Private Lewis Luke Currie was my Grandfather

“Lewis Currie was my Dad’s father. Lewis’ mother died when he was eight, she died at the age of 31.

They lived in Dartmouth Nova Scotia. Lewis, his brother and three younger sisters were sent to different places because their father was unable [to take care of them].

Lewis was sent to the Antigonish Catholic organization, but ran away when he was 13. He found farm work in Enfield, Nova Scotia where he met my grandmother and had three children. They lived in a very small tarpaper shack; an old henhouse given to them by the owner of the farm. It caught fire some years later. Lewis and his friend built another little shack in Enfield.

When Lewis first tried to join the war he was suffering from malnutrition, [and had to try again] six months later where he successfully enlisted.

His firstborn is my father Arthur Currie, I think named after a General in ww2.* Lewis died at age 31 when Dad was 10 yrs old.

Lewis still has a daughter in Nova Scotia named Margaret Walker…I bought her the book “War Through the Lens by Dan Conlin”…it has some info on Lewis Currie.

Private Lew Currie the driver for Grayson was my grandfather…I only have one photo of him in the army…would really appreciate it if you could find anymore.”


Gallery photographs courtesy Veterans Affairs Canada.

*Sir Arthur William Currie was the first Canadian commander of the Canadian Corps during the First World War.
PHOTO: Pte. Lewis L. Currie and his medals courtesy of the Currie family.

 Hi Vera, thank you so much for reaching out and sharing your story of your grandfather, Pte. Lewis Currie with me.
I also have a note that your grandfather was on hand when the Public Relations billet (chateau) came under mortar fire in France on June 13th, 1944. There is video of the aftermath on the British Pathe Archives YouTube page (see link below) – the footage also contains candid shots of Sgt.s Bill Grant, and Frank Dubervill that appeared in my article, Risen From the Ashes.


Possibly…..your grandfather is seen in the footage????? It is almost impossible to identify the personnel, but he was definitely on hand during the mortar fire.
I also came across a Universal Newsreel for July 4, 1944, that shows footage of a burning carrier and battle footage that the narrator describes below. I believe it is footage that was shot by Grayston when your grandfather was killed. I am not sure if you are interested in the video but I can see if there is a way to get it to you.

Universal Newsreel: 11 Liberation Of France Forges On, 1944/07: Universal Newsreel Narrator: “After a well earned rest, following the landing battles in Normandy, the Canadians return to the thick of the fighting at Carpiquet. So severe is the fighting that some of the Canadian camera crew were killed while filming these shots.” 


Thank you very much once more for sharing your story with me and visitors to the Film Unit website.
Sincerely
Dale Gervais
Ottawa

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About me

Dale Gervais has been actively researching and documenting the history of the Canadian Film & Photo Unit since 2006. Dale recently retired in September, 2018, after over 36 years with Library & Archives Canada. Dale now works as an independent researcher, with experience in audio visual holdings, video production and more recently doing Archival textual document searches, and photographic scanning.

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