MY PHOTO QUIZ PAGE
Here are three different photographs that I have of
Grandfather George Van
Wyck Laughton, M.C. in his glory of surviving WW1. I wish it could
have been the same for all Canadians, but it wasn't. Every time I work on
this project, I think of the men and women (and the others, as my wife tells me)
that did not come home. I am just a grandson, and it brings tears to my
eyes some 90 years later, so I can't imagine what it must have been like for the
mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters and children!
Grandfather Laughton left Canada in the CEF and later
joined the BEF as an officer. Some training in England apparently occurred
after the reorganization of the CEF (they dumped a lot of officers in the 8 for
4 split) and the drop in the Canadian officers in training from the University
Corps.
I am fortunate that I have somehow ended up with key
components of his memorabilia, as my parents house burnt to the ground (with me
in it) in 1967 and most of the items were destroyed. My grandmother.
apparently if not fortunately, kept key items that were not passed on to my
father, others I have but they are in ruins (medals, souvenirs, etc.) yet in
some sense still valuable.
As the CEF Study Group has progressed I have learnt more
than one could imagine. One recent example is what you can learn from a
photograph. What one initially sees is a mere fraction of what the
photograph presents. That sent me back to look at what photographs I had
and what "I" and "We" could learn from those relics. I
would have never looked at these in the same light, and now I look forward to
what others can say, tell, describe, depict, predict, hypothesize, summarize or
guess.
Here is what I have and what little I can tell you to
start. Whatever you tell me will go on the web page to document this
adventure, so here we go .... what do you see that I don't see! (click on the photos for the
original size)
