These are but a few of the many brave individuals who served their country and lived in the North Peace at any time in their lives.
HOLLAND, Alwin
Regiment: 7th Battalion, 88th Fusiliers, 14th Battalion
Service: Canada, France and United Kingdom Rank: Private
Decorations: War Service Badge
He completed his surveying training as WW1 began, and enlisted in 1914 in Victoria, B.C. He was taken prisoner at Ypres and was a war prisoner for 3 years from April 24, 1915, to December 10, 1918.
While a prisoner he was at Giessen, Germany, he worked in a steel foundry and was hospitalized with bronchitis and pleurisy from exposure. After that he was assigned to a farm and then to a rubber factory.
He was discharged on April 3, 1919, because of demobilization in Ottawa.
In 1919 Alwin came to the Peace and took up land. He taught in many North Peace schools for the next 40 years. His home just outside Fort St. Joh was used as a school while Alwin opened a school in Hudson’s Hope. He taught in many rural schools and was one of the early teachers of the Peace. Many young men and women of the Peace country are proud to remember that they were taught by Alwin Holland.
Alwin died on March 26, 1963, in Edmonton, Alberta where he is interred in the Veterans Pavilion.
AMBROSE, Albert Logan (Bert)
Regiment: Nova Scotia Highland regiment
Service: England and France Rank: Unknown
Bert was born to Annie Ambrose on February 27, 1897, in Stewiacke, Nova Scotia.
He joined the military in Truro, Nova Scotia on February 29, 1916, and was sent to England on the SS Olympic on October 18, 1916.
In July 1917 he was severely wounded at Vimy Ridge with shrapnel in his right thigh and spent a year and a half in different hospitals and on December 5, 1917, he was sent back to Canada to convalesce. He was discharged in Halifax on November 3, 1918.
Bert came west determined to find new lands in which to settle, landing in Fort St. John. His first job here was feeding cattle north of Rose Prairie. After his first winter, he homesteaded in Cecil Lake and then he filed on land north of Fort St. John, some of which is now part of the city.
Bert’s heart was in farming, but his war wounds left him unable to continue the heavy work. He started to work at the post office in 1932 assisting the post master and using the bookkeeping course he had taken in Halifax. In 1934 he married Barbara Bernard and they had two sons, Peter and Jerry.
In 1942 Bert became the post master, by this time the weekly mail had become daily mail. The post office changed locations several times, but Bert went along with it until it settled in its new building.
Bert died in a Vancouver Island hospital June 22, 1968, and is buried in the Hatley Memorial Gardens in Parksville, B.C.
CRAN, Duncan
Regiment: 88th 89th & 97th Battalions, 25TH Nova Scotia Battalion
Service: France, Belgium and Germany Rank: Private
Decorations: Military Medal and 2 Good Conduct Badges
Duncan was born in Paris, Ontario on April 4, 1892, to the James and Mary Cran. He later moved with his family to Ashcroft, B.C. and was educated in Aberdeen, Scotland. Duncan worked with his brother in a Vancouver Island logging business.
He enlisted in Victoria, B.C. on November 5, 1915, in Victoria, B.C. and was listed as a B.C. Land Surveyor at that time. His unit sailed for England on May 31, 1916. He was a valuable soldier and was transferred several times because of his abilities. He received his 1st Good Conduct Badge on August 9, 1917, and his second on November 19, 1918. He was discharged in Halifax, Nova Scotia on May 10, 1919.
Duncan served this community as a life member of the Legion, was a member of the hospital board for 30 years, and a charter member of the Friendship Society. H was concerned that all people practice the Love of God regardless of denomination label, color, or culture. He was instrumental in both the Bible Society and the Weekly Prayers for Christian Unity.
He was a founding member of Operation Understanding which tried to establish closer links between the different churches. He received a community award in 1967 from the Chamber of Commerce. He was the back bone of the Anglican Church for many years, of which he was Warden of Emeritus and a faithful visitor at the hospital to help out. He was a bulwark of the Red Cross and active in the Legion. Duncan passed away on February 10, 1978, and is buried in the Woodlawn Cemetery in Fort St. John, B.C.
ROBERTS, Angharad Meirion (Anne) Married to: Jim Young
Regiment: British Military
Anne was born in Brighton, England on August 24,1895. It is believed that Anne had served in the British Military in the First World War, likely as a nurse.
On April 16, 1930, that young and registered nurse came to the North Peace as she was chosen from a list of applicants for an outpost position in the Peace. The Provincial Government appointed her, and a building was donated. This began many years of service first at the 4 bed Red Cross Outpost Hospital in Grandhaven and then at Rose Prairie where Anne made her home after her marriage to James in April of 1931. They had three children, Mary, Dorothy and Jim.
