118th

27 October – 02 November 1916: Hospitals, holy ground and Halloween

The 118th get spots; Colonel Lochead gets spotted Ten soldiers came down with measles and moved to hospital. The outbreak wasn’t serious, but if more men came down with spots, the Battalion could be quarantined. A few days before Halloween, Huronto, The News Record’s source in the 118th Battalion, reported on Lt. Col. Lochead’s promotion […] Read more…

20-26 October 1916: The saga of John Sugar Beet Jones

The chief magistrate’s sugar beeting gave Kitchener’s two newspapers ample fodder. “Just how the boys of the [118th] Battalion came to the belief that Mayor Hett was opposed to their wintering in Kitchener is difficult to establish,” said The Daily Telegraph. Previously, Hett didn’t want other cities’ battalions here, and called out local shopkeepers who […] Read more…

13-19 October 1916: Cheerless puddings

Not Kitchener A week after city council’s wrathy meeting, the head of the military district announced troops would not winter in Kitchener. As expected, locals weren’t pleased. News of North Waterloo’s 118th and Muskoka’s 122nd “homelessness” revived speculation (mostly in The Daily Telegraph) of the boys’ return home. The newspaper tried to bolster its theory and […] Read more…

22-28 September 1916: Oh! Huronto! He was passionately fond of dahlias

First, we take Ontario; then we take Canada About a week after Ontario’s Temperance Act took hold, the four provincial liquor vendors’ cash register chimes probably wouldn’t have drowned out even the smallest of music halls. One wholesaler only rang up $22 in the first week ($429—see note on conversion): he wouldn’t have out-tinkled a […] Read more…

08-14 September 1916: Boys and Girls

Boys And then there were 650 Military doctors declared another 23 of the 118th Battalion medically unfit.  With these men gone, the Battalion’s numbers dropped to about 650, or roughly two-thirds of how many were needed to be kept an independent unit. Those who remained continued to perform their drills, learn trench warfare, and get […] Read more…

18-24 August 1916: Unleash the monsters

Nothing but a flimsy excuse As far as the name changers were concerned, the renaming’s delay was the attorney general’s fault. Waiting for the postmaster general’s okay was nothing more than a “flimsy excuse.” It seems the head postie would be proud to have a hand in commemorating the great British war hero through renaming the […] Read more…

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