Last Salute

 Last Salute is a 2016 work by Emily Otterman, depicting Canadian veterans paying their respects to fallen comrades in the Netherlands.

Dennis LeBlanc joined the Canadian military in the 1990s and would see war in Afghanistan. Both of his grandfathers fought in World War Two, and conversations with his paternal grandfather would come up about that war when the young man joined up.

This is the scrapbook of Jeanne Caron, a nurse during the war. She and her husband didn't discuss their war experiences, but she was encouraged by her family to tell her story.

The quote above is by Frank Moritsugu, seen in the bottom photograph below. At top, a woman I met several times at Remembrance Day in the Museum. Joan Voller was in the Women's Royal Canadian Naval Service; her husband was a Navy man. Her uniform is still on display in the permanent collection, and I remember her speaking with bright vitality about her war memories.

Old photos and more recent close out this exhibit, rotating in turn.

Liberation

 The Soldier Returns is the title of this 2019 painting by David Whittaker. It depicts his father-in-law Russell Kaye, visiting Juno Beach in 2019, 75 years after landing there on D-Day.

Many Canadian veterans and their families during visits to Europe have returned to the Netherlands, time and again. It was Canadian soldiers largely responsible for the liberation of the country in that war, and the Dutch have never forgotten. David Wake accompanied his father Evan Wake, who had been part of the liberation, and filmed the journey.

Emily Otterman accompanied her veteran father in 2015 to the Netherlands, and out of that found inspiration in art. We'll look at one of her works tomorrow.

Squadron

 We begin today with a series of badges and pins, belonging to veterans as a way of marking their service in the Second World War.

One of those who had survived the war, though he was assumed dead, was Samuel Taylor with the RCAF. His plane was shot down, and he evaded capture. With the assistance of the French Resistance, he made contact with other downed pilots and aircrew members. They hid in forests, caves, and country homes. Among the souvenirs Taylor kept was a map of France, a scrap from a parachute, and a bracelet a Resistance member had given him for his fiancee back home.

He would make a scrapbook of his memories of the Escadrille Soixante-Neuf, or Squadron 69, as the group of fallen airmen would call themselves while evading capture. They would survive the war.

Imagine getting this telegram, after believing him dead. 

This includes a photograph from the wedding day.

Veterans in the years that would follow would mark occasions at cenotaphs across the country. And now there are few left, and fewer by the year, of that war.

Madeline Fraser was a nurse with the No. 14 Canadian General Hospital. The unit followed the Canadian military from 1940-1945. They had a plate designed by an artist, and multiple copies made, to remember their service.

Memory

 This is the service jacket of Sergeant Leonard Wood, who was a prisoner of war after the Battle of Hong Kong and survived the war. The distinctive red badge on the arm was issued to those survivors.

Leonard Corrigan was also a survivor of the POW camps. He kept a diary, and worried about how his family was doing back home.

William Allister had been deeply affected by his time as a POW in Japanese camps, left feeling deeply hostile towards the Japanese. He found healing and peace in a trip to Japan in the 1980s, and from that expressed himself in writing and in art.

This is one of his paintings. Returning As A Bird dates to 1983.

These are from the scrapbook of Helen Rochon, who served in the war in the Canadian Women's Army Corps.