# B.C.'s military history mystery



## Colin Parkinson (26 Oct 2009)

B.C.'s military history mystery
 Curator trying to identify who owned military uniformsDavid Carrigg, The Province: Sunday, October 25, 2009
Castlegar museum director Debbie McIntosh ponders a mysterious collection of war memorabilia from the Arrow Lakes.

Gallery (Oct. 25): B.C. History MysteryHarold Webber remembers well the summer of '65, when he and three friends drove to soon-to-be flooded towns north of Castlegar, gathering military and other memorabilia.

"Each Saturday, we'd drive up there and knock on doors. We knew a lot of this stuff was going to be lost," said Webber, a history buff who lived in Castlegar for two decades before moving to Victoria in 1987.

"The overriding aspect was, we were saving a part of our Arrow Lakes history that would be gone forever. That's what kept us going, and the fellowship as we endured my driving with a cranky gear box. The people at Deer Park and Renata were very special. By this time, they were used to the fact they would be moving."

Over the next three years, the towns would disappear as water rose behind the newly built Hugh Keenleyside Dam.

Webber and his friends gathered an amazing -- and sizable -- slice of history, including dozens of First and Second World War uniforms, medals and souvenir items brought home by servicemen from Europe.

The collection included Nazi flags, a Nazi dagger and two handguns -- including one that belonged to the last Arrow Lakes steamboat captain.

Deer Park had been built on land given to returning soldiers from the First World War.

The collection was stored in the basement of the Castlegar Library, then moved to a National Exhibition Centre built with federal government money near the Castlegar airport in the early 1970s.

When federal money ran out, the centre became the Kootenay Art Gallery. Last month, the gallery donated the collection to Castlegar's CPR Station Museum -- where it now sits in a spare room, mostly in boxes and on clothes racks.

Debbie McIntosh, museum director and Castlegar city councillor, plans on displaying the most interesting parts of the collection in the spring of 2010.

But a major history mystery has emerged, because records indicating who donated the uniforms and other memorabilia have been lost over the years.

Museum volunteer Lee Peterman and his girlfriend, Shirley Joliff, have spent many hours going through the collection and matching it with a very basic record that still exists.

Webber recalls some names, but the provenance records are gone.

Peterman found the name "Louise Everett" attached to a mint-condition Canadian Women's Army Corps tunic and dress that had the markings of a lance corporal. The tunic also has a round shoulder badge with a maple leaf inside it and a shoulder cord that likely meant Everett had a special trade.

Of particular interest to Peterman was a rare silk Second World War air-crew escape map of Europe. It was printed on silk so it could be folded and easily hidden.

Peterman suspects the map may have belonged to a Royal Canadian Air Force flight lieutenant who donated a uniform to the collection.

That uniform has one row of cloth service bars representing medals -- the 1939-45 Star, Home Defence Medal, 1939-1945 War Medal and the Canadian Forces Decoration.

The collection also mentions a "Major Fraser" from the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry.

But the only major's uniform in the collection does not have the distinctive PPCLI shoulder flash.

Instead, it has a cloth shield-shaped badge with crossed swords on it. That was the British Army formation sign for the 21st Army Group, comprised of American, British and Canadian troops gathered for Operation Overlord -- the D-Day Invasion.

The 21st Army Group's first action was the D-Day invasion on June 6, 1944, with Canadians landing on Juno Beach.

The owner of the tunic likely landed on D-Day as a commanding officer -- and perhaps was Major Fraser.

One PPCLI battle tunic in the collection belonged to a corporal and has a red square on the shoulder.

Another interesting set of uniforms -- including a battle tunic and pants, trench coat and full dress uniform -- belonged to a member of the Royal Canadian Signals who was a staff sergeant or company quartermaster sergeant, and according to one of the cloth bars on the uniforms, served for at least 12 years.

He had five medals, the 1939-45 Star, the France and Germany Star, the Defence Medal, Canada Volunteer Service Medal, War Medal 1939-1945 (for overseas soldiers) and Canadian Forces Decoration with a rosette pin on it representing 12 years of service.

There's a First World War tunic in the collection that belonged to a member of the 47th Battalion and has a coloured shoulder mark representing the 4th Canadian Infantry Division. The 47th Battalion was raised in New Westminster at the beginning of the First World War, and its members saw action around Ypres, Amiens, Arras and other Western Front battlefields.

If you can help solve this history mystery in time for Remembrance Day, call 604-605-2686 or e-mail dcarrigg@theprovince.com.

with files from Terry Ko

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