Identity area
Type of entity
Authorized form of name
Phillips, Elmer
Parallel form(s) of name
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
History
Elmer Phillips, a resident of Wilmot, Prince Edward Island, is a World War II veteran who served both in the war-time merchant marine and the Royal Canadian Navy (HMCS Alberni and HMCS Port Colborne). Following a trip to visit some World War II cemeteries with his friend Tanton McNeill, also a veteran of the war who served with the West Nova Scotia Regiment in Italy and northwestern Europe, the two men became interested in systematically locating and photographing the grave sites of Island soldiers killed in Europe. They returned to Europe in September 1986 to make an extensive tour of Canadian war cemeteries in Italy and northern Europe. On their return, snapshots of Island soldiers' gravestones were forwarded to surviving relatives. This generated new requests for photographs of Island headstones, many of them located in non-military or non-Canadian cemeteries, thus necessitating several more trips to war cemeteries in Europe. (SEE "That mark our place: Island war dead in Europe. Part one: The Second World War"/ compiled by Elmer Phillips and Tanton McNeill. In The Island magazine , #24, Fall/Winter 1988, p. 34-43)