Saturday, August 14, 2021

Legacies Of War

Some of the stories in this last part of the exhibition tell of the aftermath of the war for various peoples. As it was in the United States, so it was in Canada during the Second World War. Japanese-Canadians were treated with suspicion, and sent to internment camps. Such was the case with Michiko Ayukawa.


Hubert Brooks was one of those stories of luck: parachuting out of a burning plane over Germany, getting taken prisoner... and then escaping and spending the rest of the war fighting alongside the Polish Resistance and serving with distinction. In 1948, he was part of the Canadian hockey team that won the gold medal in the Winter Olympics.


This is his jersey.


Irene Clark-Kennedy Courtenay spent the war as a nurse and continued in that occupation both hands-on and in the academic world for decades afterwards.


Doug Sam evaded capture when his plane went down with the assistance of the French Resistance, and after the war would become an intelligence officer. At the time of his retirement he was the highest ranking Chinese-Canadian officer in the Forces.

The Campbell brothers, who I mentioned early on in this series, have had their legacy live on after their deaths in 1944. Campbell Bay, Saskatchewan, is named in the honour of the twins.


Regina Rosenbaum Gertner survived the Holocaust. She and her husband Berek settled in Canada after the war. Their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren are their legacy as survivors.


One last shot for today.

32 comments:

  1. ...and we haven't learned anything from all this yet!

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  2. Glad there were also "good" endings. Sad history still repeats itself.

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  3. The internment camps rank as one of the great stains on our history, along with the residential schools.

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  4. Nice human touch resulting form a terrible time.

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  5. ...having an enduring legacy is a wonderful thing!

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  6. @Cloudia: you're welcome.

    @Italiafinlandia: so it seems.

    @Iris: it often does.

    @David: very much so.

    @Anvilcloud: I agree.

    @Tom: that it is.

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  7. I have friends who were interned in those camps as kids. It was a horrible thing to do to our fellow Canadians.

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  8. Society is slow to change. Once it was Japanese Canadians, others are the focus now. Sad.

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  9. I'm glad there were some living legacies from those terrible times of conflict. Unfortunately Afghanistan is presenting another war where Americans are trying to protect democracy, and perhaps failing.

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  10. So many heroes. They were all brave and worked hard.

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  11. War is terrible. Hope there will be no more war.

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  12. @Sharon: very much so.

    @RedPat: it was.

    @Marie: that's true.

    @Barbara: many mistakes have been made in Afghanistan.

    @Red: definitely.

    @Nancy: hopefully.

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  13. Does man need wars to prove their heroism. Apparently and sadly yes.

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  14. What a wonderful exhibit honoring ~ the heroes and heroeines ~ Xo


    Living in the moment,

    A ShutterBug Explores,
    aka (A Creative Harbor)

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  15. Oh yes the good and the bad of war, such a well crafted post, thank you for sharing it with us. History is so important to learn and understand and so often much gets unnoticed, unless we read and share!

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  16. And yet another war is going on, Kabul is falling, a lot of people are plunged into misery again. ;-(

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  17. Think of all the lives lost in Afghanistan, and nothing learned, then or now.

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  18. sad to say i think wars will always happen. not a right or wrong thing ... just some folks think it is the only way. have a great rest of your weekend. ( ;

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  19. Oh for a world without wars, but alas I can't see it happening.

    All the best Jan

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