Service Documents

Lost in the mail

Everything had to be accounted for in wartime - even chamois vests bought by Canadian soldiers that were lost in transit.

A soldier's paybook

Harry Catling, a thirteen-year veteran of the British Army, left Canada for England as a reservist as soon as the First World War began, returned to Canada when his term of service expired in 1916, and promptly enlisted in the Canadian Army Service Corps in Toronto.

Paybook Catling.pdf (23.41 MB)

Province of Nova Scotia, Active Service Voters Act 1945

In preparation for a provincial election, Nova Scotia released these regulations to allow men and women serving in Canada's military, navy, and air forces to vote in their home districts.

A New Brunswick farmer in uniform

Caleb Harrison of Forest Hill, New Brunswick, was conscripted under the Military Service Act in July 1918. These documents gave him leave from Camp Sussex on compassionate grounds in September 1918 , and formalized his discharge in January 1919.

Certificate of Medical Unfitness

The National Resources Mobilization Act of 1940 called up men for examination for possible military service; this New Brunswicker was found medically unfit.

An Amish Mennonite at war

In December 1941 Earlus Gascho of Kirkland Lake, Ontario, declared himself a conscientious objector on the basis of his membership in the Baden-Wilmot Congregation of the Amish Mennonite Church. This correspondence deals with his arrangements for alternative service.

Gascho.pdf (93.3 MB)

A symbol of service

A service chevron (to be worn on the uniform sleeve) was awarded for each year of overseas service; the certificate was intended to combat the problem of the fraudulent veteran.

A weekend at home

This pass allowed Fleetwood Berry of the Canadian Field Artillery to be absent from his base for a weekend - perhaps to visit his family in Meaford, Ontario.

The Royal Highlanders of Canada

During the First World War, the Canadian War Records Office planned to publish short histories of every Canadian infantry battalion. This history of Montreal's 13th Battalion, affiliated with the Black Watch, was one of the few to make it into print.

13th Bn.pdf (3.5 MB)

"Assigned Pay will be discontinued"

One of the few drawbacks of returning to Canada after the First World War was the end of the separation allowance and assigned pay that had been remitted to one's next of kin.