RRHS students research cenotaph names

By Ken Johnston
Editor

Have you ever wondered about who the men were that are on the Rainy River Cenotaph?
Well the Rainy River High School Grade 12 English class took that question and researched ten of them this year.
Teacher Laura Armistead had her class do the WW I veterans on the cenotaph a few years ago. This year she decided to start doing the WW II vets. In the summer she contacted Library and Archives Canada (LAC) to start gathering information.
The last time the school had to pay a copy charge of about $350. However, the LAC was so impressed with the final product, an essay on each vet., that they waived the fee this time. “It meant we had to wait a little longer for the information but it was definitely worth it,” said Armistead.
Each file on the men is anywhere from one to four inches thick, so the research at LAC was greatly appreciated and very thorough.
Armistead tried to give students a name that was from close to where they live. “There are three kids from Bergland and Morson areas so I gave them a file from there.” The kids then were able to read the file and decide if that was the person they wanted to write about.
Once decided they spent about two weeks going through the files, translating and making notes in preparation for an essay. Armistead said, translating because the files for the most part are handwritten and there are many abbreviations. “The most important (primary document) is the soldier’s military service record. It is (chalk) full of abbreviations and it is important to get them right.”
After they have finished going through the files the students then do additional research. Some found living relatives of the fallen soldiers and in some cases obtained photographs of them.
Cross referencing information was also done. For instance if a date of death was listed in the file students would then check with LAC to see where the soldier’s regiment/squadron (etc.) was on that date. “That way we could pin down the details of possibly how and where they were killed.”
Tracking down of living relatives was a chore. One of the men had a living sister in Baudette but none of the kids nor Armistead knew her married name. “That is where RRHS Teaching Assistant Lori Kuzyk was a great help. She knew many of their relatives,” said Armistead.
After all the research was carefully done, the students began writing their essays, taking great care to “get it right.” “We know these are going to be read by family and others so we worked hard on accuracy.”
Following a template from LAC they put together the information and submitted it to LAC for permanent publication. “They are actually published authors which is really neat,” but the best part is, “They (the soldiers’ stories) will be permanently on record at the LAC.
Starting next week the Record will begin to run excerpts from the stories and the complete essays on our web site at www. RainyRiverRecord.com.