Circumstances of Death File for Great War Soldiers

Here is a handy tip for people researching Canadian Great War soldiers who were killed in action: request their Circumstances of Death File. The first step for most people researching a soldier is usually to request the service file from Library and Archives Canada (LAC.) It is somewhat less known that LAC also maintains the Circumstances of Death Files for soldiers killed in action. These records are only about one page in length and are not part of the service record.

A few things to note: none of the records for soldiers with surnames beyond 'Sims' alphabetically have survived. As well, there is a good chance you may not get a whole lot of information from the form: some will give just general statements like 'died of wounds' or 'reported from base killed in action.' But then again, LAC charges by the page, and since these are one page documents, it will cost you only about $2 and change to request the file, so it's worth taking the chance that you might find something more.

To request the file, (here's the form to make your request) you need to request the following from LAC: RG 150, Accession 92-93/314 and include the volume number from below based on the soldier's surname:

Volume----Subject
145 Aaron to Alek
146 Alexander to Amyst
to view the rest of the surname list, please click here.