Podcast and photos

Welcome to the website that aims to to add more to the story of the Hedley Boys through photos and information. If you have any photos or stories relating to the Hedley Boys, would like to know more about them or to just leave a comment, please use the “Contact Us” box at the bottom of the page.

The inscription on the Hedley Cenotaph, built 1919.

A Small Town’s Big Part in the Great War

A 9 part podcast series on the men who left to go to war and of the town they left behind.

Episode 9 Hedley Boys, Grief, Relief and Commemoration – Hedley Boys, A Small Town's Big Part in the Great War

The last 3 months of the War bring yet more pain and grief to Hedley and the men still serving. In 1919 the survivors return and decide on commemorating their fallen comrades with one of the earliest WW1 memorials in Canada. Support the show
  1. Episode 9 Hedley Boys, Grief, Relief and Commemoration
  2. Episode 8 Hedley Boys, War Weary Hedley
  3. Episode 7 Hedley Boys Disaster at Vimy Ridge
  4. Episode 6 Hedley Boys The 54th go to war
  5. Episode 5 Hedley Boys "This War is Hell"
  6. Episode 4 Hedley Boys 1916 The hardest year
  7. Episode 3 Hedley Boys "One of the biggest affairs Hedley has seen"
  8. Episode 2 Hedley Boys, Baptism of Fire
  9. Episode 1 Hedley Boys, A small town in the Similkameen

https://open.spotify.com/show/3MQzsWqOZga0ZAlGoT5mrs

https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/hedley-boys-a-small-towns-big-part-in-the-great-war

Photos. These photos are of some of the Hedley Boys and the 54th Battalion. They are intended to give the listener of “Hedley Boys” a picture to go with the words of some of the men featured. More photos will be added over time. There are still a number of men who do not have an identified photo and as such any photos of Thomas Calvert, Arthur Doc Martin, Charles Christiana would be greatly appreciated.

The 54th Battalion Machine Gun section circa 1915/16 at either Vernon or Bramshot Camp. Bert Schubert is on the far right of the middle row. He was 6 foot 2 and you can see his size in this photo. Roy Corrigan is 4th from left on the front row. He was transferred to the Machine Gun Battalion for the war, he survived and returned home a sergeant. Copyright “Keepers of the Flame CD 2001”
This photo shows the Keremeos recruits in 1914. Sid Edwards, the first Hedley Boy to be killed in action is on the far right top row. On the far left top row is Bob McCurdy who was badly wounded at the Battle of Festubet, the same action that saw Sid Edwards killed by shellfire. Sid Edwards has no known grave while Bob McCurdy died in 1919 in Hedley and is buried in Keremeos Cemetery. Copyright Keremeos Museum.
The 54th Battalion at Vernon camp October 1915. Note Koots the bear right at the front. Copyright “Keepers of the Flame CD 2001”
This photo from 1919 shows how few of the original 54th Battalion returned to Vernon. Only William D Fulmer (Windy Bill) and Edward “Joe” Rotherham were left of the 17 Hedley men who enlisted on August 24th 1915. Copyright “Keepers of the Flame CD 2001”
Martin Joseph “Yorkie” Meher on the right, showing off his boxing skills against men half his age.
Lance Corporal Tommy Knowles on the left and Sergeant Alec Jack on the right. England 1916.
A young Arthur Coles from a school photo. He lived in the Similkameen for a number of years surveying for the railway. He became a medic with the 2nd CMR and died of wounds received while performing his duties. Copyright Colston School UK
Jack Lorenzetto while on leave in London 1918. He was KIA with just 3 months of the war left. Copyright Hedley Museum/Lorenzetto family.
Lt Col Arnold Kemball, co of the 54th Battalion until he was KIA on 1st March 1917. Copyright “Keeper of the Flame CD 2001”
Major Travers Lucas, the man who signed many of the Hedley Men into the 54th and who commanded C Company. He was killed on the night of March 1st 1917 while leading from the front. Copyright “Keepers of the Flame CD 2001”
The Hedley Cenotaph as it looked soon after unveiling cicra 1920 Copyright Hedley Museum

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Acknowledgements

  • University of British Columbia digital online archives
  • Canadian Government online digital archives
  • Commonwealth War Graves Commission Online
  • Ancestry.com
  • Hedley Museum
  • Keremeos Museum
  • Princeton Museum
  • Jennifer Douglass
  • The Knowles/LLoyd Family
  • The Jack/Wightman Family
  • The Schubert/Tipple Family
  • The Dollemore/Dolden Family
  • The Lorenzetto/Brewer Family
  • The Lucas Family
  • Kim English

Selected Bibliography

  • “A Proper Slaughter”: The March 1917 Gas Raid at Vimy Ridge by Tim Cook Canadian War Museum 1999
  • “The Battlefields of the First World War: The Unseen Panoramas of the Western Front” Imperial War Museum, Jeremy Banning/Richard Holmes, Constable Publishing. 2013
  • “Vimy” Pierre Burton. Pen and Sword Publishing 1986
  • “Mud, Blood and Poppycock” Gordon Corrigan, Cassell Publishing 2003
  • “The First World War, An Illustrated History” John Keegan, Hutchinson Publishing 2001
  • “Great Battles of World War 1” Anthony Livesey, Guild Publishing 1989
  • “Wounded, From Battlefield to Blighty 1914-1918” Emily Mayhew, Bodley Head Publishing 2013
  • “To Win a War: 1918 The Year of Victory” John Terraine, Cassell Publishing 1978

Selected Social Media and Websites