Reunions

Vimy Pilgrimage 1936

Close to 75 000 nurses, veterans, and family members of the deceased, met at the site to commemorate the Battle of Vimy Ridge with the unveiling of the Vimy monument by his majesty King Edward VIII, on July 27th, 1936. First World War RAF veteran, Walter J. Kerley took these photos on his journey, the day after the unveiling.

The Canadian Cavalry Association

This program is from the 18th annual dinner for the Canadian Cavalry Association at Hotel London in October, 1933. Programs like this would have occupied the seat of the veteran it was meant for, in this case, Captain Wellwood.

Annual Veterans Dinner

First World War veteran organizations continued to meet into the Second World War. This program was for the 10th Battalion Association’s Pacific Coast Branch annual dinner in Vancouver, British Columbia, in April, 1940.

"Overseas in 1914"

This reunion was organized by the Originals Club, founded in 1918 to bring together men who had gone overseas with the original 1st Division. There is an unmistakeable note of nostalgia in its description of the war years and the legacies of service.

The good old 18th

In 1919, the members of London's Women's Canadian Club held a dinner for the returning 18th Battalion, just as they had done when the unit left London in 1914. Among the celebrities on hand were Sir Adam Beck and Hume Cronyn, MP.

Machine gunners in Winnipeg

In this amusing souvenir program, officer of the Canadian Machine Gun Corps used their wartime experiences as a source of humour.

Reunion of "The Old Iron Second"

The 2nd Battalion drew its personnel primarily from eastern Ontario, and fought in every major Canadian battle of the First World War. By the end of the war, over 5200 officers and men had served in the unit; 1353 were killed in action or died of wounds.

2nd Bn Reunion.pdf (7.46 MB)

Reunion dinner of cavalrymen

Among the attendees at this 1947 cavalry reunion was Eric Flowerdew, whose brother Gordon had won the Victoria Cross for leading the charge by a squadron of Lord Strathcona's Horse at Moreuil Wood in March 1918.

CCBVA Reunion.pdf (21.71 MB)

A reunion of gunners

On the ninth anniversary of the Battle of Vimy Ridge, veterans of this Toronto artillery battery met to relive old times and remember their dead.

15th Battery.pdf (18.65 MB)

Veterans return to a French village

The 1938 Canadian Corps reunion featured a full-size replica of a typical French village in which soldiers could relive the good times of the First World War.