From One War To The Next

 This haunting painting is titled The Conquerors, by Eric Kennington. It portrays Canadian soldiers, both living and ghosts, on the march. The dead are distinguished by their pale faces and dark rimmed eyes.

The Great War for Canadian forces came to an end at the Belgian town of Mons, which they liberated in the hours before the armistice.

But the cost of the war was tremendous for the country.

Memorials would be erected in the years to follow, in memory of those who never returned.

But the failure of the peace talks would set the stage for the next war, even more terrible, and the rise of dictators. The next gallery is on the Second World War, and the first thing one sees is this vehicle- once owned by Hitler.

When war broke out, Canada was in it from the start.

Canadians would be part of the war in Europe from the beginning, with the navy engaged in the Battle of the Atlantic, and pilots and soldiers headed for Britain as part of the war effort.

Canada would also be a training ground for pilots of the Allied forces.

This is a flight simulator of the era, said to be harder to operate than actual planes.

The Battle of the Atlantic was the longest campaign of the war, from the first days of the war to the end of the war in Europe. Canadian naval vessels would do escorts for the merchant navy bringing supplies to Europe. A simulation video is part of the exhibit at this area, showing Canadians dealing with a German U-Boat.

U-Boats were the terror of the seas- which Churchill himself acknowledged.