Front Lines
01/11/2001 - 30/05/2002
In troubled times, communication from a distant loved one can have the power to sustain a person for days. Over the years, messages crossed oceans and continents in many forms: handwritten letters, standard government issue postcards, small gifts or memorabilia, care packages from home, cherished family photographs and, nowadays, in almost real-time electronic mail. Lines from the home and war fronts -- clusters of words and hoards of tiny gifts rarely masquerade as just a hello or list of the days events -- instead they express love, hope, fear and the desire to endure one's duty to Country while longing for a not too distant reunion.The MacNaught History Centre and Archives, part of the City of Summerside's Wyatt Heritage Properties, is currently featuring the exhibition "Front Lines", featuring correspondence from the home and war fronts during times of armed conflict in the last century. From the Boer war to today's United Nations Peacekeepers, the evocative exhibition brings to light a personal side of soldiers and family on the home front -- fear, solace, camaraderie and friendship, all told through personal handwritten letters and today, through email.
Some letters were multi-purpose. After reading these treasured communications from home, soldiers were often known to tuck them carefully into their pockets for another perusal at a later time. In the case of Benny Richard, a Quartermaster Storesman for the North Novies "D" Company (WW II), letters from the Summerside girls took on a whole new purpose. Sometime during his stay overseas, Benny was captured by the Germans. Legend has it that as he was marched away, he tore up little pieces of letters and dropped them on the ground, later escaping and using these endearing markers to pick his way back to the Novies' camp. When asked about this interesting mode of finding his way home, Benny simply replied, "Summerside girls write long letters."
Correspondence, over the years, has changed. It still comes in all shapes and sizes, and in many ways...but the essence of the message contained therein has not differed. And having that note or letter in your hands -- revealing the thoughts of someone you love who is very far away -- can deliver a ray of hope in a dark, despairing time. Visit "Front Lines", a very personal exhibition of correspondence in trying times and challenging circumstances, showing now at the MacNaught History Centre and Archives, 75 Spring Street, Summerside. For more information on hours of operation call 432-1326 or 1332. Admission is free.
W y a t t H e r i t a g e P r o p e r t i e s