How the BMO Archives Team helped the Canadian Armed Forces’ Casualty Identification Program
Remembering Captain William Webster Wilson
Earlier this year, members of the Canadian Armed Forces’ (CAF) Casualty Identification Program and the Department of National Defence (DND) were working to identify a previously unknown First World War grave in the Adanac Military Cemetery in Miraumont, France. They had received research in 2016 from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission about the grave of an unidentified military captain, but it was BMO’s Heritage site and memorial books that helped put a face to the name.
BMO is one of a few organizations with a private archive collection that has made some collections accessible to the public to further historical research and development. While researching, the Casualty Identification Program team came across our digitized HR ledger pages where Captain Wilson was featured. The ledger entry provided insight into Captain Wilson’s character, where he was described as “bright and hardworking” and confirmed that he died while serving with the 16th Battalion.
The Archives is also home to two memorial books published by BMO following the First and Second World Wars. Captain Wilson is proudly featured in “Memorial of the Great War” as one of the many BMO employees who served and fell, making the ultimate sacrifice. His name is currently inscribed on the Canadian National Vimy Memorial, which commemorates members of the Canadian Expeditionary Force who died in France during the First World War with no known grave.
Learn more about Captain William Webster Wilson and how relatives of soldiers with no known graves can register with the CAF’s Casualty Identification Program.
Making over 200 years of history accessible to the public
BMO’s history isn’t just a history about our organization, but speaks to communities, nation building and the experiences of our employees over more than two centuries. We are a company with a North American presence that pre-dates the birth of Canada and goes back over 200 years in the U.S.
The BMO Corporate Archives has a long history of sharing our heritage to make it more accessible. In 2022, we launched the Our Heritage site and through it, we’ve been able to share stories with the public about our beginnings as a single branch in 1817 to one of the largest banks in North America, as well as stories about our colleagues and their experiences working at BMO.
“As Canada’s oldest bank, we have an archival collection that doesn’t just speak to our origins as an institution but to the stories of people and communities. Our history with the Canadian Defence Community goes back to our earliest days and we are lucky to have a collection that speaks to BMO’s long history of support. Captain Wilson is more than a name and picture, and I’m glad that through our archival collections we were able to share more about his life.”
– Shawna Satz,
Corporate Archivist
Visit the BMO Heritage site to learn more about our past.
