Canadian Expeditionary Force WWI

I spent a good part of today looking into the history of the Overseas Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) to help me understand where my ancestor, Alfred N. Labrecque fought in WWI. I have been meaning to do some research on this since my trip to the Quincy Public Library in November of 2006 (yikes, over a year ago!).

At the library I found a newspaper article from the Patriot Ledger that states Alfred telegraphed to the US from Canada on Nov. 23 1916, to say he was leaving to Halifax, England to train for the war and then going to the front in France as part of the 171st regiment of the Overseas CEF.

Further research into the 171st regiment confirmed that this regiment did go to England in November, 1916. (from wikipedia) It looks like wikipedia's source of information is this book: Over the Top! The Canadian Infantry in the First World War. From this article, I also learned that the 171st regiment was absorbed into the 148th regiment (apparently most of the CEF were absorbed into other regiments - so most regiments did not fight on the front lines with their original group). The 148th regiment in turn was absorbed into the 20th Reserve battalion.

Now I needed to find out where the 20th Reserve fought. I found a website from the Canadian Expeditionary Force Study Group "The Matrix Project" that the 20th Reserve was sent in to reinforce the 13th and 42nd Battalion in France. Lots of moving around going on. I could now look into which battles the 13th and 42nd Battalion fought, but I think I will wait to see which unit Alfred was actually sent to after he was sent to England as part of the 171st Overseas CEF. In order to do this, I need to either visit the Library and Archives Canada in Ottawa, or order a copy of the documents. I probably will end up ordering the documents.

I searched the Library and Archives Canada database on WWI soldiers, and found the record for Alfred, so that I may order the entire set of service documents when I am ready. On the attestation papers that are digitized online, I found that Alfred stated he was from the 87th regiment of the Active Militia. I was surprised to see this regiment listed, as he noted earlier that he was part of the 171st CEF. This is the way I understand it after reading about the Militia from The British Empire website. Alfred joined the Canadian Army under the militia, which raised troops to join the CEF, where eventually he ended up. The only thing that seems a bit confusing to me is that according to the newspaper article mentioned above, Alfred went to England in November of 1916, and his attestation papers online are dated 1917. Hopefully the actual service documents will clear this up.

Some interesting notes on Alfred that I have discovered looking into his records. His attestation papers for the CEF state that his birth name was Louis Henry Alfred Labrecque, but he put his name as Alfred Napoleon. It seems that some French Canadians named their children after their godparents - and may not necessarily go by the first two names on their birth record. So Alfred went by Alfred, I am not sure where the Napoleon part came from. Also - on his attestation papers, he states his birth is July 4, 1884, when his birth on the parish register for Louis Henry is July 1887. I have not found a birth record for an Alfred Napoleon Labrecque for July 1884. With these differences I was not sure I had the right Labrecque in the parish register (the attestation papers state his alias as Lois Henry and birth date as 1887 at parish of St. Pierre de Becquets, so they concluded that Alfred Napoleon and Louis Henry were the same person). Either way, I know from Alfred's marriage record to Edna Brown that his parents are Achilles and Augusta - which are the same parents for Louis Henry. Perhaps Louis Henry could be a brother of Alfred's and not actually Alfred, but there is not a Louis Henry in the US 1900 census living with Achilles and his other children. So I think it is most likely that Louis Henry is indeed Alfred Napoleon - as stated in the attestation papers. Again, hopefully there will be further clarification in his actual service records.

I also found it interesting that Alfred, who migrated to the United States as an infant with his family, decided to join the military in Canada. He was one of many who did not want to wait for the United States to enter the war, so decided to go to Canada to fight.

To Do:
1. Order Alfred Napoleon Labrecques service records from Library and Archives Canada
2. Determine which regiment Alfred fought with from the service records
3. Research where Alfred's regiment fought - good place to start is Wikipedia's article on List of infantry battalions in the Canadian Expeditionary Force and Canadian Expeditionary Force Study Group"The Matrix Project"
4. Search the War Diaries at Library and Archives Canada for more information on the unit Alfred fought with

Books on Topic:
1. A call to arms : the organization and administration of Canada's military in World War One
2. Over the Top! The Canadian Infantry in the First World War
3. Official History of the Canadian Army in the First World War: Canadian Expeditionary Force 1914-1919 by Colonel G. W. L. Nicholson, C.D.