‘It’s really history in the raw:’ Nanaimo-led project highlights true cost of war

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What began in August 2000 with around 100 letters has grown as more families across the country discover the website and send in their own collections.

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Davies and his undergrad history students carefully scan each item and return it to the owner.

“Sometimes one part of the family doesn’t know what the other part has and they’re surprised because they’ll look online and find grandfather’s letters…so they’ll reach out to me and I’ll put them in contact with the other family members.”

The letters also provide a rare insight into what life was really like on the front lines.

Davies said it can be sometimes difficult to truly grasp the cost of war when presented with raw data such as casualties or names on a cenotaph.

“I reduce it down to one collection and [the students] get to read this collection and they get to know this soldier. He had a girlfriend and liked chocolate cake and they really get a sense of who he was and the loss he represents. Then I say to extrapolate that 60,000 times and get a real sense of the human toll of war.”

One solider who has stuck with Davies over the years was Hart Leech.

A letter written by Leech, dated Sept. 13, 1916, was part of a ritual among soldiers to pen their final thoughts to loved ones before going into battle.

“They would write a letter and give it to their officer. If they were killed, the officer would mail it and if they survived they’d given him back the letter and he could rip it up. Hart Leech’s letter is really quite amazing because he’s got this sense of humour in it.”

Leech was killed two days after penning his letter, at the age of 27.

Davies said he is amazed by Leech’s stoic acceptance of what is about to happen and the humour in which he was able to face it.

A majority of the archive’s material stems from World War I with over 400 collections from individual soldiers. It also features thousands of documents from World War II and the Korean War.

Davies said more recent campaigns, such as those in Afghanistan, offer up less material given the changing nature of communication.

The team has a big backlog of material still to transcribe with their efforts post-pandemic shutdown focused on digitizing the materials and sending the originals back. Transcription of the letters will occur in time.

Still, the website records around a million visits from around the world each year in addition to its social media presence.

The project is primarily funded by donations, with a small amount of money made available from VIU for paid student hours.

To learn more about the Canadian Letters and Images Project, visit their website.

Join the conversation. Submit your letter to NanaimoNewsNOW and be included on The Water Cooler, our letters to the editor feature.

alex@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @alexrawnsley