FAYE
The Ottawa Military History Club
Previous Meeting "Deeper Dives" and Reflections
There have been many great presentations during the many previous Sunday Afternoon History Events. And there were many great movies shown during the History on Film Nights. This webpage explores some of them, including some interesting common themes.
This webpage is still quite incomplete, and will be expanded as further information and presentation files are received from presenters, and as time permits.
-
Some of the initial "editorial comments" are those of Jim Morris, which are expected to change as others chime in.
-
The initial presentation copies (pdfs) are those of Jim Morris. Waiting for copies from other presenters.
We expect the contents of this webpage to be fairly dynamic, so come back often!
Terry Hunter - Military Artifacts
Many of our meetings were blessed with WW1 and WW2 artifacts. And many of these artifacts were provided by Terry Hunter. These included his 1942 Jeep, as well as military clothing and weapons from the war years.
Norm Christie is a leading expert on all things Canada and the two World Wars. Norm provided a number of excellent presentations, including some of his collectables, and some of his TV documentaries. See the Previous History Event Meeting Agendas webpage.
Norm has travelled the world following in the footsteps of Canada's soldiers from Sicily to France, to Spain, Hong Kong, Japan and Korea. Moreover, he has written over 20 books on the Canadians in the First and Second World Wars. Norm is known for his TV documentaries such as "For King and Empire", "For King and Country", "Battlefield Mysteries" and "The Great War Tour”. He is recognized as Canada's leading expert on Canadian battlefields and cemeteries of the First and Second World War.
You are encouraged to check out Norm's many TV documentaries, available online.
Michel Gravel - World War 1 CEF Battlefields along the Arras-Cambrai Road
Michel Gravel has been researching the Great War since 2001 and has published six books on the subject, one in English and five in French. The primary focus of his research over the years has been the Canadian Advance from Arras to Cambrai and, over the years, he has initiated or supported a dozen new memorials to Canadians between Arras and Cambrai over the years. As a result of his efforts, he has been recognized for his efforts by both Canada and France, including being presented with the King’s Coronation Medal and being recently elevated to the rank of 'Chevalier de l'Ordre national du Merite' by the President of France.
Michel provided a number of excellent detailed presentations on the Canadians in WW1 on the Arras-Cambrai Road, in the final months of the war. See the Previous History Event Agendas webpage.
Jim Morris recalled being "mildly interested" in Michel's presentation on the Arras-Cambrai Road. It turns out Jim was paying some attention, because when Jim discovered he had a great-uncle who fought and died during the time and place of Michel's presentation, Jim was motivated to dig further to find directly relevant information about his great-uncle. See Jim's "Serendipity" - Learning From 77th Battalion Overseas Battalion Events, elsewhere on this webpage.
World War 1 - Life in the Trenches
The Club has seen a number of presentations, videos and movies that dealt with life in the trenches in WW1.
Two noteworthy videos/movies were (click on bold/underline to watch):
-
Norm Christie's documentary from the December 2024 History meeting:
-
"They Shall Not Grow Old" 2018 documentary film directed and produced by Peter Jackson (see History On Film Nights webpage)
Those who watched these at the Legion all commented on how difficult they were to watch.
It is hard to imagine young Canadians, including some of our own family members, having experienced that.
Heather MacQuarrie - Impact of War on Women
In December 2024, Heather gave a very thought provoking presentation entitled Singled Out: Untold Story of How TWO MILLION Women Survived Without Men After WW1.
For many of us, our thoughts and discussions on Canada's role in the world wars are focused on the battles, which primarily involved men. When we do think of the impact on women, we think of their pain and grief in losing husbands and sons.
Heather's presentation highlighted an important impact on women - the unavailability of marriageable men after heavy war battle losses.
A few months after Heather's presentation, Jim Morris discovered he had a great-uncle here in Canada who was KIA in WW1. His great-uncle was briefly married before he went overseas. While "serendipitously" poking around in Ancestry.ca and Newspapers.com, Jim recently found out his great-uncle's wife (Jim's great-aunt) never remarried, and lived to the age of 103! She was a widow for almost 80 years, and kept her married name. See Jim's "Serendipity" - Learning From 77th Battalion Overseas Battalion Events, elsewhere on this webpage.
Ed Poznanski - Experiences of Polish family members during WW2
In December 2024, Ed presented on the experiences of 5 family members (father, grandmother, grandfather, uncle, great uncle) during the second world war. Ed has visited many of the locations where they lived in Poland, and has accumulated many relevant artifacts.
An editorial question from Jim Morris - what is a good plan for all of our family military artifacts we have accumulated over the years?
An Example of Researching Family Military History
In November 2024, Jim Morris presented Rescued From Obscurity - the story of researching and discovering his family's involvement in the two world wars, including the story of three of his uncles who were KIA in WW2.
Jim hopes some of the research and discovery he made might motivate and assist others doing family military research.
Here is a pdf copy of Jim's Rescued From Obscurity presentation.
"Serendipity" - Learning From 77th Overseas Battalion Events
In May 2025, Jim Morris presented Serendipity - Why I go to the Manotick Legion Norm Christie and the 77th Overseas Club Sunday Afternoon History Events, & Terry Hunter's History on Film Nights.
Jim is finding that continued research and "pulling on threads" is continuing to lead to surprising new findings on his family military history.
Here is a pdf copy of Jim's Serendipity presentation.
80th Anniversary of the Liberation of the Netherlands
Alan Haan was born in the Netherlands in 1935. Alan talked to us about his life as a young child in the Netherlands during the war years. He told us about himself and his school chums watching the Allied bomber formations flying overhead on their way to bomb German targets. Alan said they counted the number of bombers on their way to the targets, and then again when they returned. That way they could determine the number of aircraft which were shot down during the mission.
World War 1 - Remembrance vs Forgetting
On a number of occasions during meetings, there was some discussion about what the Canadian soldiers did once they returned to Canada after the end of WW1.
While we in current times seem to be preoccupied with Remembrance, it seems they were preoccupied with Forgetting about the whole damn mess, and getting on with their lives.
During and immediately after WW1, returning soldiers were struggling with Shell Shock and Battle Fatigue. Topics like PTSD and other mental health issues were not well understood, but certainly were issues.
At another point during a meeting, there was a related discussion on Grief. Most of us found it difficult to comprehend what our Canadian families went through during the wars, and how they coped with Grief.
Manotick Legion - Kennedy Brothers Frame
An Example of Other Active Canadian Military History Initiatives, Outside of Our Own
In January 2026, Jim Morris presented on Roger Chabot's documentary Path to Total Victory.
This is an example of one of many ongoing active Canadian Military History (CMH) initiatives throughout the world, involving research and production of documentaries and social media content related to CMH.
This documentary is very recent, suggesting these initiatives are a "moving target" (pardon the military analogy), which is a good thing. More for us to see and learn about CMH.
Here is a link to the YouTube documentary
And here is a pdf copy of Jim's presentation on Roger Chabot's Path to Total Victory documentary.