More than 620,000 Canadians served during the First World War. The memory of those killed was formally, officially, publicly, locally, and privately commemorated. But what of Canada’s living veterans? The nation cloaked these veterans with the moral ascendency of self-sacrifice which developed into a form of unassailable national reverence. In English Canada, at least, state and society ennobled their service as the ultimate form of citizenship and intermingled it with an emerging sense of postwar Canadian nationalism and identity.
What social status and community prominence did they achieve? These halfmillion or so men, many unfit or unwell, few better off for their wartime experiences, sought social and familial reintegration, and most shared an identity that differentiated them from other Canadians.
This became even more the case with the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939. The veteran community expressed strongly stated views on issues such as manpower and conscription, the desire for a ‘Total War’ effort, unflagging support for Britain, and the fear of ‘enemy alien’ sabotage. But one little-known issue of interest to them, one which relied on their status as war veterans, was the desire among so many of them to serve again.
In May 1940, with the war going poorly for the Allies, the Canadian Army formed the Veterans Guard of Canada (VGC), made up exclusively of First World War veterans. These veteran-soldiers were not an auxiliary force or a group of wellmeaning civilians but rather they served as an integral part of the Canadian Army. This was the first time in Canadian history that there existed so strong a veterans’ community from which to draw in a national emergency.
In June 1943, the VGC’s strength peaked at nearly 10,000 men, though thousands of others already had served and been discharged or would join between that date and the war’s end. Studying the VGC allows for the establishment of a cross-generational link between the First World War and the Second. The Veteran-soldiers mainly served on guard or garrison duties in Canada, but others served around the world. No fewer than 336 died while on active service, though not from enemy action.
How did military, political, and civic authorities, as well as the press and public, perceive these old soldiers? What were the veterans’ views of identity, service, and nation in peace and war?
Herewith a link to a brief, preliminary article that I have published on the VGC. https://legionmagazine.com/to-war-once-more/