A great deal of research on the men and women of Milton and the surrounding areas in WWII was written by Ken Lamb, in association with the Milton Historical Society and the Royal Canadian Legion (Branch #136 Milton). This book “Milton Remembers WWII 1939-1945” was published in May 1995. Copies are available for reference or purchase from the MHS or Legion.
Information for those that served from Milton in WWII is provided on the web site in three (3) main pages, accessible here or from the drop-down menu on any page:
- WWII Soldier Details
Information from local and external sources concerning the men of Milton who paid the ultimate sacrifice. - WWII Soldier Extracts
The photograph and summary extracted from the MHS book “Milton Remembers WWII 1939-1945”. - WWII Soldier News
News reports about the men of Milton, as text or scanned images from the papers held in the MHS Archives.
During the process of undertaking the research work on the Milton Soldiers of the Great War by Richard Laughton, a significant amount of information was coincidentally collected on the WWII soldiers, in the form of Honour Rolls and Cenotaph information. All of the soldiers names were corrected from the local records and forwarded to the Department of Defence “National Inventory of Canadian Military Memorials” (NICMM) in Ottawa. Not all of the corrections submitted from Milton have been posted to the DND web site and some of the memorials are missing. A review of this matter has been initiated as part of the WWII project. For details on this work, please refer to the page on Rolls & Memorials.
- Main Index Town of Milton
- Victoria Park Cenotaph
- Haltonville Cenotaph
- Evergreen Cemetery
- Knox Presbyterian Church
- Grace Anglican Church
- St. Stephens
Not all of the names on the rolls and cenotaphs are included in the list of “Milton Soldiers” as some were from adjoining areas. For example, the Haltonville cenotaph lists Cecil Peter Wilson (probably Robert Cecil Wilson) who was from Rockwood.
A check was made of all of the names on the Victoria Park Cenotaph as the list on the NICMM web site was not up-to-date. Where the photograph of the WWI side of the cenotaph does not match the book list (or other WWII records) is noted as follows:
- Smillie, J. F. was an addition as a casualty of the Korean War.
- Paterson, M. was mistakenly added on the WWII side as a WWI casualty. A separate research report (WORD, PDF with attachments) documents that there was no such person in any records. The real person is Mary Blaikley of Gartcosh, Scotland.
- Dixon, D. (updated January 21, 2012) was an addition (time or reason unknown). The only record for a Canadian casualty in either WWI or WWII was Daniel Dixon (family from Barbados) who was a Utility Boy in the Canadian Merchant Navy. The CWGC and VWM report that he was on the S. S. Lady Hawkins out of Nova Scotia and was killed on January 19, 1942. The link to Milton is not know at this time.
Please click on the link for Cenotaph Errors for additional details on these items. A link is provided there to the detailed research report on Mary Paterson (Blaikley).
In total, 23 of the 32 names in the book are listed on the Victoria Park Cenotaph and 3 on Haltonville. That leaves 6 soldiers who died from WWII not listed on a cenotaph (Ezeard, Gibbons, Mills, Muddle, Parsons and Teeple). Other than Gibbons, who appears to be from Acton, the others are linked to Milton through relatives in the community and thus are not true “Miltonians”. The listing for S. J. Robertson at Victoria Park is most likely J. J. Robertson, as listed in all other records.
Considerable effort was put into recording the stories of the men and women of Milton who served in the Second World War and returned home. In addition to details contained in the book, a number of these are recorded in the new “Memories Project”, the results of which are linked to the Milton Legion web site.
Proceed to the WWII Soldier Details, WWII Soldier Extracts, o the WWII Soldier News.
