A interesting British War medal

Has some of you may know one of my collection focuses is on medals named to men who attested with the 5 C.M.R or the 117th C.E.F.  This recent Ebay find for witch I am very excited to have won (cheaply too) fills both the above criteria.  3155492 PTE Alfred Lacroix attested with the 5 C.M.R on Feb 9th 1915, for reasons that are still unknown to me 10 months later on Dec 4th 1915 he attested with the 117th C.E.F.  Then on January 11th 1918 he is drafted under the military service act and finally makes it to the front where he serves with the 24th C.E.F and is killed n action on Aug 28th 1918.  A remarkable story that I can't wait to research more but for the moment the pictures will have to do.


Link to attestation papers

http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/military-heritage/first-world-war/first-world-war-1914-1918-cef/Pages/item.aspx?IdNumber=505426



Danville Quebec cenotaph

Great news on this acquisition Lorne. As a Regimental collector myself, I can really appreciate how you feel about this one.

Certainly his service records will be an interesting read. I wounder if he was released due to medical reasons the first time?

Lorne, in case you have not found this yet.

Thanks Cliff I was pretty happy to get this one, I think that the story behind this one may truly be one of a kind but that will have to wait for LAC to get themselves organized. It seems no matter what file I'm looking for its not available.

Also thanks for the circumstances of death certificate. When dealing with a KIA's these are usually my next stop after the attestations papers.

All the best

Lorne jr

Lorne, don't get me started on the LAC. They are trying to get everything digitized but the fact I cannot get access to any files is really starting to aggravate me. I still have a few groups with the surname starting with "C" that are not online yet. Originally they were supposed to have all the "A" to "D" up by end of summer.

I now have 82 WWI medal singles, pairs, trios and casualty groups without access to the Service Records. I cannot even order that bloody files anymore. As I live in Ottawa, I used to enjoy ordering the records then going to the Archives and viewing them first hand.

I feel your frustration believe me but at the same time I can understand the huge task they are trying to deal with.  My biggest grievance is that while this project is going all the files seem to be unavailable.  Another point that disappoints me is the unrealistic timelines they keep setting.  Originally it was to be completed by fall 2014 now they say sometime in 2016.  I'm sure by years end they jump it to 2018.  It simple math really after one year you see how many files they've done do the calculation and you have a realistic project end date or maybe I'm being unreasonable they are government workers after all.  There end of my rant, I feel a little better now.  On a better note 82 singles, groups and trios Wow! That is an impressive collection your amassing.  Your going to be a busy boy trying to sort them all out once the files do become available.