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AboutAnything  | Greg McComb 

Whenever I look at this picture of my great-uncle Hugh, (under x) my first thought is always 'he must have been a really-cool guy.' It's one of my favorites in a vast collection of ancestry photos. 

  

   I mean, look at the guy. A cigarette dangling  from his lip, his steel helmet tilted-fashionably right, and then there is the sleeveless-sheepskin vest, possibly donated from as far off as Australia, and shipped to the front by the Red Cross.  These vests were the only thing standing between a soldier and a bad case of frostbite during months of winter-trench warfare in France. 

   You see, this is a photo of Hugh's unit taken around 1915 or 16 during World War I, at a camp on the frontlines in France. Possibly next  to the poppy fields that bloom today

in Flanders Fields, symbols of the million or more soldiers who were wounded, missing or killed in-action during the bloody trench warfare that defined this awful war, from 1914-18. I can't know for sure but the long-poles held by two of the soldiers were medieval-style pikes used during raids of German trenches. Canadians gained a reputation as fierce raiders using make-shift weapons like these pikes along with hand-made clubs, knives and small catapults. This was no high-tech war, hand-to-hand combat was not uncommon.

                         Who was Hugh? 

     So, who was Hugh? I have little oral history of my great-uncle, so I  stitched together a rough sketch of his life using ancestry research I've done for my Miller lineage.

   

   I know Hugh was born in 1896 in Glasgow, Scotland, part of a large family that would eventually count twelve children. A typical size for the times, pre-birth control. His parents were John and Annie 'Murphy' Miller, my great-grandparents, (above, 1910, Scotland). 

    I included Annie's maiden name for a couple

of reasons. One, to point out her heritage; that part of my family tree is not pure Scot, the surname Murphy is about as Irish as-it-gets. Second, to highlight her central role in the family. From oral history and photos, I surmised that Annie was a sturdy, strong-willed woman, the matriarch of the family, (see photo left).   She was the alpha female in the marriage, John was the beta. One of the historic clues is Hugh's memorial notes and gravestone. Both included Annie's maiden name, Hugh Murphy  Miller,  an unusual thing to do short of a 

 surname change. So, Hugh was definitely a mommy's boy. 

   Hugh's brother was my grandfather James Miller, who I grew up with in Winnipeg, Canada, regularly visiting his house on Garfield street. A short-sprightly man, Grandpa Miller used to play the bones when I visited his house in the west-end, and slurp his coffee from a saucer, a habit that drove my grandmother crazy. He often joked he didn't

mind when his wife Ella put on some weight, he liked women 'with-a-little-meat on their bones.' He also had a mild-Scottish brogue, and would drag his kilt out of the closet for special occasions, like a true Scot (see photo left of couple). Assuming these characteristics ran in the family, a best guess is that Hugh was also a bit of a jokester, fairly short and spoke with a Scottish accent. Not sure about the kilt.