Bart Armstrong has made it his mission to hunt down stories of long forgotten Canadians who received the U.S. Medal of Honor

Bart Armstrong sits alone at a table for four in the cafeteria of the Black Ball ferry. In front of him: a bag of chips, a pop and a book on the Civil War. ItB次元官网网址檚 a history trap.

As passengers look for seats, he invites them to join. They talk about the weather and other mundane chit chat. He asks if they have a link to someone in the military. Most do.

B次元官网网址淭ell me all about the Medal of Honor,B次元官网网址� he says and sits back as his new table mates fumble through a definition of the honour. B次元官网网址淔or the next hour-and-a-half, theyB次元官网网址檒l get a lecture from me,B次元官网网址� he says with a smile bursting beneath his grey moustache.

Armstrong doesnB次元官网网址檛 have a U.S. Medal of Honor, but he has discovered many. The 63-year-old tirelessly researches forgotten recipients of the award B次元官网网址� Canadians, or would-be Canadians, laid to rest often without recognition from their own country of the battles they fought in the U.S. Civil War.

When Armstrong began his research 12 years ago, there were 54 known Canadian recipients of the Medal of Honor. His work has unearthed another 50.

In his Shelbourne Street apartment, he wades through ancestry websites and newspaper articles from the 1860s, contacts museums and archives at cities and towns across the U.S.

He speaks with people such as Diane Clarke at the Victoria Genealogical Society, who through her time spent chasing down vital records for Armstrong, has come to know him as B次元官网网址渁 bit off the wall, funny, and very passionate.B次元官网网址�

Around ArmstrongB次元官网网址檚 tiny home office B次元官网网址� warmly referred to as the Canadian satellite office by members of the American Medal of Honor Historical Society, of which he is the sole Canadian member B次元官网网址� sits evidence of his obsession.

File folders upon file folders, scrawled notes on sticky paper and a tiny hot plate, just big enough for a single mug of coffee, flank his computer station.

Armstrong plunks down in front of his oversized monitor to tell me the story of those whose award has gone unrecognized or remembered by anyone, including the Canadian government.

Forgotten heroes

May, 1863: the 99th Illinois infantry battles at Vicksburg B次元官网网址� a bloodbath that leaves the entire 100 attending members of the regiment maimed or dead. Amidst a constant barrage of lead, a lone remaining troop on the Union crests the hill advancing toward Confederate lines.

B次元官网网址淗eB次元官网网址檚 too brave to kill,B次元官网网址� the Confederates yell as the man rests his regimental colours in the parapet. The Confederates take their hats off and applaud for Quebecker, Thomas Higgins.

Later theyB次元官网网址檒l jail Higgins as a prisoner of war. And for 30 years after that, theyB次元官网网址檒l remember the bravery that transcended party lines and recommend him for a Medal of Honor.

Dennis Buckley, a farming kid from Lindsay, Ont., was barely 20 years old and providing for his entire family when the allure of a $300 paycheque drew him into the Civil War effort. As he captured the enemy flag, he turned to his Union comrades in the 136th New York Infantry and offered a jovial wave of motivation. Just then, a bullet ricocheted off the flagpole in his hand, struck him in the forehead and killed him instantly.

Of the 10,312 Civil War soldiers buried at Marietta, Ga., only two received the Medal of Honor. Buckley, who was buried under the wrong name for 140 years, was one of them. A monument to the young soldier was erected in Lindsay in 2007 following a story about Buckley, after Armstrong alerted the local paper.

But a handful of new monuments scattered across the country isnB次元官网网址檛 ArmstrongB次元官网网址檚 aim. He wonB次元官网网址檛 rest until he publishes his findings in a book, though he has no publisher, or even a manuscript.

B次元官网网址淭he goal is to have widespread dissemination of information about these people who we donB次元官网网址檛 know,B次元官网网址� says Armstrong, the only known Canadian doing this kind of historical research.

B次元官网网址淭here are a hundred stories B次元官网网址� some of them are so incredibly moving and most people in this country donB次元官网网址檛 know anything about it.B次元官网网址�

Investigator by nature

Since I met Armstrong last November, his work has advanced.

He already knew that Canadians (or colonial citizens of the British Empire) fired shots on both sides of Civil War lines during the 1862 battle of the Monitor and the Merrimack, the first duel between ironclad warships fought at the mouth of James River in Virginia. But now he knows the names of 12 Canadians who fought in the battle.

