Lest We Forget – Finding Your Canadian War Heroes

Canadian Soldiers returning from Vimy Ridge, courtesy of LAC, 

As we mark Remembrance Day, a day set aside in Canada to remember the many who fought for this magnificent country,  I would like to point out and share the extensive databases that Library and Archives Canada keeps on the Canadian men and women who served their country. These databases cover both the military and the early years of the North West Mounted Police.

These records are accessible online and include  Loyalists, the War of 1812, the Rebellions, the South African War, WWI and WWII.  The records include muster rolls, military service files, unit war diaries, medal registers, photographic collections, documentary art and posters, as well as published sources. 

Below is a list of the databases, research aids and virtual exhibitions with links that are currently available at Library and Archives Canada.

Databases

• Canadian Historical Association Booklets
• Courts-martial of the First World War
• Faces of War (Database)
• Medals, Honours and Awards
• North West Mounted Police (NWMP) - Personnel Records, 1873-1904
• Open Data from LAC
• Photographs: Canadian Nurses
• Photographs: War Records-Manufacturing (WRM) Series - National Film Board of Canada
• Second World War Service Files: Canadian Armed Forces War Dead
• Soldiers of the First World War - Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF)
• Soldiers of the South African War (1899 - 1902)
• War Diaries of the First World War
• Royal Canadian Navy Ledger Sheets

Research Aids

• Avro Arrow (CF-105) - Unpublished Thematic Guides
• The Battle of Passchendaele
• Canada at War: A Guide to Library and Archives Canada Websites Recalling the Canadian War Experience
• Genealogy and Family History. What to Search: Land
• Genealogy and Family History. What to Search: Military
• From Colony to Country: A Reader's Guide to Canadian Military History
• Halifax Explosion - Unpublished Thematic Guides
• Internment Camps in Canada during the First and Second World Wars - Unpublished Thematic Guides
• Lest We Forget
• Louis Riel, the Red River Rebellion - Unpublished Thematic Guides
• Rideau Canal - Unpublished Thematic Guides
• South African War - Unpublished Thematic Guides

Virtual Exhibitions

• The Anti-Slavery Movement in Canada
• The Call to Duty: Canada's Nursing Sisters
• Canada and the First World War
• The Canadian State: Documents and Dialogue
• Canadian War Artists (archived site)
• Canadian War Industry During the Second World War
• Faces of War
• Framing Canada: A Photographic Memory
• Mary Riter Hamilton: Traces of War
• Oral Histories of the First World War: Veterans 1914-1918
• Posters and Broadsides
• Through a Lens: Dieppe in Photography and Film
• Victory Bonding: Wartime Messages from Canada's Government, 1939-1945 (archived site)
• Virtual Silver Screen
• "Without Fear, Favour or Affection" The Men of the North West Mounted Police

Please take a moment this Remembrance Day, November 11th, 2011 to remember our Canadian military heroes and the many sacrifices they have endured for the future of this country and its people. We shall never take for granted the privileges and rights we exercise daily through sacrifices of so many.