Material Type

Artifact

Other Name

"LIEUT. R. W. BUCHANAN"

Date Range From

1917

Date Range To

1918

Materials

SILVER

No. Pieces

1

Length

17.4

Width

2

Description

MILITARY IDENTIFICATION BRACELET COMPRISED OF SILVER DISC ATTACHED SILVER LINK-CHAINS THROUGH HOLES AT EDGES. SILVER DISC HAS TEXT ENGRAVED ON FRONT, “LIEUT. R.W. BUCHANAN, 31ST CANADIANS, B.E.F. FRANCE”. DISC HAS TARNISHING AROUND FRONT EDGES AND ON BACK; CHAINS ARE TARNISHED; OVERALL VERY GOOD CONDITION.

Subjects

PERSONAL SYMBOL

Historical Association

MILITARY

PERSONAL CARE

History

A BIOGRAPHY OF ROY BUCHANAN WAS DEVELOPED USING LETHBRIDGE HERALD ARTICLES, BUCHANAN’S MILITARY RECORD HELD BY THE LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES OF CANADA, THE WAR DIARY FOR THE 31ST CANADIAN INFANTRY BATTALION, OCTOBER 1917-AUGUST 1918, HELD BY THE LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES OF CANADA, AND CANADIAN WAR GRAVES COMMISSION RECORDS. LIEUTENANT ROY WORKMAN BUCHANAN WAS BORN IN NORWOOD, ONTARIO ON NOVEMBER 25, 1890, ACCORDING TO HIS FIRST WORLD WAR ATTESTATION FORM. THE SON OF REVEREND WILLIAM BUCHANAN, AND BROTHER TO W.A. BUCHANAN, M.P., BUCHANAN WORKED FOR THE LETHBRIDGE HERALD PRIOR TO ENLISTING IN WORLD WAR 1, AND WAS RECORDED AS PREVIOUSLY SERVING WITH THE 20TH BATTERY LETHBRIDGE ON HIS ATTESTATION FORM. ACCORDING TO HIS MILITARY RECORD HELD BY THE LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES OF CANADA, ROY BUCHANAN ENLISTED IN THE 137TH OVERSEAS BATTALION ON DECEMBER 1ST, 1915 IN CALGARY, ALBERTA. BUCHANAN WAS TRANSFERRED OVERSEAS IN MAY 1917 TO SERVE WITH THE 31ST CANADIAN INFANTRY BATTALION IN FRANCE. THE 31ST BATTALION SUPPORTED THE OFFENSIVE ON AMIENS IN AUGUST 1918, AND SERVED AT PASSCHENDAELE IN NOVEMBER 1918. ACCORDING TO THE WAR DIARIES FOR THE 31ST CANADIAN BATTALION, OCTOBER 1917-AUGUST 1918, ON AUGUST 25TH, 1918 THE 31ST BATTALION HAD ORDERS NOT TO MOVE FORWARD, AND WERE HEAVILY SHELLED THROUGHOUT THE DAY BY GERMAN FORCES. AT 10:00PM, THE 31ST BATTALION RECEIVED WORD THAT “SCOTTISH RIFLES” WOULD TAKE THE POSITION OF THEIR “A” COMPANY, AND THE “A” COMPANY WOULD MOVE TO THE “OLD FRONT LINE.” ON AUGUST 26, 1918, THE SECOND BATTLE OF ARRAS BEGAN, WITH THE 31ST BATTALION FIRST ACTING IN SUPPORT, THEN TAKING A POSITION ON THE FRONT ON AUGUST 28, 1918. THE SECOND BATTLE OF ARRAS LASTED AUGUST 26-SEPTEMBER 3, 1918 AS PART OF THE HUNDRED DAYS OFFENSIVE AND ADVANCE ON THE GERMAN HINDENBURG LINE. ROY BUCHANAN WAS REPORTED KILLED IN ACTION ON AUGUST 25, 1918, AND WAS BURIED IN WAILLY ORCHARD CEMETERY, PAS DES CALAIS, FRANCE. ON MARCH 28, 2019, COLLECTIONS TECHNICIAN KEVIN MACLEAN INTERVIEWED CAROL AND