During the First World War around eight million people lived in Canada; eight million people with different perspectives of the war.
On Oct. 29, Phil Gravelle and members of the town’s heritage committee spoke about life in Erin from 1914 to 1918 as well as local wartime Newspaper coverage.
Gravelle explained the local Newspaper ran letters, ads and articles on life during the war, including advertisers who used the war as “commercial promotion,” letters from soldiers and calls to action by many groups.
“Once the war got going there was usually two full
pages of war News … it was a constant stream of News,” he said.
“There was tales of heroism, foul deeds by the enemy, glorious victories and general slaughter.”
Gravelle also spoke about notable Erin citizens who enlisted, such as Sgt. Frank Belway, Arthur Berry and Hugh McMillan.
Belway, who was the manager of Stanley Park, earned the Distinguished Flying Cross in WWI for flying low over enemy lines under heavy machine gun fire, to get exact information on the positioning of their troops, explained Gravelle.
The night was also an opportunity for locals to bring in mementos and heirlooms from the Great War.
Doug Kirkwood
Doug Kirkwood, service officer for the Erin Legion, has kept many keepsakes from the war, from his collection and those given to him by others.
He brought in a book entitled The People’s War Book written in 1919. The book is significant because of when it was published, Kirkwood said.
“In 1919, somebody published a book about the war. It’s full of pictures about the war and it’s pretty well beat up this one. It’s 1919 so that’s just after the war ended, in fact some of the troops are still overseas at that time and the Spanish flu was going full blast at that time,” he explained.
Kirkwood, who served in the Canadian Forces reserve for seven years, was a young boy in Erin during the Second World War.
“I remember the war, I was young. I remember in Erin the army coming through Erin. They’d come from camp Borden … They would set up a field kitchen behind one of the houses,” he said.
Kirkwood also brought a 1908 and 1915 edition of a first aid training book given to soldiers when they enlisted.
Doug Follett
Three service medals, obviously worn, are now behind protective plastic held by Doug Follett. The medals belong to his late father, John Follett, who served in the British Army during WWI.
“He was in the rifle brigade … towards the end of the war he, for reasons unknown to me, switched to the Royal Army Medical Corps,” said Follett.
A farm labourer before joining the war, John immigrated to Canada after he was de-mobilized in 1920. After the war, John was a gardener in downtown Montréal, explained Follett.
His medals include the blue, white and red 1914 Star medal for those who served in France or Belgium between Aug. 1914 and Nov. 1914, the blue and yellow British War Medal for those who served in WWI, and the rainbow-coloured Victory Medal given to those who received the 1914 Star.
Follett explained the medals were given to him by his sister – and he plans to pass them on to a new generation.
“I’m hanging on to them to pass on to one of the grandchildren,” he said.
Although his father did not speak about the war, Follett said he does know John was posted in Salonika, now Thessalonika, Greece, for some time.
“He didn’t talk much about the war, so I don’t know much about what happened,” said Follett.
Chuck Simpson
Sergeant at Arms for the Orangeville Legion, Chuck Simpson displayed letters between George Candlish Taylor of East Toronto and Taylor’s mother, father and sisters. Taylor was killed in battle in April 1917.
Simpson’s collection includes a letter that Taylor’s mother wrote to him on March 25, 1917 – but it was returned to her with the words “killed in action” written in cursive on the front of the envelope.
Simpson explained the letters are important keepsakes that help encourage remembrance.
“These are their actual words,” said Simpson of the significance of a first-person account of the war.
“Some of his letters at the beginning of the war are long, but near the end it’s like ‘got to go dad, something’s going [on],’” he added.
Mary Barnstaple
A child’s doll with a leather body, real hair and ivory teeth was owned by Mary Barnstaple’s mother.
Barnstaple said her mother was six years old by the end of the war and did not have many memories from that time. She explained her mother had two brothers that left for the war and survived, and another brother who trained for the war but never ended up fighting.
“It’s just a memento from my mother,” said Barnstaple.
“It’s just amazing that so many people dedicated so much effort to the war and lost so many family members …
“[My mother] was lucky, her two brothers came back and a third one enlisted and was in training but then the war was over.”
