Remembering

Ceremonies that involved placing flowers on the graves of ex-soldiers were common across Canada, and usually followed the same pattern as this service in Morden, Manitoba.

Despite the inscription that suggests he enlisted voluntarily, Percy Norris of Sprague, Manitoba, was actually conscripted in May 1918. The fact that he later ordered this souvenir scroll suggests that he was not a reluctant conscript.

This colourful scroll was available in both French and English, and could be personalized (following the suggestions on the back) by adding the details of an individual's service career.

John Bridgman served with the 5th Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force, during the First World War, and was wounded and evacuated home to Saskatchewan in 1917. Nearly thirty years later, he spoke at a Remembrance Day assembly in London, Ontario, and told high school students of his experiences during the war.

This address, read over the network of the Canadian Radio Commission on Remembrance Day 1935, compared the Unknown Soldier to Jesus Christ.

John “Jack” Smith was born in Scotland in 1906 and came to Canada as a teenager. He enlisted early in the Second World War, serving in the 5th Field Ambulance of the Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps. While he was overseas, he sent snapshots and other souvenirs of his travels to his family in Hamilton, Ontario, to show them the more mundane parts of serving in the army: field exercises, barracks life, an inspection by the King and Queen, and the surroundings in Spitzbergen, Russia, where he was posted for a short time in 1941.

This 1938 financial statement of the Canadian Legion has a curious hand-written notation on it: "Legion cigarettes."

Members of the Canadian Legion's Manitoba Command came together in 1938 to celebrate the wedding anniversary of one of their own. Amongst the speakers was Eli Spencer of Morden.

This reunion included everything from the RCMP Musical Ride to an egg-and-spoon race for amputees. The grand prize, of a trip back to the battlefields, must have represented a considerable expense for the organizers, and one wonders if it was actually awarded.

These service had all the elements that had become typical by the 1930s: John McCrae's poem "In Flanders Fields," the hymn "O God, Our Help in Ages Past," addresses by local veterans, and the Canadian and British national anthems. Note, however, the important change penciled on the bottom of the 1934 program.