Victory Declared
<< Children and War
The sigh of relief that swept through Canada when victory was declared in Europe no doubt could be heard from coast to coast. Victory parties were the order of the day. By war end, one million Canadians had served in a uniform, amazing statistics for a country of eleven million people. Over forty-two thousand of them never came home. The prosperity gained on the home front, and the political status gained by Canada on the world scene was paid for largely in the blood of her young men. Some soldiers returning to Canada held bitterness in their hearts at what they saw as a "good time had by all" on the Canadian home front while they had witnessed death and destruction. However, many more felt they had returned to the land of paradise. The returning men saw many changes in Canada; perhaps the biggest within the family unit. Many marriages were destroyed from the long years of separation and the changes time brought about in people. Summerside, like the rest of Canada had witnessed an increase in the number of children born outside marriage during the war years, and many returning married soldiers were called upon to welcome children born in their absence.

Women had tasted the independence of earning their own pay cheques through the war years and while most Island women were happy to return to full-time homemaking, others were not. They sought to further their education and job choices and while they never closed the wage gap they opened wider the windows of opportunity. Also, they now spoke out for a greater voice in the affairs of the local community and the provincial and national political stage.

The government had put into place a program of reconstruction to assist its people, both military and civilians, with the change from war to peace. These measures greatly helped people to adjust and to keep the economy moving smoothly. Many soldiers who had left the farm or fishing village to fight the war accepted the educational opportunities offered by the government and launched new careers. Slowly the landscape of the Island and its towns such as Summerside began to change. People looked towards a time of peace and grasped onto the joys of life and daily routine. War memories lingered.

  Did You Know? It was in the final year of World War II that the majority of Island soldiers were killed. The military reported an official death count for P.E.I. of 461 men over the duration of the war. That number doesn't include those who served in the merchant marine. 55.5 million people lost their lives in World War II. That amounted to 2 percent of the world's population.
Things To Do!!!
  • Had the people of Canada not been willing to pay the cost of war how do you think the world of today would be shaped?
  • Does the trauma of war go beyond the battlefield?
  • How many young men in your community never came home? What do you know about their lives?
  • Do you pay tribute on November 11th?
    •   1,040,126 Canadian men between the ages of 18 and 45 served in the Canadian Armed Forces during World War II. That is 42.04 percent of the population of 2,474,000 men in that age category. 42,042 were killed, 54,414 wounded or injured, and 8,995 were taken prisoners of war. 50,656 women served in uniform.