Date of Birth: 1924
Lived in LaGlace.
Rank: Pilot Officer

Source: LaGlace

From Grande Prairie

• Lis of Recruits

Notes: n1/2 31-80-7-W6, E 1/2-32-80-7-W6, 1-1-63.VHLease

Date of Birth: 1924

Date of Birth: 20/02/1922

Source: Beaverlodge High Year Book 1947-48 p.26

Branch: Canadian Navy
Served in Normandy

• On Leave

Rifleman

• Canadian Virtual War Memorial

Date of Birth: 18/11/1917

Date of Birth: 13/10/1920

From Smoky Heights

• Partial Letter

From Smoky Heights

• List of Recruits

From La Glace

• Leaves to Join Air Force

Date of Birth: 1919
Notes: 77-26-W5. 1949

Regimental #104180, Army H and S Highlanders. Enlisted Jan 8, 1943.
Discharged, April 1946. Born in Mildred Sask, Jan 15, 1922.

Regimental #L103396. Ernest was born May 14, 1916 Mildred, Sask. Enlist Dec 10 1942, Discharged March 1946. Served in Canada England and N Europe.

Regimental #L104188. Born May 13 1907, Enlisted Jan 6 1943, Discharged July 15 1943. Died Aug 1, 1977. Legion Funeral.

Source: Beaverlodge High Year Book 1947-48 p.26

Source: Beaverlodge High Year Book 1947-48 p.26

Notes: cook, navy

Notes: Calgary tank reg.

Note: engineer

Martha Jensen enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force, Women’s Division in WWII. Without her parents permission, she “borrowed” her father’s naturalization papers to prove they were Canadian citizens. When her father needed his papers she had to confess what she had done. Martha was sent overseas as a wireless operator to Linton Air Base near York, England where two Canadian squadrons (Goose and Thunderbird) were stationed. When she arrived, there was so much work to be done that they worked 8 hours on, 8 hours off, seven days a week. Breaks in the airman’s pub were much appreciated. During her time there, a very special event was the visit of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth with their daughter, the young Princess Elizabeth. After the war, Martha stayed an additional four months, based at Allerton Place, to help with demobilization and bring all the POWs home. After the war she married Alfred Head, who had served in the Air Force at Linton, and lived in the south Peace River Country of Alberta.

• Martha's Photograph
• Martha Jensen fonds
• Blog Post

Date of Birth: 09/01/1929

Notes: 79-25-W5, 1950

Source: Beaverlodge to the Rockies pg. 314

Source: Beaverlodge High Year Book 1947-48 p.26

Source: Beaverlodge High Year Book 1947-48 p.26

"Bill" Henry was born Nov. 17, 1921 in Macklin Sask. Enlisted May 22, 1941, Discharged Sept 28, 1945 RCASC. Regimental #M35499. Served in Canada, England and NW Europe. Wounded, pension Died in 1993. Filed in Township 79-26-W5, 1951.

From Lymburn

Date of Birth: 24/04/1912

Date of Birth: 1923
Notes: NW 18-81-6-W6, 15-10-46, V Ag Lease

Date of Birth: 02/04/1924

Date of Birth: 21/02/1923

Date of Birth: 09/01/1922

born in Blaine Washington, 19 Mar 1913. His family came to the Peace Country in 1918. He lived in Rio Grande until his retirement in Apr 1972.

He served in the war. “The war years required many of the young men to enlist and I spent two years in training camps with many others from the district.” That’s all he writes in his page and a bit biography.
He married Alice Smith (Wembly, originally Souris, Manitoba) and the lived at the Chas. Engstrom farm. They had four children who all went to Beaverlodge for school.

Beaverlodge to the Rockies Supplement, 267

RCAF

• Home for a Visit

From Beaverlodge

• Enroute to Enlist

From Beaverlodge

• Enroute to Enlist

Source: Beaverlodge to the Rockies pg. 113

Member of the first contingent from Grande Prairie, D Company, C.A.S.F.
From Demmitt

• Enjoying Army Life
• List of Recruits
• Letter from Italy pg.1
• Letter from Italy pg2

For King and Country poster in Wembley

• Leaves for Edmonton

From Albright

• Enroute to Enlist

RCAF

Hopkins Amy Lee Glen RCAF Regimental # W300347. Born Dec 1, 1921 Cavendish, Alta, Enlisted March 1942, Discharged Nov 1945, Calgary. Served in Canada.

