Sources for info about Canadian Army personnel in Australia in WW2

Question

This is a general question about Canadian Army personnel in WW2 - I have a Nominal Roll for an Australian Unit ('M' Special Unit - basically supporting operations behind Japanese lines) which lists several personnel who I assume are Canadians - e.g. 22003 SSgt GW Anscomb ex VCANK, Canadian Army; 51273 Sgt JD Arnsten ex VCANL, Canadian Army; 587335 SSgt GN Brent ex VCANA, Canadian Army; etc - most of them (possibly all) look to be in engineer roles.

Is there anywhere that their service records might be freely available or where info about the units might be freely available.

Comments

I think only info on Canadian soldiers killed during WWII has been released. I can’t find the collection on the new Archive site https://recherche-collection-search.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/Home/Search?q=Second+world+war+dead&num=25&start=0&enviro=prod&DataSource=Archives here is an example of the old site location https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/military-heritage/second-world-war/second-world-war-dead-1939-1947/Pages/item.aspx?IdNumber=7440&%0A not sure if you can back track from there.

WWII dead are also listed here https://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/memorials/canadian-virtual-war-memorial

---

I couldn't find any of their WW2 service records on the Archives site (can only use surnames as I don't know given names, only initials). Worth a try though.

I doubt any of them died during WW2 as they were in rear echelon support roles, so won't be on the WWII dead site.

Answer 1

Is that the Unit? https://vwma.org.au/explore/units/610

Since it was a unit combined of various allies it is not easy to track down the service records. I would suggest asking the VWMA first anyway.

Comments

Yes, that's the unit - it was a partly successful attempt to regularise some very ad-hoc and even informal arrangements for operatives who were often behind enemy lines for months at a time. The rear echelon components of the unit were more structured and "normal", which is where I think the Canadians come in - looks like they were engineers in Australian based workshops. About 11 of them late in the war.