing one of the many lists we have and filling out the information for the people referenced would be a great help. These are just activities that take away from the time that I can spend on other things, so if anyone would like to help in these areas, let me know.

Additionally, if anyone wants to help with some of the basic site work, adding links to names on lists, etc. let me know. This does require having a basic HTML editor and some knowledge of web programming.

There are some ‘technical’ changes I need to address in 2008. We have a large number of spammers who attack this (and many other) sites. I have to find a better way to thwart them as I spend too much time cleaning up after them. As well, there are some other changes that I would like to implement that will likely require me to seek some type of corporate sponsorship to implement. Rest assured, that the basic principles of the Canadian Great War Project, that all information is freely available, and that it remains a not-for-profit site will remain. If I can’t get an agreement on this, then we’ll continue as we are.

If there are other enhancements to the site that you’d like to see, or that you feel would be beneficial to others, please let me know. I don’t always respond quickly these days, but I do try to address every request.

Finally, I’ve had so much contact with many of you via eMail, that in 2008 I’d like to finally meet some of you. You’ve all added so much to this project that a “thank you” is certainly in order.

Until then, I, along with my wife Penney and our two dawgs, Nana and Jasmine, would like to wish you the best for the Holiday Season and a wonderful upcoming 2008.

Marc Leroux
Blacklick, Ohio
24 December, 2007