The stories of 46 soldiers with connections to Sudbury who fought and died in the First World War are now available to anyone.
That's thanks to Sudbury MP Paul Lefebvre, who has printed hundreds of copies of the book, “Sudbury's Fallen Soldiers in World War One”.
Lefebvre said the idea for the book came about when he was visiting the cenotaph at Memorial Park, which bears the names of 624 citizens who died while serving their country in war or on peacekeeping missions.
A fan of Canadian history, Lefebvre said he was struck by how recognizable some of the names were on the wall, names that are still visible in the community today.
“I wanted to know more about them, particularly those who died in the First World War,” Lefebvre said. “Who were these men and what stories could they tell? What was their connection to Sudbury? How did they come to enlist for the war and, perhaps, most importantly, what happened to them after they enlisted?”
The book took more than a year to put together. It took countless hours of research, spearheaded by principal researchers Justin Pappano and Benjamin Mossey. They used the Greater Sudbury Public Library archival records, the records at branches 76 and 564 of the Royal Canadian Legions, the JN Desmarais Library at Laurentian University, archives from the Northern Daily Star and the Sudbury Journal and other online resources.
All of those sources yielded limited results, but it was enough information to start to tell some of their stories, Lefebvre said.
“It's a start,” he said. “We don't have all the information, but I thought it was important to highlight the sacrifices they made.
“I hope residents can look through this collection and find a name, document or photo that resonates. The stories of the men in this book may be incomplete, but many live on in the stories of people who call Sudbury home today.”
In addition to the 26 copies of the book donated to Greater Sudbury Libraries, Lefebvre also gave them the banker's box of the original research that went into it, Lefebvre said.