Arthur Hopkins was born Dec 11 1918 at Lake Saskatoon. Joined Calgary Highlanders Sept 11, 1941. Discharged Jan 12, 1946. Served in Canada, England and N Europe. Died Nov 16, 1980 in Spirit River Hospital. Buried in Eaglesham Cemetary.

Source: For King and Country poster in Wembley

Stanly was born Feb. 27, 1925 in Didsbury, Alta. Died June 8 1980 Regimental #M107149. Served 1939-1945 Star CVSM RCA.

Rank: Corporal
From Pipestone

• Mention in Newspaper

Branch: RCAF
Of Lymburn

• On Leave

Born April 13, 1923, Alfred attended Beaverlodge school. In 1942 he enlisted in the army becoming a snipper with the rank of L/Cpl. His devestating good looks attracted all the girls but he married Dorothy Smashnuk who also attended this school. He had been wounded before and was returning to active service when he was shot down while parachuting over Holland.
Source: Beaverlodge High Year Book 1947-48 p.26

Birth Place: Saskatchewan
Service Number: M104912
Force: Army
Regiment: South Saskatchewan Regiment, R.C.I.C.
Rank: Lance Corporal

• Commonwealth War Graves Commission

Date of Birth: 1922

Oscar was born on July 2, 1922. He spent time in the army during WWII and saw service in France, Germany, Italy and North Africa.
He passed away on September 25, 2005 and is buried in the Emerson Trail Cemetery.
Source: Wagon Trails Grown Over, p 822.

Member of the first contingent from Grande Prairie, D Company, C.A.S.F.

• Enjoying Army Life

Date of Birth: 19/02/1921

Source: Beaverlodge High Year Book 1947-48 p.26

Source: Pioneer Round-Up pg. 100

Calgary Tank Corps.

• Mention in Newspaper

For King and Country poster in Wembley

For King and Country poster in Wembley

.

• Recruits Join the Colors

Served in Calgary

• High Prairie Family

Birth Date: 21 Oct 1919
Birth Place: Beaverlodge, Alberta
Residence: Edmonton, Alberta
Service Number: J20873
Force: Air
Regiment: Royal Canadian Air Force
Rank: Flight Lieutenant
Killed in Action: 19 Feb 1945

• Commonwealth War Graves Commission

b. March 31, 1921 in Nilda, Alberta
Killed in Action on Dec 27, 1943 in Italy

Source: Where the Red Willow Grew

• Killed in Action
• High Prairie Family

Killed in Action on 3 August 1943 in Sicily

• Mentioned in newspaper
• High Prairie Family

Taken prisoner of war in Germany.

• Mentioned in newspaper
• High Prairie Family

Source: Beaverlodge High Year Book 1947-48 p.26

Source: Beaverlodge High Year Book 1947-48 p.26

.

• Recruits Join the Colors

Date of Birth: 11/01/1917

.

• Recruits Join the colors

Killed in Action: 1946(?)

Notes: 79-24-W5, 1952

RCAF

Regimental Number: M104779

Born 1923
Died February 1, 1991, buried in the Grande Prairie Cemetery

• Find a Grave

Canadian Light Artillery

Source: Beaverlodge High Year Book 1947-48 p.26

Harry was born on October 6, 1924. He joined the RCAF on November 1, 1942 and was discharged on November 25, 1945. He passed away June 8, 1999 and is buried in Edmonton, Alberta. Source: Wagon Trails Grown Over, p 195.

Date of Birth: 03/10/1918

Date of Birth: 19/01/1910

AC2

Date of Birth: 1920
Service Number: M56325
Regiment Royal Canadian Artillery
Force; Army
Rank: Sergeant
Date of Death: July 10, 1991

• War Brides Collection
• Grande Prairie Cemetery
• Johnston Wedding Photograph

Regimental Number: M33937

Willis, youngest child of Charles and Marie (Laffinier) Johnston, was born on October 18, 1921 in Calgary. He had an older sister, Dorothy (Johnston) Doerkson and two older half-siblings, Irene (Steffen) Belieu and Julius Albert Steffen. The family moved to Bezanson in 1923 to the homestead that Charles had filed on in 1912. Shortly thereafter, Charles purchased a ¼ section of land from “Doc” Labadie to which the family moved as there was a larger house and several outbuildings. Willis received his education at the one-room Bezanson School that was located on their property. Willis enjoyed hunting and trapping as a youngster – trapping which supplemented the family income and with his hunting and his mother’s large garden there was always lots to eat. Willis also had the contract to clean the school barn as another source of income. A trip to Grande Prairie to sell hogs was a two-day affair with a stop over at Glen Leslie.

