Keep the memory alive
Posted By ELAINE SOLTYS-WIEBE
Posted 2 months ago
The weather was gorgeous on Remembrance Day this year, enabling a large crowd to gather around the Pembroke Cenotaph to pay tribute to the sacrifice of all the men and women who fought for freedom and democracy during the world wars, the Korean War, the Afghanistan conflict and during peacekeeping missions. We were stirred by the parade of veterans and Legion members, soldiers, cadets, and marching bands as the colours and the music drew our attention towards Canadian patriotism.
The library joins the community in remembering. Take a seat at the library's cataloguing computer and under the 'subject' heading type in "war". You will find a list that offers a wide variety of material in books and audio/visual. The library recently received a generous donation from a local patron to increase the amount of materials on the subject of war.
In Baptism of Fire -The Second Battle of Ypres, Nathan M. Greenfield revisits the battlefields and war rooms of history, deconstructing military motives and unearthing scores of unpublished interviews.
Corvetttes Canada Veterans of World War II Tell Their Stories finds Mac Johnston Convoy recreating life aboard corvettes through the worlds of the veterans themselves - the product of the memories of more than 250 men.
The correspondence between two officer brothers and their family at home from 1915 to 1919 are captured in The Wartime Letters of Leslie & Cecil Frost 1915-19 (R. B. Fleming
Editor). Despite wartime censorship, Leslie and Cecil wrote "frank and forthright" letters that show how these young men viewed the war. This book is of interest to the general reader and to scholars of military history and social history.
Other titles in the library's collection include Victory at Vimy by Ted Barris (bestselling Author of Juno: Canadians at D-Day, June 6, 1944); Fortune Favours the Brave -Tales of Courage and Tenacity in Canadian Military History edited by Colonel Bernd Horn; Whose War Is It? by J. L. Granatstein; How Canada Can Survive in the Post -9/11 World.
Read about the ladies of wartime in War Brides -The Stories of Women who left everything behind to follow the men they loved contains the incredible stories of young women who were considered sometimes brave and sometmes foolish as they left families and homes to move to a country thousands of miles away with a man they barely knew. Yet their decision brought happiness to many, and surviving women share their tales of love, family and starting again. When you read Equal to the Challenge -An Anthology of Women's Experiences During World War II, you will gain a better understanding of the women who joined the workforce or who maintained their family farms in the absence of a man who went to war.
Among the generous donations towards war information in the library, visit the non-fiction section marked DVD 940.3 WAR to find a collection of "The Warm Amps Presents:..."with titles including The Eastern Front and the Western Front, No Man's Land, Against All Odds, Korea, Watch and Warn along with several others.
(DVD 958.1 AFG) The Desert Fox, The Longest Day, The Green Berets, Frontline, and Schindler's List.
The Winds of War (VHS War section) is a mini series about the Second World War based on Herman Wouk's book. It became hugely successful on television and was followed by another series, War and Remembrance based on his subsequent book. You will find Herman Wouk's first book The Caine Mutiny in the library's fiction section.
It was our pleasure to draw attention to these materials in our book displays during the November season of remembrance. While the books and movies have returned to their usual shelves, you can be sure library staff will be glad to assist you in discovering how and where to access these materials as your remembrances linger and to satisfy your desire to become more familiar with Canada's military involvement in establishing and maintaining freedom, democracy and peace.
For more information regarding the library's collection of books and audio/visual material, please come to the library, telephone us at 613-732-8844 or visit our website:
www.pembrokelibrary.ca.
