Feature Letter of November 23rd, 2025
Heritage Thorold
Dear Mother:
Now that the war is over we can tell where we are and what we have been doing. At present we are up in the mountains about 50 miles from Chaumont. While I was with the Mobile unit we were under shell fire all the time. They bombed all around us and over us. We were never allowed off the post without gas masks and helmets. The troops were stationed in the woods behind us and Fritz made life very interesting for us all; but we got used to it and did not mind it.
We were only a mile and a half for the front line German trenches, and four of us were the first women to cross what had been "no man's land" for four years. We saw a mountain off the top of which they had blown sixty feet. We made the trip in a car and had a terrible time, as the roads were all torn up and full of shell holes. The Major invited us to dinner, but before we had finished Fritz started to shell the troops behind us, so the Major put us into the car and we rushed up nearer the front and made a wide detour to get away, which we did safely. It certainly was an experience but one I would not have missed for any money
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As we move away in time from past conflicts and as our veteran population declines, it becomes increasingly difficult for Canadians to understand the sacrifices that men and women made, both on the battlefield and on the home front, during wartime. The Canadian Letters and Images Project has been sharing their stories, and Canada’s story, for the past quarter century.
These are the experiences of Canadians as seen through their eyes and their words. This is history in the raw, without a lens of interpretation added through time. I invite you to spend some time reading their letters, seeing their faces in the photographs, or listening to an audio letter, to appreciate why their experiences must be preserved for now and for future generations.
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