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Alexandra McKinnon ✨ @alxmck.bsky.social · 15/03/2025

The grave of Private Arthur Vanance, a soldier from Kenora, Ontario, has been identified 80 years after his death during the liberation of the Netherlands. Private Vanance and his brothers served with the Lake Superior Regiment. #CanadaRemembers www.canada.ca/en/departmen...

canada.ca

Canadian soldier of the Second World War identified - Canada.ca

The Department of National Defence (DND) and the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) have confirmed the identification of a previously unknown Second World War soldier’s grave in Holten Canadian War Cemetery,...

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Alexandra McKinnon ✨ @alxmck.bsky.social · 15/12/2024

While I work with death every day, it has been distressing to realise that members of my family have been buried under the soccer field at a private school in Hobart. I'm not quite sure what to think of an article that begins with the school principal's perspective, rather than the human cost.

abc.net.au

Australia's largest mass exhumation reveals almost 2,000 bodies underneath school

After workers dug up two skeletons at a Hobart school's hockey field it was believed there'd likely be more, with the location being an old graveyard. But the scale of what the archaeological team fou...

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Alexandra McKinnon ✨ @alxmck.bsky.social · 06/12/2024

On the anniversary of the Halifax Explosion on 6 December 1917, I wanted to share a brief glimpse into one Halifax family’s experiences of loss on both the battlefield and the home front.

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Alexandra McKinnon ✨ @alxmck.bsky.social · 02/12/2024

For bereaved families during the Great War, what could "missing" mean? For Private Ralph "Dickey" Vaughan's family, "missing" meant an enduring search for answers: "intervals of waiting, hoping and being tossed on the waves of hope, doubt and despair". #fww #ww1

A newspaper clipping from The Evening Mail, Halifax, stating that Private Ralph Vaughan has been reported wounded and missing.

"Word was received in the city yesterday that Private Ralph (Dick) Vaughan, of the 85th Battalion, was reported wounded and missing. Nearly all of the Vaughan family lost their lives in the explosion of December 6th, and the few surviving members are anxiously awaiting news from Private Vaughan, who does not know of the death of his mother, only sister and brother.
...
Ralph Vaughan made a splendid reputation in Halifax and Cape Breton as a
Going across with his battalion in 1916, Pte Vaughan was one of the first men picked to proceed to France, and for nearly a year went thru some of the biggest battles on the British front. The many friends of the Vaughan family, which is one of the oldest and most respected families in the north end, will sympathize with James Vaughan Sr., James Jr., and Frank Vaughan (at present dangerously wounded and in a local hospital), the surviving members of the Vaughan family."

A newspaper clipping from The Evening Mail, Halifax, reporting a claim that Private Ralph Vaughan is at an Australian hospital.

"The good news has reached Halifax that there is a possible chance of Ralph (Dickey) Vaughan being alive. Dickey was reported missing and wounded a few weeks ago, and it was feared that he had been killed, but an officer returning from overseas bring news that is is [sic] confident that Dickey is in an Australian hospital. Nearly all of Ralph's family were killed in the explosion."

A newspaper clipping from The Evening Mail, Halifax, stating that Private Ralph Vaughan's family has been informed that he is "presumed to have died".

"For proof that these intervals of waiting, hoping and being tossed on the waves of hope, doubt and despair, are long and agonizing, consider the case of PRIVATE RALPH A. ("Dicky") VAUGHAN, 85th battalion, Nova Scotia Highlanders, one of the champion athletes of the province and a first-rate soldier. "Dicky" Vaughan was reported "missing" on October 30, 1917 at Passchendaele. That was over eight months ago. In the meantime his relatives in Halifax have had to suffer the agony of all kinds of forebodiments, not hearing from him and not knowing whether he was alive and a prisoner or whether he had been killed by a mine explosion and buried or had died on the field or in a prison camp in Germany. Thus his relatives had to suffer until two weeks ago when official word was received July 19 in these terse,, unsympathetic terms—"presumed to have died." But still the anxiety and agony will exist in the minds and hearts of the Halifax hero's relatives until some one who knows absolutely the facts states that "Dicky" Vaughan is alive or is dead."