B次元官网网址淚n that regiment there were no less than 39 Canadians,B次元官网网址� Armstrong says. B次元官网网址淚 find this sad. ItB次元官网网址檚 not publicly known and itB次元官网网址檚 too bad because itB次元官网网址檚 our heritage.B次元官网网址�

ArmstrongB次元官网网址檚 own heritage is rooted in military service and a drive to investigate. A high school drop-out and one of five children born to military parents in Toronto, Armstrong has been a police officer, a private investigator, a journalist and now a historian, but always an advocate for the underdog. A seeker of truths.

Signs of searches spill from his office and across the suite B次元官网网址� some told, others left unfinished. Among his papers is the acknowledgment from Canadian authorities that his work is adding to the annals of Canadian history.

B次元官网网址淒ear Mr. Armstrong, I want to thank you for drawing our attention to a historical fact of which none of us at the Embassy was aware, namely that so many Canadians have been awarded the U.S. Medal of Honor,B次元官网网址� wrote Frank McKenna, the former Canadian ambassador to the United States during his tenure in 2005.

David Frandsen, the Consul General of Canada, in a letter dated July 27 of last year, thanks Armstrong for his successful research, documentation and bringing forth the results of this work.

B次元官网网址淚t is, indeed, a worthwhile effort in the preservation of a very long and proud Canadian heritage that, unfortunately, has not been widely known,B次元官网网址� Frandsen wrote.

After 17 years in the Canadian Forces, Armstrong retired alone as a master warrant officer. He sometimes picks up work helping a friend ship items from the U.S. and frequently visits the Port Angeles post office, another prime venue for military education.

On a recent trip to Port Angeles, Armstrong stopped a man clad in U.S. Coast Guard garb. He asked this man if he knows the story of Douglas Munro, the only member of the U.S. Coast Guard to be awarded the Medal of Honor after lodging his own boat between U.S. Marines and enemy lines during the Second World War. The coast guard memberB次元官网网址檚 response is emphatic: B次元官网网址淭hatB次元官网网址檚 the guy that saved 500 lives at Guadalcanal!B次元官网网址�

While MunroB次元官网网址檚 grave in Cle Elum, Wash., may list his birthplace as Vancouver, Wash., it was actually Vancouver, B.C. B次元官网网址� Munro was a Canuck.

Armstrong throws his head back and bugs out his eyes in imitation of how he saw the coast guard member react to the knowledge. Shocked, but not disappointed, he says.

Getting the word out

If he had the chance, Armstrong would have more of these story-telling sessions south of the border, but he has already sunk more than $10,000 into his work B次元官网网址� in photocopied files and cross-country flights B次元官网网址� and his resources are slim.

Merv Scott, president of the Victoria Genealogical Society, watched Armstrong miss an opportunity in March to travel to Washington D.C. during the 150th anniversary of the first awarding of the Medal of Honor. The man with what Scott describes as B次元官网网址渁n unabashed passionB次元官网网址� couldnB次元官网网址檛 afford the trip.

B次元官网网址淗eB次元官网网址檚 connected families to their ancestors who were war heroes and they didnB次元官网网址檛 even know,B次元官网网址� Scott says. B次元官网网址淗e just lives and breathes this stuff.B次元官网网址�

B次元官网网址淚f thereB次元官网网址檚 a fault with Bart, it might be marketing himself,B次元官网网址� says Michael Bourque, a friend of ArmstrongB次元官网网址檚 who has seen his body of research expand over the years. B次元官网网址淗e doesnB次元官网网址檛 want any of these heroes to be forgotten.B次元官网网址�

When he unearths a tale such as that of Joseph Noil B次元官网网址� a Nova Scotia native who earned the Medal of Honor on Boxing Day 1872 after jumping from the USS Powhattan in Portsfeld, Va., to save a drowning crew mate B次元官网网址� he canB次元官网网址檛 help sharing.

No one knows if Noil, the only black recipient of the honour, actually received the medal before he died in 1881, but Armstrong has made it his mission to get the word out now.

Armstrong closes his binder of clippings and replaces it on the shelf crammed with books.

B次元官网网址淭he name of my book is going to be Forgotten Heroes and I donB次元官网网址檛 know if the word B次元官网网址榝orgottenB次元官网网址� is appropriate,B次元官网网址� Armstrong says, B次元官网网址渂ecause I donB次元官网网址檛 know if they were ever known.B次元官网网址�

nnorth@saanichnews.com