Willis joined the Army in May, 1941. He was promoted to Sergeant in 1942 at which time he disembarked for England. He was part of the Normandy invasion and remained in the war zone throughout the entire campaign. He also had volunteered for service in the Pacific Theatre. He received the 1939-45 Star, France and Germany Star, Defense Medal, Canadian Volunteer Service Medal & Clasp and the War Medal 1939-45.

Once the war was over he was discharged at Calgary on May 31, 1946 and subsequently returned to Bezanson/Grande Prairie.

Willis met Vivian Theresa Nelson at a dance in Grande Prairie. She was born March 17, 1926, the 3rd youngest of a family of nine born to Ole and Ellen Nelson of Burdett, Alberta. Vivian had moved to Grande Prairie to stay with her sister in order that she could attend St. Joe’s Business College.

Vivian had received her elementary education at Browndale School and graduated from the Gershaw High School in Bow Island, Alberta. Vivian was very athletic and especially liked to play ball and was known for her excellent pitching arm. Once Vivian graduated from College, she was employed with the Alberta Government in the Department of Lands & Forests in Grande Prairie. While living in Grande Prairie, she played on their Ladies Fastball team.

They married on November 20, 1947 in the McQueens Presbyterian Church located on the banks of Bear Creek. They lived in Grande Prairie at 10002-105 avenue, where the Dairy Queen currently is located. When Willis returned from overseas, he had purchased his father’s ½ section of land. Willis operated land-breaking equipment and opened up a lot of land in the Bezanson area for those that were living there. A daughter Wanda was born in 1950. Willis realized in order to farm full-time he would need to move his family to Bezanson. He moved part of the original house that he was raised in to what would become known as the home quarter. He poured the foundation by hand by mixing the concrete in 5 gallon pails. He built on to the existing structure and the family moved in 1952/53. Shortly thereafter, Willis purchased the original Bezanson School Barn and moved it to his building site. The barn is still located on the farm property.

Willis and Vivian began cattle-ranching with Willis working out most winters in the oilfield construction industry, building roads & leases while Vivian looked after the cattle. Willis and Vivian had land leases that were located on a hogs-back just north of the Smoky Bridge on the east side of the river. Every spring they would move the cattle there for the summer. Willis had made a trail from the bridge area to the hogs-back with a little 440 John Deere caterpillar. The trail is still known to this day as “The Johnston Trail”.

Willis purchased two more quarters of land adjoining what he already owned. Life on the farm was a busy one, looking after the livestock, putting up the winter’s supply of hay, planting & harvesting a large garden, picking and canning wild fruit, butchering chickens. Willis was the “landscaper” and enjoyed planting all the lilacs, caragana hedges, spruce and pine trees and poplars.

As Vivian was such an accomplished pianist, their house was always the site of “house parties” – the main source of entertainment in those days. She often played the mouth organ the same time as she played the piano by means of some sort of contraption she wore around her neck. She also played the accordion – upside down as she was left-handed and also was quite an accomplished trumpet player.

Willis was a very staunch Conservative and campaigned for John Diefenbaker in his bid to become Prime Minister of Canada. Willis & Vivian were very involved in the Community and Willis and several others volunteered their services to build the teacherage at the Bezanson School in 1955. As well, as a member of the West Smoky Legion, Willis donated many hours of volunteer service to assist in the building of the “Memorial Arena” in Grande Prairie. They were always at any functions that their daughter, Wanda was involved in which meant Vivian did a lot of driving – often in a vehicle that was not too road worthy. Vivian was the secretary of the fastball team that Wanda played on, the Bezanson Tigers.

Vivian loved to curl and passed the time in the winters by doing so. Vivian was diagnosed with cancer in 1971. She fought a valiant battle however passed away at the Grande Prairie Hospital on September 2, 1974. The Funeral was held at the Trinity Lutheran Church in Grande Prairie with interment in the Glen Leslie Cemetery. Willis had a memorial trophy made in her name to be given out once a year at the local Curling Rink.

