Finding the Fallen: researching Oak Bay's WW2 Memorials

As part of the international WW1 commemorations in 2014-18, Oak Bay Archives volunteers researched and compiled a list of the fallen from Oak Bay in 1914-18. So far it comprises 50 names with biographical details: view here.

The centenary of the beginning of WW2 is still 15 years away, but commemorations and anniversaries are already happening regularly, and these plus a small but persistent trickle of WW2-related enquiries indicate that it's time for Oak Bay Archives to create a similar annotated roll of honour with details for Oak Bay's fallen in WW2. This is now underway, here.

The aims are

• Remembrance: to remember and honour the residents of our community who gave their lives in the Second World War
• Connect: to connect and share information with schools, churches, and other Oak Bay organizations with their own WW2 memorials, providing mutual links where applicable
• Research: to provide an annotated, linked list of Oak Bay WW2 war dead as a helpful jumping-off point for those interested in conducting their own further local/family history research, and that's easy to add to or correct in future
• Sources: to use and provide links to sources as close to the original and/or contemporary as possible, and avoid sources of online information that are simply quoting (or misquoting) each other
• Collections: to encourage residents of Oak Bay and the wider community to share information and archival material related to Oak Bay's war dead via Oak Bay Archives

Oak Bay's War Memorial on Beach Drive near Cattle Point was erected following WW2, and includes 96 names, of 4 women and 92 men. So far so good, that's one huge step already done. Alan and Leona, who researched Oak Bay's WW1 fallen, had no list to begin, and had to start their research from scratch! But there are discrepancies between the war memorial, a list created at the Archives, municipal correspondence, and external sources - errors, omissions, spelling mistakes, "orphan data", mysteries. Every name has to be checked.

Then there's another element to add to the mix: the hand written and decorated WW2 Roll of Honour that hung in the main foyer at Municipal Hall until 2019 - now in the Archives and replaced by a framed facsimile in the foyer. This list is in a mostly different order, and contains names not on the cenotaph. VIEW HERE

The order is obviously intentional, but what is it? chronological by year? more research needed...

Things I wanted to ensure we had, as applicable, for each name, and places to start looking:

• full name and life dates - names expanded and corrected, recorded variants noted to assist future research
• Oak Bay address - often found somewhere in the service record. It's not always the subject's own current home or permanent address (at the time of enlistment or during service), but it's a good Oak Bay related starting point for further local and family history research.
• Archives Canada service record link
• Canadian Virtual War Memorial record link
• Commonwealth War Graves Commission link
• Find A Grave link
• photo or link to photo at one or more of the above
• link to further information online or in original records held at Oak Bay Archives or elsewhere

Things I wondered about:

• which branches did Oak Bay men and women serve in?
• how old were they? (mean, median, mode)
• are Oak Bay statistics consistent with BC and national ones?
• what kinds of Oak Bay connections did they have? variously born here, attended Oak Bay schools, moved to Oak Bay for work, settled in Oak Bay with their own (usually young) families, parents moved to Oak Bay.

The early gathering of names by the chief engineer for Oak Bay was conducted with stated criteria: "The list is intended to include all who attended Oak Bay schools, were born in the municipality, or lived there for about five years." (British Colonist 5 July 1946, p 8.) There is so much research to be done for every name on the list, to add to a picture of their Oak Bay connections.

Although the National Archives of Canada have done a HUGE service in digitizing all the Canadian WW2 service records of those who died during the war and making them publicly searchable and viewable online, in many cases it's not as straightforward as identifying a service record and checking for an Oak Bay address. A significant number did not serve with the Canadian forces but American or British - those service records are mostly not available online, and those names may or may not be commemorated in the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.

Eventually, it would be wonderful to map the Oak Bay addresses with Honour Roll connections for both WW1 and WW2, as the CWGC are doing for the UK.

Sources used for research:

• City directories
• WW2 Service records at Archives Canada
• Census records at Archives Canada
• Victoria Colonist newspaper
• Victoria Daily Times newspaper
• Canadian Virtual War Memorial
• Commonwealth War Graves Commission
• Find A Grave
• Missing Marines

* * *

A note about the WW1 Roll of Honour: thanks to the many people who have contributed to online projects in the last decade, particularly on Find A Grave, there is so much more well-attested information available online nowadays that I was able to find and add details for the last two names whose entries had until 2024 been simply "research in progress", Benjamin Buss and Wilfred Sampson, as well as adding the full name of Thomas Weston Buss. There is so much more research and writing that could be done for each of the names on that list as well. We hope the Oak Bay community will be inspired to join in researching and writing those stories.

=========================