Local historian tells the tales of First World War soldiers from Grand Manan

Roger Nason has spent years researching the stories of hundreds of soldiers from the First World War.

He is compiling the biographies of Grand Manan residents who served. Not just the 13 who died, but also those who served and lived to return home.

Nasonhas been able to find 107 soldiers with connections to the island. Another 21 were registered with the U.S draft after April1917.

Ahistorian who lives on Grand Manan, he said finding the details isn't always easy, but the stories are an important part of history.

Preserving history

One of those stories involves sniper Samuel Greenlaw.

He served with the 236th Battalion otherwise known as the The New Brunswick Kilties who were famous for wearing kilts during battle.

For Greenlaw, those kilts didn't always work in his favour, according to Nason.

"One time he was in the mix of the battle and his clothes got torn off," Nason said in an interview with Information Morning Saint John.

"He got back to the lines and he said the guards said, 'What's the password?' And in the midst of this battle he had forgotten the password and they figured, 'Well he has to be Canadian because he's standing out there half-naked in no-mans-land, he couldn't be a spy.'"

Nason said people remember the epicbattles of war but not always the soldiers who fought them.

"Each day there is new evidence or information that comes up," he said.

He said he plansat some pointto put the vast amount of information he's collected into a book. His research can be found on his website, grandmananfundyhistory.com.