Voices

 I had visited a temporary exhibit, Last Voices of the Second World War, at the Canadian War Museum ahead of Remembrance Day last year. I had found it deeply emotional, and wanted to visit again before it closed up in January. So in between Christmas and New Year's in December, I stopped by the Museum for a visit. The exhibit is the work by Museum staff with veterans and their families, through their own words, photos, and artifacts. It looks at their war experiences and what coming home meant to them.

After the First World War, there wasn't really much support or plans for how to demobilize soldiers and get them back into civilian life. The Canadian government did things differently after the Second World War, setting up programs and efforts to help with the transition.

Coming home after the things they did and saw and experienced could be overwhelming. This display case includes a train ticket from a veteran of the Battle of Hong Kong, who returned home after years as a prisoner of war, and the discharge documents of another veteran.