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Postcard, c1944 Pearce Avenue in Wetaskiwin, Alberta
1944
Wetaskiwin, Alberta

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THE WAR YEARS REMEMBERED

"ENEMY INTO FRIEND

This life of ours is far too short
For harboring vindictive moods;
Too brief for waging paltry feuds,
For malices of any sort.

The strongest disputant is he
Who has the moral strength to cease
From controversy and make peace
In honor and in amity.

Acting according to his lights,
The stubborn man may lose a lot
Who will not hate a single jot
Of what he holds to be his rights.

It's often best to make an end
Of bitterness at any cost,
For him the fight has not been lost
Who makes his enemy his friend. - K.W."
(The Wetaskiwin Times, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 31, Thursday, October 20, 1938, pg 7)

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"ALBERTA JOBLESS DOWN, SAYS ABERHART
Calgary, Sept 6 - Alberta has 'less unemployed and persons on relief at the present time than we had a year ago; a steady improvement is taking place,' declared Premier Aberhart…
The premier stated that he had been informed that there had been an increase of 10,000 unemployed in Saskatchewan and 3,736 in Manitoba during the past year…
Offering prayers, the premier thanked God for two weeks of fine weather and asked that the ideal harvest conditions continue until the crop was garnered….
After concluding his prayer, Mr. Aberhart said he was sorry to hear of the conditions in the neighboring province of Saskatchewan where grasshoppers, hail and rust had ruined the crop in many districts..." (The Wetaskiwin Times, pg 1, Vol. XXXVIII, No 25,September 8, 1938)

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George Wilson
2004
Wetaskiwin, Alberta

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"Riding the rails had been going on forever. Right from the beginning, but the numbers increased in the thirties.
Up here in the north yard, in the CPR, there was a little jungle camp there too. The guys riding the trains (we called them "the bums") [there were lots of them], this would be the end of the terminal - they would have to catch another train going north or south. They would come in from the east and this was the end, the terminal was here.
This one night, [the train] was backing up - they were still moving backwards so I climbed up (instead of getting up in the cab and then going up on the tender). I grabbed the back of the tender and went up the ladder there. I did have my flashlight. I got up on the tender and started to walk over the flat part where the water tank is on the tender. I stepped on something soft. I looked with my flashlight and it was solid with men! They [were] warm in the winter. It was late in the fall and the water pump from the engine would always put back a little heat from the feedwater pump. It was kinda warm and in the shelter Where the coal compartment is and tender is kind of flat so there was some shelter. I bet there were at least 15 men laying there! So I gingerly stepped over this one and that - it's a good thing I had my flashlight! What a feeling! To climb up that ladder and take a step for the coal dock and your foot is on something soft."
(George Wilson, CPR Train Engineer, 2004)

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'Winston Churchill'
20 October 1938

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How the Empire Fares
19 October 1939
Wetaskiwin, Alberta

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"BRITISH TROOPS NOW ON FRENCH SOIL IS LATEST WAR REPORT
Paris, Sept 7 - British troops have landed in France, reliable sources indicated today, to aid the French army's great offensive against Germany.
London (Eng.) Sept. 4. - World War the Second was under full swing Monday after a week-end of earth-shaking developments.
Britain declared war on Germany Sunday at 11:00 a.m. British time (3:00 a.m. in Edmonton) and France followed exactly six hours after with a similar declaration.
…Prime Minister King, in a broadcast address announced Canada would give effective co-operation to the Mother Country and appealed to his fellow-Canadians to 'unite in a national effort…'"(The Wetaskiwin Times, pg 1, Vol. XXXIX., No 25, Thursday, September 7, 1939)

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"PREMIER KING OUTLINES CANADA'S STAND IF WAR INVOLVES MOTHER LAND
Special Areas Act Ratified in Assembly
Ottawa, March 31 - The Prime Minister of Canada before a crowded House of Commons Thursday, faced the issues of war and peace squarely and in a scrupulously prepared and deeply considered speech analyzed the forces operating in the world of today and delimited Canada's place therein.
Highlights of Address:
While the present government is in power Canadians will never be conscripted for service in a foreign war.
Canada has to choose between keeping her own house in order and trying to save Europe and Asia.
The government opposes declaration of Canada's neutrality or right to neutrality in advance of a war crisis.
Parliament will make Canada's decision on peace or war.
The government opposes the doctrine that Canada should follow Britain in war regardless of British policy or the causes of the conflict.
The statement when Britain is at war Canada is at war is a reality which cannot be ignored." (The Wetaskiwin Times, pg 1, Vol. XXXIX., No. 3, April 6, 1939)

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"WHAT WILL CANADA DO IN THIS WAR?
In the last Great War, Canada-
-Raised 595,441 soldiers
-Produced munitions worth $1,200,672,413, output increasing from $28,164 in 1914 to nearly $400 millions[sic] in 1917.
-Had over 675 different factories in 150 towns and cities engaged in turning out war supplies.
-Built over 2,500 airplanes.
-Piled up war debts for later generations.
-Borrowed over $1,275 millions in war loans during the war years.
-Went into war with a total national debt of $303 millions.
-Came out of war with a national debt of over $2,555 millions." (The Wetaskiwin Times, pg 6, Vol. XXXIX, No. 31, Thursday, October 19, 1939)

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'RECRUITS WANTED FOR MILITARY SERVICE' The Wetaskiwin Times Vol. XXXIX, No. 25 pg 1
7 September 1939
Wetaskiwin, Alberta

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'Who are the Enemy Aliens?' (High River Times)
7 September 1939

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"WHO ARE ENEMY ALIENS?
Actuality of war, or even the threat of war, immediately creates a strange mental twist...
It would seem that Canada's open door policy since the last Great War, may have built up for her a situation which will require much greater military defence within her own borders than was necessary from 1914 to 1918. - High River Times."(The Wetaskiwin Times, pg 6, Vol. XXXIX., No 25, Thursday, September 7, 1939)

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'Important Notice to Aliens'
20 June 1940