Last post an excellent source for war research
Published Saturday October 31st, 2009
Canada has a rich military history, which continues today. Millions of men and women have worn the uniform.
Unfortunately, military records are incomplete, some lost to time, so it is impossible to find the name of every person who served.
When searching for family members who served in the past 90 years, a good source is the Last Post published by the Legion Magazine (http://www.legionmagazine.com).
In 1928, the magazine began publishing short death notices for Canadian veterans, Royal Canadian Legion (RCL) members with military backgrounds and those with police service.
These booklets are included twice a year (spring and fall) with the printed magazine. Listings are in alphabetical order by surname making it easy to find an individual.
But if individuals from a certain region in Canada are sought, one has to read through the many pages to gather their names.
The Internet has changed that. With a few keystrokes, a name or a group of names for a particular legion or branch of service is uncovered.
For historical purposes, the Legion Magazine has included death notices in the database that go back to January 1989.
As resources permit, they will continue to add old notices as well as update the site with current entries. To date, the database contains more than 157,106 names.
For a name to appear in the database, it must be submitted to the Legion Magazine by a RCL branch. Only notices received within a year of an individual's death will appear in the printed copy.
However, starting in November 2003, late submissions have been added to the on-line database.
The Last Post publishes death notices for individuals who were Canadian Citizens or Commonwealth subjects who were RCL members at the time of their death, life members who were previously ordinary members and Canadian War veterans (First and Second World Wars, Korean War and Gulf War) who were not Legion members at the time of their death.
The database is accessible to everyone regardless if they are subscribers to the Legion Magazine. On the home page, choose Last Post from the top menu. The link connects to the search page.
Searches are made by selecting the first letter of the individual's surname or by entering information in the search engine.
The fields available are Last Name, First Name, Year of Death and Age of Deceased.
Service Information to help refine your search includes Rank, Unit and Period of Service (WWI, WWII, Korea, Regular Force, Canadian Force).
Legion Branch Information can also be entered. In the drop-down menu for province where the legion is located, all provinces and territories of Canada are listed as well as the United States and Germany.
Information in the search results varies. One example is: Private Leo Cedric Gallant (Service Number: G4480) who died July 2, 1988 at the age of 66. He served with the Regina Rifles during the Second World War. Gallant was a member of the RCL, Moncton Branch. His death notice appeared in the printed copy of the Last Post November 1988.
* Researcher's File: Seeking obituary and gravestone photograph for Charles Pitman Foshay (July 27, 1891 - May 2, 1892) who is buried in the Church of the Ascension (near the Anglican Church) in the village of Apohaqui, NB. Contact: Bill Forshay, 406 Bertetti Drive, San Antonio, TX 78227-3803 USA; email: billforshay@yahoo.com
* Diana Lynn Tibert is a freelance writer living in Milford, N.S.
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We would like to make contact with veterans of the regiment and/or their families to obtain information for regiment archives. Most Maritimers who served with the Regina Rifles (the Regina Farmer Johns or Johns as they became known) went to them via the reinforcement pool, placed with the Reginas when men were needed.
This regimental battle cry and toast to the regiment will be familiar to those who served with them: 1 2 3 UP THE JOHNS! Best wishes to all of you. Please get in touch.