Stratford Soldiers: Heritage committee launches book about town’s WWI veterans

Doug Kelly holds his committee’s new book beside a banner of his grandfather. Private Lorne Kelly is included in the book and fought in the First World War with the 19th Battalion. Daniel Brown photo.

By Daniel Brown

Nov. 9, 2018

Doug Kelly got a list of First World War soldiers from Bunbury in 1994.

He had volunteered to write a town history. Bunbury amalgamated with Stratford the next year.

By 2008, it was possible to search for enlistment papers online. He did some research and started getting more names, he said.

“I broadened my scope to include not just Bunbury, but all of Stratford.”

He filled a binder with enlistment papers and census records, and took it to the Stratford Heritage Committee, which he chaired.

“We should try to make this into a book,” he said.

The committee agreed and began by ordering service records. They hired a UPEI history student to read the files and construct narratives for each soldier, Kelly said.

Meanwhile, UPEI published digitized copies of The Guardian newspaper from 1890 to 1960. This helped them find more information on the soldiers, Kelly said.

“That was right in the wheelhouse.”

Kelly interviewed the children and grandchildren of some soldiers. The committee compiled the information and wrote the book, he said.

“We were able to fill out that story on each soldier.”

The book, “We will remember them: Stratford Heroes of the First World War,” launched on Nov. 7 at Stratford Town Hall. It features the stories of 46 Stratford soldiers.

UPEI history professor Edward MacDonald wrote the book’s introduction.

The book shows what life in Stratford was like for these soldiers. They were regular people like us, but they lived in an extraordinary time, MacDonald said.

“We have not been called upon in the same way.”

Showing the soldier’s experience after the First World War is one of the book’s strengths. The war changed them, he said.

“It made them leaders in some cases, and in some cases they were victims of war.”

Major Chris Michaud spoke at the book launch. There were 7,100 Islanders who fought in the First World War, he said.

Most served in different regiments. Many fought in the infantry, he said.

“The infantry’s the tip of the spear. They are the fighting force. They are literally the boots on the ground.”

Kelly’s grandfather, Private Lorne Kelly, was one of the Stratford soldiers. He fought with the 19th Battalion for about a year and a half before the war ended, Kelly said.