25 November 2014

Canadian Veteran Death Cards

One of the military resources mentioned by Ken McKinlay in his talk to OGS Ottawa Branch on Saturday with which I was unfamiliar was veteran death cards.
Available online from Library and Archives Canada on an archived collection of digital microfilm, they contain about 130,000 cards going up to deaths in the early 1960s.
Included are many veterans of the Canadian Expeditionary Force who died after discharge or who died in Canada during the war; some veterans of the British Forces who died in Canada after the war; some members of the militia who died in Canada during or after the war; some navy veterans who died after the war; few veterans of the Newfoundland Forces who died after the war; few veterans of Allied Forces (e.g. Indian, French and American armies) who died in Canada after the war; a few veterans of the North West Mounted Police who had military service; a few veterans of the South African War and the North West Field Force (1885 Rebellion).
They are incomplete so it's a bit of a lottery whether you'll be able to locate the person you seek.
To find them go to www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/microform-digitization/006003-110.02-e.php?&q2=36&interval=50&sk=0 and find 99 digital microfilm files. Go to the surname range of interest and start browsing through - no indexing available. The information given is as shown on the sample page for a man who died in Elko, Nevada.


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