Exhibit at Canadian War Museum sharing stories of Second World War veterans

A new exhibition at the Canadian War Museum will give people a change to hear first-person accounts of Second World War veterans. CTV’s Camille Wilson reports.

The Canadian War Museum is launching a new exhibit called Last Voices of the Second World War. It shares the unforgettable stories of Canada’s Second World War veterans and their families.

This exhibit is created to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War.

“This is not an exhibit about the war. It is about the postwar experience and the veteran’s life, lifelong journey and how that journey was,” said Teresa Iacobelli, historian and co-curator of the exhibit.

“It draws on extensive oral histories that were done as part of the ‘In Their Own Voices’ project here at the museum.”

The exhibit includes interviews with 50 veterans of the second World War, as well as 30 family members related to them.

“This is one of the last opportunities to hear directly from those who were there, directly from the veterans of the Second World War. This is an opportunity that will not be with us much longer. So, there is a value in hearing those stories, and it’s also important to hear the stories of what the postwar world looked like for these veterans and what they went through. They experienced traumas. They experienced joys. And this is an exhibition about that journey,” said Iacobelli.

CTV News Ottawa spoke with some of the daughters of the museum who shared their experiences with their fathers.

Danielle and Renée Thibeault are the daughters of veteran Léopold Thibeault who served in the Canadian Army as an engineer. He passed away in January at the age of 103. He travelled from Canada to England, to Belgium, and then spent most of his time in Holland.

“I at least I said you weren’t like in the first line where you got shot at. But he says, no, we got shot at because we were, we were trying to build bridges at night while the two sides were shooting at each other because they wanted to stop the soldiers from building the bridge,” said Renée.

“He would say it was my job. I had a job to do so that others could do their job. And to him it was, that’s it. You just did your job. You know, you got up in the morning and you did what you needed to do,” added Danielle.

Danielle and Renée are filled with stories on the time they spent with their father and all the war stories he shared. They say he was very nonchalant and very humble.

The sisters shared that their dad used to sleep under his truck during the bombing, saying it was the safest place to be. When Léopold came back to Canada, he worked with CN Rail as a train engineer until he retired at 65.

“It’s the living history. That’s the part that strikes me the most about others in the future. You know these guys will pretty well be all gone and it would be too easy for people to downplay or even deny that any of this happened. And and so what we have is living. This is a guy. It’s his voice. It’s him. It’s not some fabrication that’s going on here,” said Danielle.

Both sisters say they are grateful for this museum experience.

Yvonne Boyer is the daughter of veteran George William Boyer who served in the Royal Canadian Navy. She says this exhibit means so much to her.

“He was torpedoed in August 1944, in the North Atlantic Ocean. That torpedo killed 21 people. It was a very, very traumatic event. So, his very best friend, David Melrose was killed at that time. This is something that he carried with him his whole life. When he came back from the war, it stayed with him. When he came back from the war, he had, nightmares. He never really talked about the war. But I have memories of him in the middle of the night, waking up and screaming, hit the deck! And he would pick my mother up out of bed and throw her on the closet floor,” Yvonne said. “It was PTSD. Obviously, that was never treated because it probably wasn’t named at the time.”

She says she remembers finding letters her dad had written home to his mother in the 40s, to let her know that he was okay after he was torpedoed.

When she was younger, she found a box of treasures from her dad that he kept in a corner of his drawer. A powder horn was found in it and it’s now displayed at the exhibit.

“So, my dad had this powder horn in his box of treasures at the same time that he had his medals and he had his rations, “she added.

Susan Harrison is the daughter of veteran Reg Harrison who was a Royal Canadian Air Force veteran. He was a bomber pilot in the Second World War.

“I think what stands out most from his years in the war was the fact that he crashed four times, none of which were his fault, and he survived all of them. So, you know, he calls it luck. But maybe it was fate. Maybe it was destiny. But we certainly wouldn’t have been here if he had not survived those four crashes,” she said.

“The way they’ve put together the story of my mom and dad, although I knew the story, (is) very touching,” Susan said.

Her parents met during the war. Her mom’s first fiancé became friends while training to be pilots. He passed away in his first flight and because of the close connection her father grew with her, they got married.

“I think this exhibit has put together some of the most important aspects of the Second World War and not just about what happened, but about the people and how they transition through the war and the things that happened and how it affected their lives,” Susan added.

The exhibition will be on view at the Canadian War Museum from May 9 to Jan. 18.