Imagine if every person in your town donated an average of $195 to the Canadian Armed Forces and 5% of your town’s population enlisted into the Canadian Army in one day.

This is what happened in Hedley in the late summer of 1915 – just into the second year of the First World War.

In August and September of 1915, with a population of less than 400 people, Hedley’s citizens raised $3,500 to support the war effort. Specifically, $3,000 was allocated to the purchase of machine guns and $500 to the Red Cross. Accounting for inflation, this amount raised translates into $75,850 today.

Additionally, on the 24th of August 1915, 17 Hedley men all enlisted together into the 54th Kootenay Battalion out of Vernon. Two more volunteers shortly followed this group, for a total of 19 men departing Hedley to serve their country, virtually instantaneously – 5% of the town’s population gone.

Six men from this group of 19 never came home. They are buried in military cemeteries in France, Belgium, England and, one of them has no known grave. Their names are memorialized on the Hedley cenotaph, along with the names of five more WWI “Hedley Boys.”

Andy English and Jennifer Douglass both Directors at the Hedley Museum, have been researching and uncovering new information about the eleven WWI names on the town’s cenotaph and, further, the additional 39 men (as known at this time) whom enlisted from Hedley and survived the war.

English and Douglass have created a new exhibit at the Hedley Museum to honour these men’s service and sacrifice for their country. The “WWI Hedley Boys” exhibit features four Hedley soldiers – three of whom were killed in France, and a fourth who returned to Hedley to marry and raise his family – in photos, biographies and artifacts. The 54th Kootenay Battalion is featured in a wall display with a map of their troop movements in France and a panoramic photo of the entire battalion. And, the Cenotaph Roll of Honour and historical text provides details of newly discovered information about Hedley’s eleven “fallen.”

There will be two local lectures in August when English and Douglass will present the findings of their WWI “Hedley Boys” research thus far. The first presentation will be on Monday, 4 August, 10am at the Hedley Seniors’ Centre. This is a free event. The second lecture will be at the Keremeos Grist Mill, Sunday, 17 August, 1:30pm. Admission price to the Grist Mill will gain complimentary admission to the WWI “Hedley Boys” lecture on the grounds.

English and Douglass are also seeking relatives of these 50 WWI enlisted men from Hedley in their quest to uncover more information, photos and artifacts. Thus far it is known that three of these men had connections to Keremeos and one, known so far, resided in Princeton after the war. It is a certainty more such connections to the larger Similkameen and Okanagan can be known in the future with the help of spreading the word of this WWI research effort in Hedley. English and Douglass can be reached at the Hedley Museum at (250)292-8787 or by email at hedleymuseum@nethop.net.

This WWI exhibit at the Hedley Museum will be on display for the entire four years commemorating the centennial of the First World War, 2014-2018. As new research is further discovered, the “WWI Hedley Boys” exhibit will also be evolving.

Submitted by Jennifer Douglass
Director, Hedley Museum
Hedley, B.C.