'They were the same age as us': Westmount High students research former-student veterans

Hundreds of graduates from Westmount High in Montreal joined the military over the past 150 years – 144 of them died in battle. It’s a part of the school’s history today’s students know well, in part, because of the permanent display in the school's lobby.

Students read their names during a Remembrance Day Ceremony Thursday. The event came with a moment of realization for student Kenya Yeboah-Whyne, who says she recognized many of those soldiers were barely older than she is now.

"They just walked into school, did chemistry, physics, just like we're doing right now. They were the same age as us, they enrolled in the war. They ended up dying,” she said. “It’s crazy."

For the past eight years, grade 10 students have been tasked with writing biographies of the fallen former students. Richard Aird Scott, for example, died at sea in the Merchant Marine in 1943, just months after enrolling.

"As far as we're concerned, he was not in any yearbook or documents, and we believe it's because he actually left school when he was 18, because he was old enough to join the army at that time," said student Mia Pasagic, who looked-up web sites, genealogy sites, and other sources to construct a portrait of the young man.

"I went to ancestry and found a link to his parents,” she said. “His grandfather was a famous soldier."

Westmount High School classmates read through archival presentations of former students who fought overseas on Thursday, Nov. 10, 2021 (Staphane Giroux, CTV News)

Classmate Tahmidul Hague looked into the story of graduate William Edward Ralston.

"He was accepted to university, McGill, he started architecture, and he was actually trained at Camp Borden before he became a lieutenant,” Hague explained. "And he fought in a war, in Italy, and he died in action."

Justin Bourque-Meloche focused on Hugh Ray, a radio engineer assigned to a boat mission in the UK.

"But then it got torpedoed by enemies. It sank, with all the passengers,” he said. “It's quite crazy what happened."

A profile on William Edward Ralston, a former Westmount High student who fought and died in WWII, made by students Gavin MacNeil and Tahmidul Haque. (Stephane Giroux, CTV News)

The students had two helpers on their search through history -- one is City of Westmount archivist Anthony Chiasson.

"We have biographies of soldiers, we have enlisted soldiers, anything that had to do with Westmount participation or their soldiers, we have on record in our archives," he said.

Their second guide was the school's history teacher Chantal Clabrough.

"It's been a very touching project for the students because they realize that this is a person – young, like them -- who went and had to be incredibly courageous so it's a personal touch to our school," said Clabrough.