New exhibit unveils stories of Canadian veterans’ lives after service
Global News
A new online exhibit at the Canadian War Museum is opening a window into veterans' postwar lives, and telling stories that have gone untold.
A new online exhibit at the Canadian War Museum is opening a window into veterans’ postwar lives.
“In Their Own Voices” is an online collection which showcases 200 interviews with veterans and their families, sharing their innermost thoughts and life experiences after military service that many veterans kept to themselves and never had the opportunity to share publicly.
“I was happy the war ended. I was very sad, and I cried, and I cried and I cried for the boys who gave their lives,” said Second World War veteran George Morasch in one clip.
Tyler Wentzell, a Canadian Army member who served in Afghanistan in 2008, explained in an online clip how he felt as Kabul fell in 2021, saying, “The speed with which the Afghan state collapsed was really disheartening because, as it was happening, I was getting messages from people that I still knew who were in Afghanistan.”
He said this was just a bad news story for many Canadians, but for him, it was more personal.
“We were getting messages from people we really care about, like all day every day for weeks, so that was very unpleasant,” Wentzell said.
Historian Michael Petrou explains that this collection is unique in exploring veterans’ lives after returning from war. While most battlefield reports and newspaper articles end when the soldiers return home from the conflict, “In Their Own Voices” explores how their wartime experiences continue to shape their lives long after the guns fell silent.
“For the people that are involved in those missions or involved in those conflicts, the impacts continue to ripple for years and sometimes generations after that,” Petrou said.
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