Not a war story: this is about what comes after
Canadian War Museum online exhibit features memories of veterans in their post-conflict lives
Amid the Remembrance Day ceremonies and war stories that mark this time of year, an archive of veterans' memories provides a new, intimate glimpse into how war shaped their lives long after those conflicts ended.
More than 200 interviews with Canadian veterans of Canada's conflicts, as well as with some of their family members, have been collected by the Canadian War Museum in an oral history project titled In Their Own Voices. The focus is not so much on preserving memories their combat experiences, but to reflect on what came after.
An online exhibit that went live ahead of Remembrance Day features excerpts of those interviews, conducted by former journalist and war correspondent, Michael Petrou, and now historian of veterans' experience at the War Museum.
"In Canada, I think we have a tendency to 'wall off'… conflict" Petrou said in an interview with IDEAS host, Nahlah Ayed.
"But it's not over for the veterans. It's not over for their loved ones. And it's not over for our communities and our country as well."
Wars can profoundly change individuals who fight in them, often shaping their choices later in life, their ambitions, and their families.
Canada's Second World War effort, for instance, radically shifted society and left a mark on everything from educational and employment prospects for young people, to the rights of women and marginalized communities.
"The fact that Chinese Canadians and Japanese Canadians had served was instrumental in their postwar struggle for greater equity," explained Petrou.
"It's not a discrete thing, war. It continues to have these impacts not just on the veterans, not just in the families, but on entire communities and in countries as well."
The veterans Petrou interviewed come from all walks of life and from across Canada, young and old veterans who served in the range of conflicts in which Canada has been involved.
Despite the fact that nearly 80 years have passed since the end of the Second World War, 40 veterans from that conflict were still able to speak with Petrou.
"What I wanted to get at was not necessarily… 'this is how the battle unfolded.'" explained Petrou. Instead, "It's 'what do you remember? How did it smell? How do you feel now? How does that affect you even today?'"
Were there common strands in answer to the question of how people change after engaging in combat?
"Only that everyone has changed," said Petrou.
One of the veterans interviewed for In Their Voices was Benjamin Hertwig, a veteran of the Canadian Armed Forces and the war in Afghanistan. He is currently a writer, poet and PhD student at the University of British Columbia. His early poems about contemporary warfare became a book entitled Slow War, shortlisted for the Governor General's Literary Awards. He taught a creative writing course designed with veterans in mind. He's also just published a novel exploring soldiers' experiences entitled Juiceboxers.
Here's an excerpt of the interview Michael Petrou did with him, in which Hertwig describes a moment of understanding between himself and his grandfather, who had seen combat in Europe during the Second World War and later became a pastor.
Transcript:
Hertwig: There was one incident that I remember, that left a very, very... deep mark on me and it was with my grandfather. This would have been weeks after, weeks or months after returning from Afghanistan, feeling very overwhelmed, not necessarily wanting to be a part of large gatherings or family gatherings, but we were having a celebration, I believe it was for my dad or my dad's birthday, something like that.
And one of my aunts or uncles mentioned someone from my platoon who had died. And I remember kind of choking up and starting to cry and not being able to stop and kind of trying to get away from people and just still not being able to stop the tears. And it was a very small house and kind of feeling claustrophobic and nowhere to escape to within it.
And my grandfather stopped me in the [long pause] hallway. And he was a bit of a [...] he was the life of the party. He was always chatting and joking, and he was very serious, which was uncharacteristic for him, and he just kind of touched me on the shoulder ... and said, "I know, I understand." [long pause]
And I think at that point […] I wanted so deeply, I think, to be understood or to be able to share. And I did not yet understand myself. But that very brief moment of recognition, not asking me more questions, not asking me to explain myself, not [pause].
Just "I understand." I think, that meant more to me at the age of 20 than I than I knew at the time. Yeah.
Petrou: Why did your grandfather understand?
He was a veteran of the Second World War. I mean, he was in the Austrian military and had lived through the realities and horrors of conflict himself and had seen many of his own sort of friends or comrades of his age group die. He didn't really talk about it to us as children. Although in hindsight could see the impact it had on him as a young man, and then on the way he raised his family and his anger issues, his inability to express love.
All of these things which I think I only emotionally understood years later, maybe even after he had passed away. But it was one older soldier seeing a younger soldier who [pause] I think felt kind of overwhelmed and helpless and kind of reached out.
Audio clips were generously provided by the Canadian War Museum from interviews completed as part of their In Their Own Voices project. Visit warmuseum.ca to explore the lasting impacts of military service on veterans and their loved ones. Through 50 compelling clips drawn from a collection of over 200 interviews, In Their Own Voices – the online oral history exhibition unveils the often-overlooked narratives and offers personal reflections of how conflict has shaped lives and legacies of individuals, communities and Canada as a whole.
To listen to both episodes of this series download the IDEAS podcast from your favourite app.
*This episode was produced by Nahlah Ayed, with help from Matthew Lazin-Ryder.
