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They fought at Ypres in the fall of 1915, and at the Battle of the Somme at Courcelette and Regina Trench in 1916. They carried on to Vimy Ridge, Hill 70, and Passchendaele in 1917. They were part of the battles at Amiens and the Hundred Days campaign of 1918. The 26th Battalion was one of only a few Canadian infantry units to serve continuously on the Western Front from 1915 until the Armistice in 1918. More than 5,700 soldiers passed through its ranks: 900 were killed and nearly 3,000 were wounded. Only 117 of the original 1,150 recruits returned home after the war ended.
A Family of Brothers tells the powerful story of the "Fighting 26th," from their mobilization to the aftermath of the war. Using letters, newspaper accounts, war diaries, and other official documents, Brent Wilson offers a compelling account of the soldiers at the front and those behind the lines, their experiences of the war and how their lives would be transformed upon their return to the Canada.
A Family of Brothers is volume 25 of the New Brunswick Military Heritage Series.
About the author
J. Brent Wilson teaches in the history department at the University of New Brunswick and has worked at the Gregg Centre for the Study of War and Society since 1989. He is the editor of
Hurricane Pilot: The Wartime Letters of W.O. Harry Gill, D.F.M., 1940-1943, Vol. 10 in the New Brunswick Military Heritage Series, and a co-author of
Kandahar Tour: The Turning Point in Canada's Afghan Mission.
Summary
"Co-published by: New Brunswick Military Heritage Project" -- Title page verso.