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Alexandra McKinnon ✨ @alxmck.bsky.social · 21/11/2024

“For King, For Country”: a reverse-painted glass framed portrait of Gunner Ronald Frederick Eedy, killed in action on 22 October 1917 at Passchendaele. His father and three brothers all served. Only Ronald would not return to Australia. #ww1 #fww

Image description from the Australian War Memorial:

"Studio portrait of 1540 Gunner (Gnr) Ronald Frederick Eedy, 1st Reinforcements, 17th Battalion (later, 7th Battery, 3rd Field Artillery Brigade) of Sydney, NSW. Gnr Eedy enlisted on 5 April 1915 and embarked from Sydney aboard HMAT Themistocles on 12 May 1915. He was killed in action on 22 October 1917 at Passchendaele, Belgium, aged 20 years. This portrait is framed by a painted art nouveau-style design on the reverse of the glass. The central portrait was taken prior to his embarkation and the glass was painted in 1917 following his death. The words "For King For Country" have been painted into two blocks on either side of the portrait. The Australian Coat-of-Arms is at top centre of the glass and on either side are two small photographs of King George V (left) and Lord Kitchener (right). A photograph of the troopship HMAT Themistocles is placed at the bottom of the glass, on either side are inscriptions: "ENLISTED/ APRIL 1915/ SAILED/ 12TH MAY 1915" and "KILLED IN ACTION/ FRANCE/ 22ND OCT/ 1917." Inscriptions underneath the ship describe his unit: "7th BATTERY" and "3rd BRIG FIELD ARTILLERY". His father 2249 Private (Pte) William Ferrier Eedy, 2nd Remount Unit, and three brothers, 3316 Lance Corporal George William Eedy, 14th Battalion, 1732 Gunner Peter Ferrier Eedy, 3rd Field Artillery Brigade, 3403 Private Neil Arthur Matthew Eedy, AAMC, all served with the AIF. All except Ronald returned to Australia."

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Alexandra McKinnon ✨ @alxmck.bsky.social · 17/11/2024

First World War ephemera: decorated leaves from Gallipoli "with love from Fred". #fww #ww1

Image description from the Australian War Memorial: "Three dried, damaged leaves decorated in ink.

The first leaf is decorated on one side with 'Dardanelles 16.10.15' [illegible picture beneath] and 'Merry Xmas. And a happy New [Year]' on the other.

The second leaf is decorated with 'Dard[anelles] 11.10.15 To Nino with love from Fred' on one side and a drawing of a soldier standing over the body of a dead soldier with the text 'Will they never come' on the other.

The third leaf is decorated with a sketch of a soldier firing from behind an [embankment] or parapet and a flower with the text 'with love from Fre[d]' and the other side has 'Dard's 11.10.15 To Jack with [lo]ve from Fred'."

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Alexandra McKinnon ✨ @alxmck.bsky.social · 17/11/2024

About me: I’m a research historian working on casualty identification from the world wars. My work focuses on Canadian war dead (including #milhist and #familyhistory), but I’m interested in transnational stories. My research interests include memory, commemoration, and peacebuilding.

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Alexandra McKinnon ✨ @alxmck.bsky.social · 10/03/2024

a crowdsource request for anyone in Sri Lanka / #lka: Do you know of any First World War memorials in your town? Could you please send me a photo of the names?

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Alexandra McKinnon ✨ @alxmck.bsky.social · 07/03/2024

A request for any naval historians: I'm trying to find records connected to the Ville de la Ciotat, a French merchant ship torpedoed in the Mediterranean on Christmas Eve 1915. Does anyone have any advice for finding French maritime records from the First World War?

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Alexandra McKinnon ✨ @alxmck.bsky.social · 25/02/2024

Hello, 💙☁️! I'm returning to social media while I spend this month writing, mostly in the beautiful State Library of Victoria. I'm keen to connect with historians, particularly anyone working on cultural heritage, commemoration, and conflict.

A view of the Dome at the State Library of Victoria, from the desks below. not pictured: every tourist in Melbourne

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