Military Police in WW1 in Québec
 

will post later a complete story and try to find references.

Thanks.

Draft dodgers and deserters
 

I am not going to write a long essay.

All i am going to say is that during WW1 my grandfather's job was to escort draft dodgers and deserters from Sherbrooke Québec to the brig or military prison in Montréal .

All the travel was done by train and the prisonners were handcuffed to the policeman.

There is a similar scene in an american film with Jack Nicolson where two SP ( Shore Patrol or Military Police ) escort him to the Navy prison in Porthsmouth.

In WW1 draft dodgers were emprisoned and deserters were shot . My grandfather was 18 at the time but measured over 6'2'' and was around 230 lbs so he fit the bill.

He told me his stories when i was his plumber's apprentice in the 70's . That was his trade after the war until his death in 1979.

Fascinating. He did not like escorting fellows to the brig and / or to the gallows. 60 years after the fact it still bawdered him.

Any one else with similar family stories before they get lost to time?


Robert

There are tales of MPs hunting (in the purest sense) draft dodgers in the backwoods of Quebec. Not everyone liked the idea of three hots and a cot.

There was an oldtimer who lived in the deep woods of Nova Scotia in a tumbledown log cabin. IIRC, he jumped a train to not go overseas. But his cabin was on Crown Land and there was a new national park going in. The rangers had a hard time getting him out.

Have seen a history on the web
 

Hi Robert

Remember seeing a pretty good history of Military Police in Canada, was one of those web searches that went sideways. So don't remember what the search phrase was, may have been CMP.

Think a HUP photo from the website got posted on MLU which might have a link to the site.

Cheers Phil