Demobilization

Soldiers received identification tickets at the military camp, Kinmel Park, in Wales during demobilization. This card was issued to F.D. Philip of the 15th Battery CFA. 

The Canadian Pacific Railway was used to send soldiers home after demobilization. Cards like this were given to soldiers for identification for the large movement of troops. This card was given to F.D. Philip of the 15th Battery CFA. 

Upon demobilization, troops were given vouchers for meals aboard ships on their return home. This troops mess card was given to William Winter, of the 79th battery of the CFA. He was discharged back to Canada in March, 1919, on the H.M.T Royal George, his room is written on the back as; deck E, section 3, bunk #325. 

This Act from 1946 was passed by the Parliament of Canada with the purpose of providing the reinstatement in civil employment of discharged members of the Canadian forces and other individuals who mobilized during the Second World War. The Act intended to regulate the reintegration process of ex-members into civil society, in an attempt to make easier the transition of labour for a war economy into a post-conflict, peacetime economy. Social benefits and considerations like those needed for disabled veterans were also considered in the Act. 

These instructions, for military personnel from the Hamilton and Niagara regions, dealt with practical matters such as pay, clothing, and transportation, but also warned returning soldiers, "Don't take V.D. home."

This image of the women's pipe band was given to veterans in Fort William, Ontario, as they returned from service during the Second World War.

An idyllic image of home, the kind that sustained Canadians in uniform through the long years of war.

Tokens like this card were common after the First World War, but less so after the Second. It is also unusual in mentioning returning prisoners of war and those who had fallen sick.

The city of Port Arthur, Ontario, distributed scrolls to returning soldiers in 1919, to thank them for their efforts in defence of "Truth, Freedom, Home, and Native Land."

Banquets in honour of returning servicemen and servicewomen were common in Canada in 1946, just as they had been in 1919.