November: A time for remembrance - w(ar)t

Lest we forget, not everyone who answered the call to patriotically serve our country (and defend its ideals) was a professional soldier with years of combat training and specialized knowledge on how to fight and survive.  The reliance on volunteers in Canada during WWI and WWII was a significant factor in advancing our overall contributions to the Total War effort.  Some volunteers gave their time and expertise (like, for example, their expertise on aviation), while others gave their labour, money, and goods.   Many throughout society also choose to voluntarily adhere to officially encouraged "war effort behaviours" like using less sugar, gasoline, meat, butter, rubber, and by taking up a job in a war plant.      

Yet, even if past combatants were professional soldiers, training for war is equally rife with risks, and itself is sometimes a lethal venture.   A plaque next to this statue reads, "this memorial is dedicated to the memory of those airmen and instructors who lost their lives while training in Canada during World War II.    Erected by the Wartime Pilots and Observers Association of Winnipeg.    September 9, 1984.   R.C.A.F - R.A.F".  Sculptor unknown.   Composite image by Jeffrey Meyer