The Telegram
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The telegram was a method of wartime communication that no one wanted to receive. A telegram delivered to a Canadian home during World War II usually held the message that a soldier was dead, missing in action, or taken prisoner of war. In Summerside it was the Canadian National Railway office (CN) that received the message via electric signals. A telegraph operator would decode the message sent in Morse code, change it to type and have it hand delivered by the telegraph boy. "Boy" was the proper term for the telegraph deliverer; most were just young boys working the job for spending money. Yet they delivered to families some of the worst news of our times. When neighbours saw the telegraph boy coming to a home they followed behind to offer comfort and sympathy. The telegram would be followed up by a typed form letter from the military and then perhaps a personal letter from an officer or a chaplain.

The telegram played a very important role in the two world wars. Even though Mr. Morse, an American, invented the telegram technology, the first one was sent in Britain in June 1826. The telegram started to lose its importance after World War II as the telephone system was improved. The telephone, fax machine and e-mail pushed it off the technology screen.
Things To Do!!!
  • Write a letter to a friend. You can't tell them where you are or what you are doing. What can you find to talk about?
  • How do you think Canadians on the World War II home front viewed the news they were receiving? Do you think they understood it was censored?
  • How do you think Canadians would have reacted to a newspaper that came out against the war?
  • Teachers were to promote the war effort in their classrooms. Did that make them patriotic or part of the propaganda machine?
  • Is there a difference between patriotism and propaganda?
  • Is it justifiable to censor the press for national security?
  • Do you think the nature of the media has changed since World War II? Discuss similarities, differences between then and now.
  • The CBC was the main national media outlet for government war news. Could you see the current CBC playing the same role?
  • Read some of the war ads. Can you pick out the propaganda? Read a current ad. Does it contain propaganda? Do you automatically believe what you read? In each case figure out who decided what to say in the ad and why.
  • In present-day war zones reporters are usually only allowed to travel with the military who censor their reports. In your opinion is it better to have censored reports or nothing at all reported?
    •   When radio technology was first introduced a Prince Edward Islander had to have a license issued by the province to have a radio in his home. It was a form of taxation. By 1944, 992 homeowners (approximately twenty percent of the population) in Summerside had a radio. These houses would be gathering places for the neighbours to hear the news. In 1945, 39 local owners were fined for not having a license.