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From The Rock
Signing Up
It's easy to forget that when World War I was declared, Newfoundland (including
Labrador) was still 35 years away from being part of Canada. Like Canada, Newfoundland
was a dominion of Britain. So, like Canada, when Britain was at war, Newfoundland
was, too. And, just like Canadians, Newfoundlanders enlisted enthusiastically,
pouring into St. John's and Grand Falls from 1,300 coastal towns, fishing villages
and outports all around the rim of the island country. Newfoundland had set a
goal of sending five hundred men overseas. In the first few days after war was
declared 335 signed up. Most came from city cadet brigades, a result of a decades-long
focus on military training by the country's churches. Though many outport men
did join up, it was harder for the fishing-dependent outports to give up the
majority of its men to war; it would have crippled the tiny, isolated communities.
But even the most remote communities, like Rigolet and Hopedale in northern Labrador,
contributed recruits. More than
a dozen Inuit and
Métis |
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were
part of the 1st Newfoundland Regiment.
By the end of September, 1914, 1,000 volunteers had signed up. Half of them, "The
First Five Hundred," passed the medical and were sent to the cricket ground
in Pleasantville for training. But, like the Canadians who were |
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Canadian
troops taking cover
Even
after the devastation of The Somme, the Newfoundland Regiment went on to fight
alongside Canadians like these at Arras and Cambrai. |
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