BRETT CLIFTON REGARDING THEIR DONATION OF VARIOUS LETHBRIDGE AND MILITARY MEMORABILIA. THE OBJECTS WERE COLLECTED BY CAROL’S LATE HUSBAND, CHRIS CLIFTON, AND DONATED IN HIS MEMORY. ON THE ROY BUCHANAN IDENTIFICATION BRACELET, BRETT CLIFTON NOTED, “I THINK DAD AND I FOUND IT TOGETHER.” ON CHRIS CLIFTON’S ACQUISITIONS OF THE OBJECTS, CAROL CLIFTON NOTED, “[CHRIS SEARCHED ON] AUCTION WEB…HE WAS A VERY EARLY USER. THESE THINGS COST MONEY. CHRIS AND I WERE ALWAYS LIKE, ‘OH WELL, ONE DAY WE’LL DONATE THEM AND IT’LL BE OUR GIFT TO CHARITY...’” “MUCH OF THE REST [OF THE COLLECTION] WAS FOUND BY CHRIS ON EBAY…IT COULD BE THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT [AND CHRIS WOULD SAY], ‘HEY, BRETT, GUESS WHAT’S ON EBAY?’” “HE DIDN’T THINK TWICE. IF [AN ITEM] WAS THERE AND HE COULD AFFORD IT, HE GOT IT...IT WAS LIKE HE FELT LIKE HE WAS SAVING IT. I SUPPOSE, AS A MUSEUM, YOU CAN’T NECESSARILY JUST BUY WITH THAT ABANDON BECAUSE YOU HAVE PEOPLE YOU HAVE TO ANSWER TO. WELL, HE DIDN’T HAVE TO ANSWER TO ANYONE...IF HE FELT IT BELONGED IN LETHBRIDGE HE BOUGHT IT...[HE WAS] BRINGING IT HOME.” ON THEIR MOTIVES FOR DONATING THE COLLECTIONS, CAROL CLIFTON NOTED, “THE FIRST REASON THAT WE DECIDED TO DONATE AT THIS TIME…IS THAT WE THOUGHT IT WOULD BE A NICE WAY TO HONOUR [CHRIS] TO MAKE SURE THAT THE COLLECTION ALWAYS STAYED IN SOUTHERN ALBERTA AND THAT IT’S AVAILABLE TO PEOPLE WITH SIMILAR INTERESTS. [THE DONATION] WOULD BE SOMETHING IN HIS MEMORY THAT WOULD KEEP HIS MEMORY ALIVE.” ON HER HUSBAND’S INTEREST IN SOUTHERN ALBERTA HISTORY, CAROL CLIFTON ELABORATED, “CHRIS PASSED AWAY…[HE] REALLY MADE US INTERESTED IN HISTORY. FOR HIM IT WAS ALL ABOUT LOCAL HISTORY, SO ANYTHING THAT HE COLLECTED HAD A LETHBRIDGE OR SOUTHERN ALBERTA CONNECTION OR HE DIDN’T COLLECT IT. HE LIKED TO RESEARCH THEM.” “[CHRIS] WAS VERY PROUD TO HAVE BEEN RAISED MORMON FROM A MORMON FAMILY THAT HAD DEEP PIONEER ROOTS INTO UTAH, AND WERE ORIGINALS TO UTAH AND ORIGINALS TO SOUTHERN ALBERTA. ALONG WITH THAT MORMONS…REALLY ENCOURAGE HISTORY IN TERMS OF COLLECTING THEIR ARTIFACTS OR RELIGIOUS ARTIFACTS, AND GENEALOGY. [CHRIS DID] ALL OF HIS OWN GENEALOGY AND HE WOULD DO GENEALOGY FOR ANYONE HE KNEW. WE JUST LITERALLY HAVE REAMS OF PERSONAL HISTORY AND GENEALOGY IN THAT FORM. IT GREW FROM THERE. [CHRIS] WAS A COLLECTOR AT HEART, HE BEGAN COIN COLLECTING AND DID A LOT OF WORK FOUNDING A NUMISMATICS SOCIETY IN TOWN AND BELONGED TO SEVERAL, AND DISPLAYED ON A NATIONAL LEVEL.” “IN TERMS OF THE MILITARY ITEMS, I WOULD SAY [HIS INTEREST BEGAN] WITH HIS DAD BEING FROM THE CALGARY TANK REGIMENT IN DIEPPE AND A PRISONER OF WAR. HIS DAD’S MOTHER HAD SAVED A BUNCH OF ITEMS AND BEFORE