“Doughboy Jack and Doughnut Jill”: A Love Story
In the year 1919, three Canadian artists of some prominence came together to write and record a comedic love song titled “Doughboy Jack and Doughnut Jill”. The song describes an American soldier and a Salvation Army volunteer falling in love at the Western Front. Like any good love song, it contains a chance encounter and […]
The Paris Peace Conference, 1919
One hundred years ago, delegates of the victorious Allied nations arrived in France at the Paris Peace Conference. In the following six months, they would take part in some of the most critical negotiations and decisions to reestablish peace and a new international order. With nearly 61 000 war dead, Prime Minister Sir Robert Borden […]
“Three Hearty Cheers”: The HMCS Saguenay at the Vimy Pilgrimage
Today on the blog we’re doing something a little bit different. The Tri-couleur flag shown above comes from the collections of the Naval Museum of Halifax, and it has a great backstory.
“The country needs dignity and refined taste”: 100 years of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission has been celebrating the centenary of its founding since May 21st, with events across the Commonwealth countries, including one at the Canadian War Museum this past week. One of the most striking sites when travelling in northern France are the CWGC managed cemeteries; they are quiet places, with rows of […]
“The Dead Marshes”: The Post-War Landscape of France and Flanders
In the second book of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, “The Two Towers”, Frodo and Gollum pass through the Dead Marshes where, “The only green was the scum of livid weed on the dark greasy milky surfaces of the sullen waters. Dead grasses and rotting reeds loomed up in the mists like ragged shadows […]
