The Memory Project

Welcome to the new “Milton Legion Blog” category for the “Memory Project“. The concept of having Veteran’s of the Great Wars (WWI and then WWII) which started with the CBC radio productions “In Flanders’ Fields” in December 1964. That was a 17 part series which you can still listen to and read on the Internet. If you have an interest, you can purchase that complete series on DVD from CBC Canada at this web site:

Flanders’s Fields – Canadian Voices from WWI

If you have a specific interest in any of the seventeen (17) episodes and want to hear the voices or read the transcriptions, let me know and I will share the DVD audio and text.

Based on my appreciation of these recordings I was a big supporter of the Dominica-Historica project to bring the “WWII Memories Project” to the Town of Milton. Our late comrade Art Petty was my first conscript and he did his recording  of his events as a WWII Navy Commando who served with Beach Commando W during the summer months of 1944. Although the session did not go as well as planned, Art let them go ahead and publish his words – you can hear them here:

• Petty, Arthur “Art” Henry

When Art left us in November 2011 I went back to look for the rest of the Milton Veterans who had also participated in the project. Some have clearly identified themselves as Milton residents and were easy to find – others have listed their affiliation with other communities – perhaps where they were born or raised. Some may have participated and I do not know their names.

These are the others I have found to date:

• Beaty, Hugh
• Dales, Lyle
• Douglas. William John
• Hendrick, Joseph
• McEachern, James “Jim” Oscar
• Merkley, Eric Roy
• Merkley, Ralph Whitney
• Waddington, Albert

There are probably others who have participated in the project who are not identified in this list. I would ask all veterans, families, members and friends to let me know if someone is missing from this list. Not everyone listed their hometown as “Milton”, some used their “Birth Town” for that category. The search engine also has some issues, as if your search for MILTON you also get “hamMILTON”.

In the future posts we will add the text and audio of each of our veterans so they are readily accessible to all of the Branch 136 Families and Members. Most certainly, we will also add the pictures they submitted to the project – so you know them if you see them!

If you are a VETERAN and have not participated in this project but wish to do so – please let me know and I will contact the project director to see what can be done. I do not know if the project is continuing in the present format – or if they are doing veterans from post WWII conflicts.

Can you identify this Milton Legion Veteran from his WWII photograph?

Who is this 136 Veteran?