CEF 242 Bn CFC

[WJBates]

Searching for any information on the role of the 242 Bn CEF, which after arriving in England was absorbed into the Canadian Forestry Corps Jan 1917. Some personnel were located in Egham I believe and returned May 1919. jack

[jhill]

Your post has picqued my interest as I had noticed one or two local fellows who had joined up with that unit. A brief skiff through a sample of their enlistments and a check with Nicholson lets me offer these observations:

Early in 1916 the British government asked Ottawa to provide a forrestry battalion. The result was the 224th Battalion, apparently raised in the same manner as other CEF infantry units of the time. (This was still the chaotic Sam Hughes era!). By mid summer the 1600 or so men thus recruited were busy chopping down England's ancestral forests.

By that time, the Brits had already asked Ottawa for 2000 more. The result was the 238th, which started recruiting in the Ottawa area in late June, and the 242nd, which started in Montreal in August. The 242nd, however, were quite peculiar in that they recruited across the country. Many of their men were enlisted in British Columbia, Southern Ontario, and northern Alberta. Some attestation papers have "242Bn" crossed out and replaced with "238Bn" and vice versa.

Both units sailed to England in late 1916. In addition to work in England, some had crossed to France by the end of the year.

At the armistice about 12000 Canadian forresters were in France and about 10000 in England.

I shall have to put the 242nd on my list of units to study in more detail.

[WJBates]

jhill: Thank you, understood, I can help with dates etc of # 1048764 Walter JF if you wish, noted he was with the BC Coy, as you mentioned....jack