Volunteering

Wartime offered considerable scope for tasteless humour - as this card, brought home from Britain by a Canadian soldier after the Second World War, affirms.

Few Canadian soldiers had been to Brussels before the city was liberated in the fall of 1944; this card showed them how to find all of the facilities available to them when they visited the city while on leave.

The First World War was over, but this 1919 window decal offered a reminder that there were still bills to be paid - and a Victory Loan to support.

Typical of fund-raising concerts held during the First World War, this one promised "patriotic songs and instrumental music" by local performers.

Boredom was one of the greatest challenges facing Canadian prisoners of war in Germany during the Second World War, but charitable organization did what they could to send games and puzzles to the camps to help pass the time.

The Franco-Belgian Committee of the Canadian Patriotic Fund advertised its work in Montreal with images of French soldiers from decades past.

The Knights of Columbus operated a hospitality bureau in Paris for Canadians on leave. Staffed by English-speaking volunteers, "Canada Corner" could arrange sightseeing trips, golf games, theatre nights - one soldier even got to have dinner with a French countess.

Using a fictional soldier from Yourtown, Canada, this booklet offered a summary of the breadth of YMCA activities during the Second World War.

This postcard, sold to raise funds for the Canadian Red Cross Society, illustrates the work of the Red Cross Corps on behalf of prisoners of war.

Noting that Canada's cities had given generously to war charities, the IODE asked rural groups to donate quantities of maple sugar to be sent overseas, to give soldiers a Canadian treat that could not be found in Europe.