Everett Ozro
Miller, Canadian Army WWI
When I was at Vimi Ridge I was planning to look for his name on the wall but when I was there the monument was being renovated and could not get to the monument. I was told by the guides that the names were of the fallen and I knew that he survived the war. I had done some research on the Canadian Army and each step thought he would have been there. When I found the papers it took me a year before I caught the word "Drafted" and was floored. He didn't choose to go but his older brother did and joined the US army and didn't come back. Then I found that he was Military Police, A job that is not celebrated by many I have heard. years later when I spoke with John Miller and found that "He never got to the continent" To this day I wish that he would have talked about his time more as I wondered what mental minefields he would have had to deal with.
Randy Miller (New Zealand) said his dad was injured and transferred to be a Military Policeman at the end of the war. I had remember hearing he was at Vimi Ridge (all the Can Army was) but without knowing his unit number can't tell what he did.
Randy Miller (New Zealand) said his dad was injured and transferred to be a Military Policeman at the end of the war. I had remember hearing he was at Vimi Ridge (all the Can Army was) but without knowing his unit number can't tell what he did.
Conversation with John Miller (son of
Everett) May 2016 stated that his dad got a bad flu and was transferred to the
Military Police when he was better. “He
never got to the continent”
Drafted on Jan 25, 1918 in Edmonton (via his draft papers I found)
Jan. Conscription now in force.
March 21. German Offensive begins.
March 30. Canadian Cavalry attack at Moreuil Wood.
Aug 08. The Battle of Amiens. The beginning of what is known
as Canada's Hundred Days.
Aug 26. The Battle of the Scarpe.
Sept 02. The Battle of the Drocourt-Queant Line.
Sept 27. The Battle of the Canal Du Nord and Cambrai.
Nov 02. The Canadian Corps capture the town of Valenciennes
in its last major battle of the war.
Nov 10. The Canadian Corps Reached the outskirts of Mons.
Nov 11. At 10:58am Private George Price of
the 28th Battalion is killed by a sniper. Two minutes later at 11:00am the
armistice came into effect. The war was over.
After the Military Service Act was passed in 1917 tensions ran
high throughout Canada. Not all Canadians were as enthusiastic about joining
the war effort as the first Canadian volunteers had been. In fact many people
objected to the idea of war completely. The conscientious objectors or
unwilling soldiers sought exemption from combat. Instead, many joined the Non-Combatant Corps, where they took on other roles. Their duties consisted of
cleaning and other labour. They did not carry weapons but were expected to
dress in uniform, and they practised regular army discipline. Often the
conscientious objector was abused, deemed a coward, and stripped of basic rights.[2] In the British House of
Commons a resolution for the disenfranchisement of conscientious objectors was
defeated by 141 to 71. Lord Hugh Cecil, who was a well-known churchman and
statesman, said that he was “entirely out of sympathy for conscientious
objectors, but he could not force them to do what they thought was wrong or
punish them for refusing to do something they thought was wrong.”[3]
However, the government was making an effort to be sympathetic
toward those who refused to take part in military service. Many communities set
up local tribunals. If a man refused to serve he was put in front of a panel of
two judges: one appointed by a board of selection named by Parliament, and the
other by the senior county judge. The man was to plead his case, and if the
panel was not convinced, the man asking for exemption was allowed to appeal.[4] If the judges found that
it was best if the person stayed at home, then he was not sent overseas. Many
Canadians were unhappy with the conscientious objectors' choice to refuse
combat. Many people believed that if people were not willing to give service
against the enemy, then the only choice for them was between civil or military
prisons.[5]
Conscription posed a difficult question for the government.
Conscription was unprecedented, and the problem proved to be that the
government did not know who was best suited to become a soldier, a toolmaker or
a farmer. The issue of manpower and ensuring that the proper men were being
relocated to the most appropriate roles overseas was an issue that lasted the
duration of the war.[6]
By the spring of 1918, the government had amended the act so that there
were no exemptions, which left many English Canadians opposed as well. Even
without exemptions, only about 125,000 men were ever conscripted, and only
25,000 of these were sent to the front. Fortunately for Borden, the war ended
within a few months, but the issue left Canadians divided and distrustful of
their government https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conscription_Crisis_of_1917
During the early
years of World War I, Regimental Police were the only
police element in the Canadian Army. The situation was such that the 2nd Canadian Division made its brigades responsible for
the provision of "Trench Police" to perform traffic control duties.
The Canadian Military Police Corps was formed during October 1917, with a total of 850
all ranks.
The CMPC itself
was disbanded on 30 June 1920.
At the outset of the First World War, the Canadian
Army consisted of a tiny "Permanent Force" or Regular Army and a
large Non-Permanent Militia. There was no organized Corps or Regiment of
Military Police in the Army, a few units had a Regimental Police or Provost
section consisting of a dozen or so men under the command of a Provost
Sergeant. Camps and Garrisons had locally appointed personnel functioning as
Military Police, however discipline was primarily a Regimental concern, through
the normal chain of command.
Soldiers temporarily assigned to Military Police
duties were expected to be locally recruited, often from gentlemen of large
physical stature, who might or might not have civil police experiance. Camp
Police are mentioned briefly in various Militia publications prior to 1914.
Major General William Otter's The Guide: A Manual for the Canadian
Militia describes very briefly, the duties and identification of military
police. Generally, the duties of Camp Police were to maintain order, regulate
civilian tradesmen, provide escorts for defaulters and enforce sanitary regulations.
