Looking inside the new temporary exhibit at the Lethbridge Military Museum. (Lethbridge News Now)

By Justin Goulet

New temporary display at military museum highlights efforts of veterans in post-war Canada

Oct 5, 2021 | 7:41 AM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – There’s a special new display at the Lethbridge Military Museum.

The temporary exhibit, titled ‘A Better World: Post-War Social Movements and the Canadian Veteran’, will be available to see until Remembrance Day on November 11. It was loaned to the local museum by the Canadian Centre for the Great War in Montreal.

The exhibit shares the stories and history of veterans returning to Canada and their efforts in creating a better life for vets returning home, as well as societal changes in the country post-World War One.

Chairman of the Lethbridge Military Museum, Ray Romses said that the exhibit “will let the citizens and schools of Southern Alberta know of the efforts made by veterans in building Canada in a post war environment.”

Belinda Crowson, president of the Lethbridge Historical Society said, “it is unbelievable when we look back a hundred years ago, how many things that they were dealing with, from Prohibition, from changing and voting rights for women, from droughts and recessions, from labor issues and all sorts of things and when the returning veterans came [home], they had to find a way to deal with those issues and to make the world better at the same time.”

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Crowson is hopeful that guests will read the stories, understand the history and perhaps, take some lessons learned in their own efforts to make the world a better place. She added the exhibit might serve as inspiration to move forward, especially as the province, country and world continue to battle the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The one thing history always teaches us, [is that] anything that was bad, they got through. Anything bad we’re dealing with…we can get through.”

A TRANSFORMATIVE EXPERIENCE

Major Robert Mein, Commanding Officer of the 20^th Independent Field Battery, said going to war is a transformative experience, and support for returning veterans is still of utmost importance to this day.

At the exhibit’s unveiling, Mein said, “if you come to the military museum, you get a sense of just how deep the roots of the military are in Lethbridge and what that means to this community, and I think going forward…it has a deep root, it’ll grow and the tree will grow for many years to come.”

“It’s displays like this that remind us that a soldier’s duty is never done, even after we’re finished serving in the military.”

The new temporary display was loaned to the Lethbridge Military Museum by the Canadian Centre for the Great War in Montreal. (Lethbridge News Now)

Rick Casson, Honorary Lieutenant Colonel with the 20^th Independent Field Battery, believes the display will provide “a whole different view of a soldier.” He noted that although the issues faced by returning soldiers have changed over the years, they are still present and need to be addressed.

On the display, Casson said, “all of the words that are there to be read and the statements that are made and the views that are given, I think it all just helps people fully understand the magnitude of the military and the aftermath of war.”

He added that education and awareness about war and the sacrifices of veterans are “critically important”, saying, “you can never turn your back or not try to understand why we have the country we live in today.”

“To remember the men and women that laid down their lives to create that, war after war, I think is critical to any Canadians background. If you want to know why we live the way we do today, you better have a look at the history of the military in Canada because a lot can be said about how we got here.”

On Remembrance Day November 11, the museum will be open to the public from 12 to 4 p.m. following the downtown Lethbridge cenotaph service. Guests to the museum are required to wear a face mask when visiting. More on the Lethbridge Military Museum is available here.