The Goderich Signal-Star, 2009-11-11, Page 13Page 12 - Goderich Signal -Star, Wednesday, November 11, 2009
World War I Index traces Huron soldiers in battle
signal -star staff
For nearly five years, Carolyn Duckworth
spent her days scouring the Internet and fol-
lowing the pieced -together paper trails left by
true Canadian heroes.
Now, Duckworth has handed over her ef-
forts to both the Goderich Library and Huron
Genealogical Society in the hopes her hard
work will aid others in tracing Huron's most
courageous.
In 2003, Duckworth began her journey to
compile and index each name of those who
served in the First World War with ties to Hu-
ron County.
"It was definitely a labour of love," Carolyn
said last Thursday as she made her way to her
home office, where she spent an estimated 56
hours -a -week researching endless Canadian
Internet archives from 2003 to 2008. "I spent
hours and hours every week on this."
The thing she's referring to is an index of
Huron County natives, both men and wom-
en, who served their country during the First
World War. The 289 -page booklet she pro -
duced
ro-
duced includes more than 2,400 names and
service numbers of army soldiers and nurses
with ties to the county.
"Many had moved away before the war be-
gan, but they all have some sort of [traceable]
connection with Huron County," she said.
Her efforts are now housed at the library,
both in print and on disk, and are available for
use in the building.
"I'm hoping this will make things a bit eas-
ier for anyone trying to find a relative," Caro-
lyn said. "There were so many of them who
had moved out west, it was just by the luck of
the Irish that I happened to hit on them."
Carolyn Duckworth (nee: Wood) comes
from a family with a rich military background.
Though her father was unable to enlist over-
seas during the Second World War due to
health, he taught young soldiers rifle shooting
with the Oxford Rifles Reserve Unit. One of
her brothers served as Lieutenant Colonel of
the 4 RCR, while two uncles served in the Air
Force during the Second World War. Even
her great uncle, George Dennis, gave his life
during World War 1.
"He left Brucefield and went out west into
the 72nd Battalion in British Columbia," Car-
olyn said of her great uncle.
Through her research, she found that the
72nd was involved in a nighttime attack on
the German side, when a miscalculation and
sudden gust of wind shifted their barrage of
gas canisters back over the battalion. Though
Carolyn can't be sure he was killed as a result
of the mishap, she has found that George Den-
nis died just before Vimy Ridge on March 1,
1917. His body was never recovered.
"I got all that from the War Diaries of the
72nd Canadian Battalion. They were a lot
of help to me. I could go through them and
follow exactly where they went from start to
end."
The diaries are a part of the Canadian Great
War Project, an online resource chronicling
the Canadian overseas units. Carolyn also fre-
quented the Canadian Virtual War Memorial,
Collections Canada Archives, and many more
while compiling the index. Though not all of her
listings are complete, where possible, Carolyn
included Unit information, birth date and place
and even next-of-kin.
"Anything after that was just lucky," she said
Carolyn says she then cross-referenced
her findings with the online Canadian Grave
Commission to find when and where they
were buried.
"It was a lot of research. I'd start off with a
name, like Smith, and just search," she said.
"Let me tell you, there are a lot of Smiths'.
When I would find one that was related to
Huron County, I followed their information."
She even sent away for the service records
of some individuals, but at the cost of $3,000,
the financial toll forced her to discontinue
collecting those records.
Whatever the cost, Reg Thompson said on
behalf of the Goderich Library that Carolyn's
efforts are priceless to the community.
"It's a period of time that you can't inter-
view people from anymore. We're apprecia-
tive to have all of this information gathered
together for our community," he said.
"It's one of those resources that just goes up
in value as time goes on."
Carolyn's index can be accessed at the li-
brary at any time. Her index does not include
Air Force or Navy recruits.
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