In September, 1914, a small detachment of Military
Police accompanied the First Contingent of the Canadian Expeditionary Force to
England. Captain E.S. Clifford D.S.O. was appointed as Assistant Provost
Marshal for the First Contingent. A section of Military Police consisting of a
Warrant Officer and 9 Privates was with Divisional Headquarters. 1st Infantry
Brigade Headquarters had a section of 4 Military Mounted Police. Upon arrival
in England, the detachment underwent training with the British Military Police.
Canadian Military Police appear to have adopted British methods, organisation
and equipments. Unfortunately, detailed records of this period were lost due to
a fire in 1917.
The Canadian Military Police Corps
(CMPC) was authorised on the 15th of September, 1917 by Militia General Orders 93 & 94. The initial establishment
was set at 30 Officers and 820 Warrant Officers and NCOs. Only trained soldiers
were to be selected and they were required to serve a one month probationary
period before being transferred. Applicants were required to have exemplary
service records, most having served with existing Military Police units. The
CMPC School was formed at Rockcliffe near Ottawa in June, 1918. The first
commanding officer of the school was Major Baron Osborne. The basic course was
of three weeks duration, upon successful completion of the course Privates were
promoted to Lance Corporal.
The following is an excerpt from the Report of
the Minister, Overseas Military Forces of Canada, 1918:
"The selection of personnel
for Provost Service is a matter of great importance, even more so than in the
case of policemen in civil life. The Military Police must be tactful,
intelligent, and determined."
Canadian Expeditionary Force (C.E.F.)
Routine Order No. 486 on the 25th of April, 1918 authorised the CMPC as a unit
of the C.E.F. Two detachments, Nos. 8 and 9, served with the C.E.F. overseas,
the remaining 11 detachments were posted to their respective Military Districts
in Canada. Colonel Gilbert Godson-Godson, DSO DCM, below left, was appointed as
the first Provost Marshal of the Canadian Military Police Corps.
Military Police Detachments
No.1 Detachment..........London, Ont.
No.2 Detachment..........Toronto, Ont
No.3 Detachment..........Kingston,Ont.
No.4 Detachment..........Montreal, Que.
No.5 Detachment..........Quebec, Que.
No.6 Detachment..........Halifax, N.S.
No.10 Detachment.........Winnipeg,Man.
No.11 Detachment.........Victoria, B.C.
No.12 Detachment.........Regina, Sask.
No.13 Detachment.........Calgary, Alta.
No.2 Detachment..........Toronto, Ont
No.3 Detachment..........Kingston,Ont.
No.4 Detachment..........Montreal, Que.
No.5 Detachment..........Quebec, Que.
No.6 Detachment..........Halifax, N.S.
No.10 Detachment.........Winnipeg,Man.
No.11 Detachment.........Victoria, B.C.
No.12 Detachment.........Regina, Sask.
No.13 Detachment.........Calgary, Alta.
On the 31st of May, 1918, Privy
Council Order 754 transferred the Officers and men of the Dominion Police
(primarily responsible for the security of government buildings in Ottawa) to
the Department of Militia & Defence. The Dominion Police became the Civil
Branch of the Canadian Military Police Corps.
The CMPC in Canada played a major role
in enforcing the Conscription Act and apprehending deserters and draft evaders.
Military Police were permitted to wear civilian clothes in order to carry out
their duties.
By 1918, the CMPC had a strength of 3,356
all ranks, distributed as follows:
CMPC Canada - 1853
CMPC Civil Branch - 969
CMPC Overseas (C.E.F) - 484
CMPC New York City - 50
CMPC Civil Branch - 969
CMPC Overseas (C.E.F) - 484
CMPC New York City - 50
The CMPC assigned to the Canadian
Expeditionary Force were established at the Canadian Corps headquarters, in the
Adjutant General's Branch. The CMPC were under the command of the Deputy
Assistant Adjutant General (D.A.A.G.). Assistant Provost Marshals (A.P.M.) were
appointed at Corps and Division levels.
Canadian Military Police Corps School
Rockcliffe Ontario 1918
The Canadian Military Police Corps was
disbanded on the 1st of December 1920. The Dominion Police returned to civil duties and
were absorbed by the Royal North West Mounted Police in 1920. This amalgamation
resulted in the formation of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
The Military Police School Regimental Sergeant Major (left) and Commanding Officer
During the First World War the primary
duty of the CMPC in towns and camps was maintaining order and discipline. Very
few of the original Military Police in the field had police experience, and
early training was minimal. One of the most vital roles of the Military Police,
traffic control, was not fully appreciated by the Canadian army until later in
the war. Other duties included the guarding of VIPs, vulnerable points and
setting up straggler collection points.
The 1918 flu
pandemic (January
1918 – December 1920) was an unusually deadly influenza pandemic, the
first of the two pandemics involving H1N1 influenza
virus.[1] It infected 500 million people
across the world,[2] including remote Pacific islands
and the Arctic, and resulted in the deaths of 50 to 100 million (three to
five percent of the world's population[3]), making
it one of the deadliest natural disasters in human history.[2][4][5][6]
Disease
had already greatly limited life expectancy in the
early twentieth century. A considerable spike occurred at the
time of the pandemic, specifically the year 1918. Life
expectancy dropped by about 12 years.[7][8][9][10]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1918_flu_pandemic
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