November 11th Remembrance Day

"...guys don't die like they do in the John Wayne movies"

This was said by a Canadian veteran describing the moment his buddy get picked off by a sniper in World War Two.  He said it took one bullet, and it was over. The story was one in late British Columbia author Barry Broadfoot's "Six War Years 1939 -1945" published in the early 1970s as part of a series of oral history books. Really, this book is required reading.

This morning on the news I heard something I hadn't known before, about a 25 year old soldier named George Price from the Maritimes, who met the same fate, just minutes before hostilities ceased as armistice took effect on this day in World War One. Ironically, the locale was at Mons on the notorious Western Front where the first battles of the conflict occurred. He was the last Canadian soldier killed in World War One and is buried there. Buried nearby are the first and last British soldiers to be killed. 

This reminded me of a friend of mine , the late Danny Mancktelow who was an Australian veteran in World War Two, later with Canada in the Korean War.  In the occupation of Japan he was assigned to Hiroshima where he met a Japanese woman and married her, eventually immigrating to Canada --and not without difficulties from the government due to being in a mixed marriage.  He wrote a self published book on his life called "Atsuko and the Aussie". His opening chapter began with: 

    

   "I will always remember the morning of August 14th, 1945--the morning that peace was announced. We were in the front line and the day before we had been ambushed by a machine gun nest while on patrol. Two of our men had been killed--two who had seen action all through the Middle East, had been in the Battle of Tobruk, and were members of the famous Rats of Tobruk. We decided to attack the nest at dawn on the morning of August 14.

    "Our usual procedure was to cut a pack of cards to see who would go ahead as a forward scout. I drew the two of spades that morning and my buddies all offered to change places with me. This offer was always made but rarely accepted.

    "We were just about to move when word came through of peace. I will never know what my fate might have been on that morning in Wewick, New Guinea".

The majority of service personnel killed are young people, who nowadays we still label as "kids" even when they are in their twenties. But they grew up and old very fast by their fate, without experiencing so many joys of regular youthful life.  Then there are the civilians too, the massive sacrifices of war discriminate against no one.  It is very tragic too, the mental toll upon many surviving vets.

When it comes to collecting, the Patriotic theme is just so visible for those of us pursuing our objects of desire from over 100 years ago.  " For Queen & King and Country" were the mottos of the day.. Canadian companies used the Beaver and Maple Leaf in trademarks and advertising, with loyalty to the Mother Country & the British Empire so prevalent.  The arms race of the day centered on the buildup of navies and this was reflected in product graphics; examples are shown by these BC salmon labels:

---courtesy of Vancouver Maritime Museum

---courtesy of Province of British Columbia Archives

In Ontario the city of Berlin had been named in recognition of the large number of German immigrants to the region in the 1800s. They changed the name to Kitchener in early World War One as a patriotic gesture, Lord Kitchener being a British general.   The J.M. Schneider meat products company did something similar to profess their loyalty to the Crown.  Look at these ads and notice the change:

Despite the massive casualties suffered in "The Great War"  patriotism and use of military theme continued here in the early 1920s and noticably dropped off in use of graphics by the 1930s, though lots of companies promoted slogans such as "Buy British" and "Empire".

1921 ads for Westminster Brewery,  New Westminster BC

found in the Daily World , Vancouver BC

courtesy of www.newspapers.com

One of the showpieces in my own collection is this general store 18" x 30" calendar calendar issued by Purity Flour with its allegory of a soldier kneeling before "Canadiana".  It was found many years ago in an abandoned farmhouse in southern Manitoba by the fellow I purchased it from. 

This is for the year 1920 and you'll notice the date of the war as 1914 - 1919,  it recognizes that further activity took place as the Allies attempted briefly  to support anti-Boshevik forces in the newly declared Soviet Union.

And to share another item,  here is a recruiting poster for the Royal Canadian Navy from May, 1945.  It is a 11" x 21" placard ad salvaged by someone many years ago from the interior of a BC Electric Company streetcar in Vancouver. To join up you'd go to HMS Discovery, the station at Deadman Island in Coal Harbour at Stanley Park:

Going through my postcards, I found this one from Kamloops in World War I.  Don't know if this is a common view or what.  Anyhow, lots of postcards were done at departure days for the troops.  This is a pretty early one maybe given the date being August 28th, the war not even a month old yet.  Then a friend shared another by same company; perhaps there were several taken at the same time:

These cards were issued by A.G. Taylor who is shown in the Jeffries Directory for Kamloops as having a stationery store at 341 Victoria Street,  with a store in Vancouver and residence is shown as Vancouver.