Willis sold the herd of cattle shortly after Vivian passed away and continued to work in the oilfield construction industry in the winter time. In 1977, he sold all of his land except for the home quarter. Willis’ health started to fail as he was diagnosed with cancer for which he underwent radiation treatments in Edmonton. After years of living with a heart condition, he was scheduled for a valve replacement in Edmonton on August 25, 1995 however did not survive the surgery. The funeral was held at the Oliver’s Funeral Chapel and at his request; Willis was cremated with the ashes being interred in the Glen Leslie Cemetery alongside his wife Vivian.

Photograph & biography courtesy of Willis's daughter Wanda Johnston Zenner

Wagon Trails Grown Over p.825
From Sexsmith

• On Leave

Service Number: R26172
Branch: RCAF
Died: 9 Aug 1984
Burial: Halcourt Cemetery, Halcourt, Alberta

For King and Country poster in Wembley

Service Number: R87959
Force: Air
Regiment Royal Canadian Air Force
Rank: Flight Sergeant
Killed in Action: 25 Jul 1942
Place of Birth: Grande Prairie, Alberta Date of Birth: 20 Sept 1920

• Commonwealth War Graves Commission

.

• Recruits Join the Colors

Regimental Number: M54350, Fifth Armoured Division
From Wembley

• Letter From Italy

Date of Birth: 13/06/1905

Chip was born in Fox River, Nova Scotia on January 11, 1887. He came to Spirit River in 1912 and filed on homesteads at 27-78-6-W6 and 7-79-6-W6; his brother Charles filed on a neighboring quarter. Both brothers enlisted in the Canadian army in the autumn of 1915. On September 16, 1916, Chip was awarded the Victoria Cross by George V for his actions at Courcelette. His citation notes that "Kerr and small group of men charged enemy trench after prolonged grenade exchange. Captured 62 enemy soldiers." According to the London Gazette (October 26, 1916):

“For most conspicuous bravery. During a bombing attack he was acting as bayonet man, and, knowing that bombs were running short, he ran along the parados under heavy fire until he was in close contact with the enemy, when he opened fire on them at point-blank range, and inflicted heavy loss. The enemy, thinking they were surrounded, surrendered. Sixty-two prisoners were taken and 250 yards of enemy trench captured. Before carrying out this very plucky act one of Private Kerr’s fingers had been blown off by a bomb. Later, with two other men, he escorted back the prisoners under fire, and then returned to report himself for duty before having his wound dressed.”

Chip married Gertrude Clarissa Bridger in London in 1917. In April of 1918, he was discharged, having been found medically unfit because of a deformity of his left foot and right hand (the deformity of his hand would have been the injury he sustained at Courcelette). Chip and Gertrude returned to Spirit River in April of 1918 and raised five children. In World War II, Chip served with the RCAF. He moved to British Columbia after World War II and died in Port Moody on February 19, 1963.

Sources: Chepi Sepe p. 559; Pioneers of the Peace p. 244

• Attestation Paper
• Lives of the First World War profile
• Canadian Great War Project profile
• Letter (August 15, 1916)
• Mention in John Pringle's letter (Aug. 29, 1916)
• Wounded (October 24, 1916)
• Awarded Victoria Cross (Nov. 1, 1916)
• Receives Victoria Cross (March 13, 1917)
• Victoria Cross recipient (April 23, 1918)
• A Victoria Cross Doesn't Keep the Flour Sack Full
• 10 World War I Names Every Canadian Should Know
• Serving in RCAF (February 6, 1941)
• Biography (1934)
• Boys Who Went Overseas
• Spirit River blog
• Wikipedia article
• Mount Kerr
• National Defence & the Canadian Forces article
• Find A Grave

Killed in Action: March 1945

Warrant Officer Class I

• Canadian Virtual War Memorial

Date of Birth: 22/04/1926

RCA

• Wounded

For King and Country poster in Wembley

Date of Birth: 08/01/1928

Date of Birth: October 17, 1914
PLace of Birth: Rossdale, Manitoba
Home Town: Webster
Date of Enlistment: 1940
Force: Army
Regiment: R.C.E.
Postings: Holland
Date of Marriage: Jan. 10, 1946
Place of Marriage: Holland
Date of Death: Nov. 6, 1976
Place of Death: Webster
Source: Wagon Trails Grown Over pg. 428, 1149

• War Brides Collection
• Krzyczkowski Wedding Photograph