Apologies to the mods if this is too off topic, feel free to move it to an appropriate forum. I thought you guys might find this interesting though.
I have been looking for a WW2 Canadian helmet for awhile on Ebay and other sources. Couple weeks ago, I saw one with the name J.P. Gill inside with a service number beside it. I won the helmet:
Out of interest sake while the auction was on, I went to the Canada Virtual War Memorial and put in his last name. A J.P.Gill came up and when I checked his service number with the helmet, it matched!!
Link:
http://www.vac-acc.gc.ca/remembers/sub.cfm?source=collections/virtualmem/Detail&casualty=2663379
Unfortunately, he died on March 1st, 1945 near the end of the war. I now had his unit (Essex Scottish) off that site though so I did a little more research on Google. Turns out, the officer from his unit won the Victoria Cross for the unit's actions that day. Sounds like Gill was hit crossing 500 yards of open terrain. Here is the citation to his commanding officer Tilston with a description of the battle in the Hochwald forest:
Link:
http://www.vac-acc.gc.ca/general/sub.cfm?source=history/secondwar/citations/tilston
I also remembered a site that had old newspaper clippings from WW2 that I had been to before. Coincidently, JP Gill was from Hamilton and the Hamilton Spectator newspaper has most of their stuff archived online. I go to the site and type in Gill and get a newpaper article about him with a picture and a short bio!
The beauty of the internet was that I was able to get all of this in an easy search of 15 minutes.
Getting this type of information on a piece in your collection sure adds a different personal perspective that is humbling to say the least.
RIP Pvt.Gill...
I have been looking for a WW2 Canadian helmet for awhile on Ebay and other sources. Couple weeks ago, I saw one with the name J.P. Gill inside with a service number beside it. I won the helmet:
Out of interest sake while the auction was on, I went to the Canada Virtual War Memorial and put in his last name. A J.P.Gill came up and when I checked his service number with the helmet, it matched!!
Link:
http://www.vac-acc.gc.ca/remembers/sub.cfm?source=collections/virtualmem/Detail&casualty=2663379
Unfortunately, he died on March 1st, 1945 near the end of the war. I now had his unit (Essex Scottish) off that site though so I did a little more research on Google. Turns out, the officer from his unit won the Victoria Cross for the unit's actions that day. Sounds like Gill was hit crossing 500 yards of open terrain. Here is the citation to his commanding officer Tilston with a description of the battle in the Hochwald forest:
Link:
http://www.vac-acc.gc.ca/general/sub.cfm?source=history/secondwar/citations/tilston
I also remembered a site that had old newspaper clippings from WW2 that I had been to before. Coincidently, JP Gill was from Hamilton and the Hamilton Spectator newspaper has most of their stuff archived online. I go to the site and type in Gill and get a newpaper article about him with a picture and a short bio!
The beauty of the internet was that I was able to get all of this in an easy search of 15 minutes.
Getting this type of information on a piece in your collection sure adds a different personal perspective that is humbling to say the least.
RIP Pvt.Gill...
