What is Simcoe County Remembers : the Second World War?
Following the end of the Second World War, members of Simcoe County Council’s War Memorial Plaque Committee discussed ways and means commemorate those members of the Armed Forces who died of wounds or were killed on duty, and whose place of residence at the time of enlistment was in Simcoe County. Local councils also considered how best to honour the war dead of their municipalities.
Simcoe County Remembers: the Second World War is a virtual supplement to the County of Simcoe War Memorial Plaques and public memorials located in communities around Simcoe County and beyond. It is a database containing the names of those who had personal or familial connections to Simcoe County and who died while in service or shortly after the end of hostilities as a result of wounds or injuries sustained during the Second World War.
An initial list of the names on the County of Simcoe Honour Roll was augmented with names drawn from other public memorials. The personnel record for each Canadian serviceman and servicewoman was consulted and specific pieces of data transcribed into a working spreadsheet. Each name was also searched for in the Canadian Virtual War Memorial, Canada’s Books of Remembrance, and the Commonwealth War Graves Commission’s War Dead and Cemeteries database, and select pieces of information from each were also transcribed.
Once the research was substantially complete, the data was exported from the spreadsheet into a newly built database. A query form and results pages were created, along with the webpages you are viewing now. Once testing was complete, Simcoe County Remembers: The Second World War was launched for public use with an initial complement of 530 names.
While the Simcoe County Remembers: the Second World War database is intended to be as inclusive as possible, at least one of the following criteria needs to be met for the serviceman or servicewoman to be considered:
- Was the person born in Simcoe County?
- Did the person reside in Simcoe County at the time of enlistment?
- Did the person’s official next-of-kin reside in Simcoe County?
- Is the person’s name on one of the public war memorials located in Simcoe County?
- Did the person meet another criteria and die while in military service prior to, or soon after, the cessation of hostilities of causes directly connected to his or her war service?
- Is the person included on the Grey and Simcoe Foresters Memorial Roll and have a demonstrable link to Simcoe County?
Also included are the names of those who met the above criteria but in connection with the former Townships of Mara and Rama, which became a part of Simcoe County in 1974.
Additionally, it seemed only right and proper to remember the 26 international servicemen attached to the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan who died in Canada and were buried in Simcoe County’s cemeteries.