A keen and active member of the Women’s Institute – she was a life member and served for many years on both district and provincial executives. She was specially honored by the WI on the 25th anniversary of her arrival in the North Peace with a 36-piece set of silverware suitably engraved to commemorate her years of service to the communities
Anne died June 2, 1973, and is buried in the Rose Prairie Cemetery, B.C.
KENT, William George (Bill)
Service #: 625143 Married to: Florence
Regiment 78th Battalion Winnipeg Grenadiers,151st Battalion, 11th Reserve Battalion
Service: Canada, England and France Rank: Private
Decorations: CC Badge
Bill was born in Musquodoboit, Nova Scotia in 1896. They moved to Lock Bar District north of Lacombe, Alberta, where they homesteaded for a number of years.
He enlisted in the army on March 11, 1916, in Lacombe, Alberta and was listed as a Presbyterian and a farmer at that time. He was shipped overseas from Halifax, Nova Scotia to Liverpool, England. He was sent to France and was wounded and in hospital twice. He dislocated his shoulder and was in the Connal Hospital on May 28, 1918, and was also wounded in his left hand.
He was discharged from the army on February 21, 1919, in Calgary, Alberta because of demobilization.
He was employed by the Department of Highways at Pouce Coupe and Fort St. John until his retirement. Bill and Florence had a family of 3 daughters, Elva, Joyce and Carol.
Bill took a homestead in the Crystal Springs District in 1931, but he never lived on the property. Their home was on the north side of 101 Ave just east of the post office.
He was a member of Branch #10, Royal Canadian Legion, Nanaimo, and a charter life member of the Fort St. John Legion Branch #102. He was a Legion # 102 Member and was in a picture taken in 1965 of Vimmy Ridge Veterans.
Bill was buried in 1969 with a guard of honor of Legionnaires at the Field of Honor, Cedar Valley Memorial Gardens, Nanaimo, B.C.
CALLIOU, Archie (AJ) Married to: Dorothy
Regiment: 6th Airborne Unit, 2nd Airborne Unit
Service: Canada, United Kingdom and Europe Rank: Sergeant
Decorations: 5 medals
Archie was born in the Peace River area.
Archie enlisted in Grande Prairie, Alberta at 16 years old shortly after the war broke out. He shipped out to Edmonton for 4 days then on to Chatham, Ontario for basic training. From there he was transferred to Kingston, Ontario for more military training, and then on to Cove, England for special Forces training with the RCMP and Scotland Yard. He was a gunner and fluent in 5 languages. After six weeks of intensive training, they were transferred to an airport in Salisbury Plains where they were confined to their huts
His unit flew gliders behind enemy lines in order to send messages out to facilitate direct allied fire to specific targets.
Archie lost a lung as a result of a bomb attack. Archie returned a 4-year Veteran of the war. After the operation in Edmonton in which he lost his damaged lung, he went to school and studied alcoholism where he counselled for nine years under ADDAC.
He helped start the friendship Centre’s in Grande Prairie, Dawson Creek and Fort. St John. He had served for a term as the President of the Valleyview Chamber of Commerce. Archie played fiddle with the Old Time Fiddle Group in Fort St. John and he and Dorothy had seven children.
PETERSON, Ernest Elvin (Ernie)
Regiment: Siberian Expeditionary Force, 260th Battalion
Service: Siberia Rank: Private
Ernie was born in Greenville, Michigan on December 30,1895 to Tina and Neels Petersen.
He enlisted in the Canadian Army in Calgary, Alberta on December 16, 1918, and was recorded as a rancher. He was sent to Vancouver, from there on the SS Empress of Japan to Siberia. He was discharged on May 21, 1919, in Calgary, Alberta.
He was certainly one of the oldest settlers in the North Peace. In 1921 he already had a warm cabin at the foot of the Cecil Lake Hill. In 1949 he moved his post from its location down on the river to the top of the banks of the Doig. He freighted into Fort St. John with horses, hauling supplies in from McGuire’s store to his trading post on the banks of the Doig. Ernie was a bachelor who dreamed of the Peace while he was at war.
Ernie’s store at Rose Prairie was a was a wonderful place, smelling of moose hide, smoked bacon, sacked potatoes and cigar smoke. Out back in his living quarter, customers were invited for coffee or something a little stronger if business was good and the companionship worthy.
Ernie died in the Shaughnessy Hospital on March 21, 1966, and is buried in the Fort St. John Cemetery, B.C.
This information was provided by Lana-Gay Elliott, a Veteran Historian in the North Peace, and is sourced from her book ‘BC North Peace First World War Veterans’.
“I’m currently working on a second book which will be similar, but based on the Second World War veterans,” said Lana-Gay Elliott, author of ‘BC North Peace First World War Veterans’, which can be found for purchase at the Fort St. John North Peace Museum.
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