Correspondence

Camp Vernon in British Columbia served as a training camp and a central mobilization centre in May 1915. By 1916 there were over 7000 men training at the camp.

A possibly conscripted soldier only identified as Sam H., wrote from military Camp Aldershot in Nova Scotia, that the battalion was leaving the very next day in July 1918. He expressed his fear of going overseas and not returning home to his significant other, Emma.

The Halifax explosion of 6 December, 1917 was caused by the collision of two ships in the harbour, one contained artillery and explosives bound for Europe, which resulted in an intense explosion, and subsequent tsunami. Nearly 2000 people were killed by the explosion and its after effects, while nearly 9000 people were injured.

Soldier Karl P. Johnson of Wolfville, Nova Scotia, wrote to a friend in Moncton, New Brunswick from the Aldershot military camp in March, 1916.

Soldier Albert Bigmore of Victoria, BC, wrote to a friend to inform him he had enlisted in the army in December, 1916.

After thanking the recipient of this postcard, Miss M. Faulkner, soldier Wilfrid E. Fakeley of Kindersley, Saskatchewan, went on to discuss the consequence of tampering with water for an Austrian soldier. 

This postcard from Vegreville, Alberta was never mailed but it does have the caption, "all of these but two want wives, they are volunteers."

This non-postal stamp (known as a cinderella) depicts the death of British nurse Edith Cavell, renowned and admired for helping save the lives of hundreds of soldiers. She was executed by German forces in occupied Belgium on 12 October 1915, a death that was widely memorialized around the world. 

Canada played a major role in the liberation of the Netherlands from Nazi occupation in the Second World War. Postcards such as this one optimistically portrayed the recently liberated Holland and the Canadian soldiers who helped secure its freedom. 

Many soldiers who served in the Allied armies during the Second World War were given the opportunity to travel to far away places during different campaigns. These postcards sent by "Sandy" are proof of this.