The Front And Home

These are flight log books and the medal set of Captain Roy Brown, a Canadian pilot from the town of Carleton Place, which is near Ottawa.

Brown dueled with Manfred von Richthofen in the skies over the Western Front on the 21st of April, 1918. He is credited with shooting down the man who history remembers as the Red Baron, though Australian infantry also claimed credit.

A before and after- the great Canadian victory at Vimy Ridge would come to be part of the national story, and after the war, France gave the ridge to Canada for a memorial. The Vimy Memorial, pictured here during its dedication, commemorated the dead of that battle, and of the war as a whole.

The creeping barrage- the idea of artillery supporting an infantry advance- really depended on the competence of the artillery teams, as there were times the shells fell short into the ranks of your own side. But the concept would be perfected by war's end as part of what would be called combined arms fighting, the very thing that broke the stalemate.

This large painting is Canadian Artillery in Action, by Kenneth Forbes, a commissioned war artist.

Back at home, the war loomed large in Canadian society, with fathers, husbands, and sons overseas, and families worried about them.

This service flag hung at the home of the Adie family of St. Catherines. Four of their sons went to war. Only one survived.

Postcards and letters from Lawrence Rogers and his family. He went to war, leaving his wife to raise their young children, and they kept in touch as much as possible. 

He carried with him a small teddy bear from his daughter. A letter sent by his son never reached him- he died on the western front. His comrades ensured that the bear was returned to the family.

This was his uniform coat and cap.