Demobilization

A British woman who married a Canadian soldier during the First World War faced a host of complications in relocating to a new country. This pamphlet was intended to answer some of the most basic questions.

Harry Rose was working as a waiter in Toronto when he enlisted in 1914 - after serving with the 3rd Battalion at the front, he enjoyed minor success as a songwriter with songs like this one, which was written to welcome other Canadian soldiers home.

This mimeographed newsletter was produced on a transport ship, possibly the SS "Pasteur," that was bringing home Canadian soldiers at the end of the Second World War. It was evidently printed on the day that the ship was due to arrive in Halifax, and its poor condition suggests that it passed through many hands.

This proclamation was handed out to men and women from Moncton, New Brunswick, as they returned from overseas after the end of the First World War.

These five undergraduates were lucky to return to Canada before the war ended, and before the mass demobilization of 1919 made special dinners difficult to organize.

The RHLI, nicknamed the Rileys, fought in the Dieppe raid and through the campaign in north-west Europe, returning to Hamilton, Ontario, in 1945.

The card that every family longed to get, giving notification of the return home of a loved one in uniform.

The first Canadian soldiers reached Aldershot in southern England in October 1939 to establish Canadian bases there; six years later, the city held a ceremony to bid them farewell.

Distributed to demobilized soldiers by the YMCA, this card allowed them to use the Association's facilities for six months after they returned home.

The Knights was one of the many aid organizations that provided comforts to Canadian soldiers returning home at the end of the First World War.