Some of the more recent military ancestors from my research

 

                                                                        WWII photo of my uncles in Cape Town

Also included in the BCGS 2023 Book of Remembrance were my military ancestors who served in WWI and WWII. They appear in the following list:

WWI: Charles Edwin Cavanagh, a publican, joined the Royal Navy in 1917 and served in the Mediterranean until September of that year when he was transferred to the air arm of the navy which was taken over by the RAF which formed April 1, 1918.

WWI: Harold Strange Chambers, immigrated to Canada in 1911 and, like many British born men in Canada, he joined up for the war. He spent his time in Ontario where pilots were being trained. He acted as clerical support. His records were interesting as his next of kin was listed as his cousin Margaret Little in Australia before he married in 1918.

WWII: Charles Edwin Booth Cavanagh, joined the RAF in 1939 shortly after war was declared. He was part of the crew setting up airfields in southern England, for which he was mentioned in dispatches. After that he was sent to Singapore but rerouted to India when that city fell to the Japanese while they were en route. He was an intelligence officer during the Burma Campaign where he liaised between the allied factions.

WWII: Cyril Cavanagh, merchant seaman. One of the many men working to bring supplies to Britain. His ships were torpedoed three times but he survived the war.

WWII: June Chambers, was working as a clerk in Welwyn Garden City when she joined the Women's Land Army in 1942. She resigned in 1945.

After trawling through the entries I sent in for the 2023 Book of Remembrance, I became aware that I left out some other family connections. Quite a few, in fact. The photo at the top of this blog post is a reminder of that. Looks like it's time to expand my list and, in some cases, flesh out the stories that I have.