Just in time for this year's the Remembrance Day Ceremonies, the students at BICS received a rare opportunity to explore a stash of WWII memorabilia left to Dave McIntosh by his uncle, Andrew Guy Clunas. McIntosh entrusted the trunk to Sarah Haxby, who opened it up for students yesterday following a one-hour presentation on all wars from the First World War to Afghanistan by author Linda Grandfield.
"I said to the kids, 'Now that you know a little bit about war in a historical sense, I want you to look at the items in this trunk and imagine what it would be like to use these things."
Inside the trunk the kids found uniforms, supplies including anti-gas ointment, a quilted blanket and army bag, boots, and, as Haxby describes, "a pair of sunglasses barely held together by anything, nothing like what we have today."
Granfield said she'd never seen such a complete capsule of a soldier's life, even in a museum.
The kids were equally awed, and are looking forward to a better look at the items in the trunk when Haxby takes it around from class to class.
McIntosh's uncle served in the Seaforth Highlanders during the Second World War and spent most of his time in Italy and Holland. The Seaforth Highlanders of Canada were first established in 1910, these volunteer soldiers supported Canada in both WWl and WW2 as an infantry regiment. According to McIntosh, his uncle managed to avoid much of the horrific action during the war and as a result was able to talk about his experiences a little easier then most. McIntosh remembers one such story his Uncle told him:
They were in Northern Italy, it was a beautiful day with not much activity going on. Uncle Guy (as we liked to call him) and the troops were on one side of this valley with the enemy on the other. One day my uncle wandered off about 30 feet down into the valley, he was admiring the landscape when suddenly there was a sound - a projectile came down and landed about 10 meters from where he was standing and knocked him off his feet. He of course got back up and scrambled back up the hill side as fast as he could. When he got back to his bunker everyone was laughing as they had witnessed his mishap.
McIntosh's father, James H. H. McIntosh also served in the Second World War however his experience was vastly different. James fought at the front lines and on the beaches in France. He recounts to his son the horrific sound of the bombs falling from the planes. He was shot twice, sent to Britain to be patched up and then sent back to fight. "It took him a long time to open up and talk about his experiences, his stories were very different", states McIntosh.
They both served 5 long years.
"Innocently at the age of 20, both men signed up for the Canadian army," says McIntosh. "They thought it was the right thing to do even though they didn't fully comprehend the political situation in the world at the time. Both were treated as Canadian heroes upon their return."