CHRIS’ DAD PASSED AWAY, HE GAVE EVERYTHING TO CHRIS…THAT KIND OF FOSTERED [HIS INTEREST IN MILITARY COLLECTIONS] AND THEN IT JUST GREW INTO INTERESTING LOCAL THINGS.” “CHRIS LOVED SOUTHERN ALBERTA, AND NO MATTER WHAT, HE NEVER WOULD HAVE LEFT SOUTHERN ALBERTA. HE LOVED TO TRAVEL BUT HE NEVER WOULD HAVE MOVED. HE LIVED IN MAGRATH AND LETHBRIDGE HIS WHOLE LIFE AND HAD NO INTEREST IN ANY OTHER PLACE BUT HERE.” ON CHRIS’ RESEARCH EFFORTS, CAROL CLIFTON RECALLED, “CHRIS WAS METICULOUS. ANYTHING CHRIS DID, HE DID IT TEN TIMES MORE THAN ANYONE ELSE WOULD. HE WOULD NOT GIVE UP…WHEN [HIS SON] BRETT DID THE CENOTAPH WORK, CHRIS WOULD HELP HIM IDENTIFY [THE NAMES] AND IT WOULD BE A DEAD END AFTER ANOTHER DEAD END, AND THE NEXT THING YOU KNEW WAS CHRIS HAD FOUND A RELATIVE IN ENGLAND WHO WAS A GREAT GRANDDAUGHTER’S NEIGHBOR. HE WOULD LITERALLY SPEND YEARS RESEARCHING ONE THING. IT WAS JUST HIS PERSONALITY AND HIS LEVEL OF INTEREST AND HE DIDN’T STOP THERE, HE WOULD DO IT FOR ANYONE…HE WAS A VERY GIVING PERSON AND HE WAS SO FANTASTICALLY GOOD AT THAT TYPE OF RESEARCH.” “[CHRIS] AND BRETT TOGETHER WOULD DO [THE RESEARCH] AND I WOULD DO IT OUT OF INTEREST…I DON’T KNOW OF ANYONE WHO DID IT TO THE LEVEL HE DID. HE WOULD BE UP IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT FOLLOWING A LEAD IN EUROPE ON SOMEONE HE DIDN’T KNOW FOR SOMEONE HE BARELY KNEW…[CHRIS WAS] TOTALLY SELF-TAUGHT…OF COURSE WITH THE INTERNET IT BECAME MUCH EASIER FOR EVERYONE TO [SEARCH]. THE GENEALOGY HE DID BEFORE WAS PRE-INTERNET SO THAT INVOLVED A LOT OF ARCHIVAL THINGS…HE BEGAN RESEARCH WORK VERY EARLY IN THE INTERNET AND WE GOT OUR FIRST COMPUTER IN 1995, AND HE PRETTY MUCH DID RESEARCH FROM THEN ON. HE WAS INTERESTING IN THAT NO MATTER WHAT RESEARCH HE DID HE DIDN’T WANT CREDIT FOR IT. HE DIDN’T WANT TO BELONG TO THINGS…IN ADDITION, HE DIDN’T LIKE TO DO THE WRITING, ALTHOUGH HE COULD WRITE, BUT HE WAS THE BEST PROOF READER BECAUSE HE WAS SO METICULOUS, AND HE WOULD PROOF READ FOR ANYONE. [IF] SOMEBODY WROTE AN ARTICLE HE WOULD BE A PROOF READER OR A FACT CHECKER. IT WAS JUST HIS NATURE…[HE WAS] STUBBORN, AND COMPETITIVE, AND INTERESTED, AND METICULOUS, AND IF HE DID IT IT’S CORRECT. IF THERE’S A MISTAKE IN IT HE SURE DIDN’T KNOW IT. HE WOULD HAVE NEVER PUT ANYTHING DOWN HE WASN’T PRETTY DARN SURE OF.” FOR MORE INFORMATION INCLUDING THE FULL INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPTION, COPIES OF WAR DIARY ENTRIES MENTIONING ROY WORKMAN BUCHANAN, LETHBRIDGE HERALD ARTICLES, AND ROY BUCHANAN’S MILITARY SERVICE FILE, PLEASE SEE THE PERMANENT FILE P20190007001-GA.

Catalogue Number

P20190007001

Acquisition Date

2019-03

Collection

Museum

Less detail