Canadian military photos lost and found on Facebook

Like a lot of genealogists, I own a number of photos of relatives who served in the military. In some of them, my relative is standing next to an unknown man in uniform or sitting in an official portrait of his regiment.

I’ve often wondered if the mystery men in those photos have relatives who would like to see these photos.

Since earlier this year, a Facebook group has been set up to match relatives to long-lost photos and to help people identify the mystery men and women in their photos.

Called Canadian Military Photos Lost and Found and administered by Bob Reid and Renee Vandenborre Legg, the group receives about a dozen new posts every day.

The About section explains the purpose of the Facebook group: “Many people have wonderful treasures that have been collected through the years, for us the whole idea of the group was to mainly get those old photos you have out of a box, basement, closet, attic or wherever. This could also include any artifacts you might have.”

In the case of one photo of No. 7 Platoon “B” Coy. No. 20 C.I.(B)T.C.-C.A., taken in Brantford, Ontario, October 26, 1944, all 71 men have been identified by their last name.

Left to right: Bill Piggott, Ronald Chabot (wounded in action), Robert Forestell (killed in action August 8, 1944), Alex Stalker (killed in action February 22, 1944), and Bill Walker in Coniston, Ontario, 1943. Posted on the Canadian Military Photos Lost & Found Facebook Group. Source: Jason Marcon.

Searching and posting
Since the group is Open, you do not have to join to view the photos. If you want to post photos or make comments, however, you must join.

When first visiting the group, enter a family name, regiment, or place in the search box in the left margin to see if anything pops up.

If a search is unsuccessful, take a look at the photos to see if you recognize anyone.

When posting a photo, the admins ask you to include the names of the people and any other identifying information in your post.

Ms. Legg explained in a recent post how to make the photos searchable: “When posting in a group try and put as much information in the original post like who, what, when, where, why, how or anything else you think of that would help others find your post. … For example if someone was looking up ‘SIMMONS’ they would find every original post with ‘SIMMONS’ in it or comments made by members with “SIMMONS” in their name.”

Unfortunately, not everyone follows the tip, which means you should also scroll through the photos. In some cases, the photos include an image of the caption written on the back.

Now, go look through your albums for Canadian military photos to post on this group. And I’ll look through mine.