World War I made an indelible impression of not only Canada, but Barrhead.
That was the message of the Remembrance Day ceremony held at Barrhead Composite High School on Thursday, Nov. 6.
Although the school’s ceremony was to honour and remember the sacrifices the men and women who have served in the Canadian Armed Forces, defending the nation in both World Wars, the Korean Conflict, Afghanistan as well as its peace keeping mission, the focus of the ceremony was the first World War.
This year, marks the 100th anniversary of the start of the First World War.
Barrhead Town Councillor, Leslie Penny said the First World War changed Barrhead and Canada forever.
“If you go down to Memorial Park and look on the Cenotaph you will see a list of the soldiers who served in WWI from this area,” Penny said. “At that time there was no town of Barrhead, but that does not mean the war and the people who served on it did not impact Barrhead.”
She said the first impact it had on not only the area residents, but Canada as a whole was on the population.
Because the majority of the young men, either volunteered or were conscripted into the service and went overseas to fight in the war it left a big void.
“There was still work to be done, even though all these men were away,” Penny said.
Including the job of school teacher.
Before the First World War, Penny said the majority of teachers, were men. However, with the men gone, Penny said that meant school boards all over the province and the country had to fill these positions.
She asked the female Grade 10 students to raise their hands.
“Take a look around you,” Penny said. “If you were a girl, your age, you would have been asked to leave home and go some where you never heard of before and teach in a one room school house.”
She said the young teachers would stay with a host family and depending if the school board could afford it, be paid only a small stipend.
“This is why the teachers decided to organize,” Penny said. “Because of the horrible teaching conditions, during WWI, the Alberta Teachers Association. It is because of these Grade 10 girls there is an organization to help you.”
Penny said with the men gone the women were forced into roles they never were able to have before.
“It was during the First World War, at least if you were a British citizen, women got to vote. At least in Alberta,” she said.
It was also during the war, Penny said, that the United Grain Growers was created.
“They became a voice for not only the farmer, but the community,” she said.
Penny said not all of the changes were beneficial. She said advancements in technology, such as the airplane and the machine gun made it easier to kill and many of the hundreds of thousands of soldiers who went off to war never returned.
Barrhead County Reeve, Bill Lee, agreed saying WWI had a huge effect in the area.
“My grandparents came to Barrhead just before the war in 1911,” Lee said and he remembers them telling him how the community had to come together, during the war.
“There was no welfare then,” Lee said. “People had to fend for themselves, and with many of the men gone to war, it left the women home alone, having to take care of the farm and the children.”
Often he said, it was an impossible task and many families suffered.
“The people left behind, in our community, pulled together,” Lee said. “Planted extra potatoes and carrots, raised extra chickens because you knew you might have to help your neighbour.”
He said even after the war the community had to look after each other, because many of the soldiers never returned home and those who did were never the same.
“I had a great uncle, Bill Lee, my namesake, who returned home and we thought he was fortunate to return home not wounded,” Lee said, adding it was not until later on that his uncle found out he had been hurt during the war.
“Being in the trenches like he was, he got some sort of lung infection. He was sick the entire time he returned home,” he said, adding that he died two years after the war. “Those deaths are not in the history books as war casualties. WWI affected Barrhead and the area long after it ended.”
Chuck Mortimer, Barrhead Legion President, said that while remembering the veterans is important, it is also important to take care of the mental health of veterans and people who are currently serving in the Canadian Armed Forces.
“I want to talk about Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD),” Mortimer said.
He said when soldiers from previous wars, WWI, WWII and the Korean war came back home and had difficulty fitting back into society it was just shrugged off.
“They were told to suck it up and go back to work,” Mortimer said. “Even though they may have seen their best friend blown up in front of them or seen a whole town destroyed.”
He said that although things have improved somewhat today, that attitude still exists.
“It (PTSD) can not be cured by money, alcohol, drugs or anything else. Many people have tried,” Mortimer said, adding that anyone can be afflicted with PTSD.
“It can happen by getting in a car accident or even in the work place, but it is a real fact and people are really suffering,” he said. “Even the people who served in WWII and Korea and look like they have gone on, are still suffering and they need your help too.”
