Heritage archives presents armchair tour of cemetery

On Sept. 4, 1942, Flight Sgt. Alexander Roy was in a bomber over Bremen, in northwest Germany, a key industrial centre and U- boat port.

Roy was a wireless operator and air gunner on a Royal Canadian Air Force Wellington bomber based out of Grimsby, England. The plane he was on was part of an Allied bombing campaign — stepped up that month — that saw more than 5,000 tonnes of bombs dropped on Germany during intense nighttime bombing raids.

Roy’s plane was one of the third and last wave of bombers to attack Bremen, and despite the city’s heavy defences, his plane was the only RCAF bomber lost that night. The plane was hit by flak and crashed into the North Sea. The bodies of only three of the eight crew were recovered and later buried in the Netherlands.

While Roy was buried in a Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery, his family chose to have his name inscribed on a marker in Oakwood Cemetery on Lakeshore Road in Wainfleet.

His story is just one people can learn about of those who died in wartime as the L. R. Wilson Heritage Research Archives and Port Colborne Historical and Marine Museum present We Will Remember, an armchair cemetery tour and lecture presentation at 286 King St.

The event Thursday starts 7 p. m. at the archives, to honour the hundreds of men and women from Port Colborne and area who served in Canada’s military during the First and Second World Wars. It’s part of the museum’s efforts to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the First World War.

Michelle Vosburgh, the museum’s heritage research technician, says the armchair cemetery tour came out of the fact that there are people who can’t physically attend, for various reasons, walking tours of Oakwood Cemetery.

“We’ll have photos of the headstones and original photos of some of the people featured in the tour … people are getting the walking tour in a different format. Though you don’t quite have the experience of being in the cemetery, you get all of the information and photos that we can’t show when walking around.”

Vosburgh many times has done walking tours of Overholt Cemetery, off of Third Concession in Bethel, talking about those who served and are buried there. Walking tours at Oakwood are relatively new, but there are hundreds of people buried there who served in various conflicts. There are people from the War of 1812 right on up to peacekeeping times.

In addition to Roy, Vosburgh will talk about some of the more famous Port Colborne residents who served, including the Wegerich triplets.

“They were born on Sugarloaf Farm and are very famous … it was unusual for having surviving triplets from that era.”

The brothers — James, John, and William — were born Aug. 10, 1895, to Edward and Margaret Wegerich. ( The name is sometimes spelled as Wegrich.) The three served in the First World War and had all hoped to join the Royal Flying Corps, the precursor to the RCAF, at a training school north of Toronto.

“The Royal Flying Corps said no. They didn’t want to take three brothers and have the family lose all three.”

Only John, the first to demobilize after the war, was able to join the flying corps and become an airman. He never saw any action, says Vosburgh.

James and William both ended up in the 67th Battery of the Canadian Field Artillery, which also saw action as part of the North Russia ( Siberian) Expeditionary Force in 1918 and ’ 19. They were later transferred to the Canadian Forestry Corps, which was created to supply the Allied war effort with timber, and to assist in building trenches, railways, buildings and other construction projects on the front.

They are believed to be the only triplets to fight for the Allies during the First World War.

“They all made it home unscathed.”

During the armchair tour, Vosburgh will talk about Commonwealth War Graves Commission markers. They mark graves and places of commemoration of Commonwealth of Nations military service members who died in the two World Wars and can be found across Europe.

One of those who has a marker at Oakwood is Pte. Frederick Konig.

Konigw as stationed herein Canada, serving in the Royal Canadian Ordnance Corps when he died.

In 1943 he jumped on to the running board of a truck as it was slowing. Ahe grabbed the door handle, it broke, and he fell under the truck. He suffered a fractured skull and died soon after. He was 21 years old, leaving behind a wife and his parents.

Archives is at 286 King St., Port