THUNDER BAY -- The local library is looking to make a massive contribution to commemorating the First World War.
Around a year ago the Thunder Bay Public Library started thinking of ways to commemorate the war's centennial and tie it to local history and dig into its archives.
But after meeting with other organizations it quickly turned into the World War One Thunder Bay Centennial Project, an online living archive that's collecting photos, stories and everything else it can get from the community over the next four years.
"We realized we all wanted to do pretty much the same thing but focus on slightly different areas," library head of references Jesse Roberts said.
Mark Chochla already started making contributions. Focusing on individual stories from the Thunder Bay area, including his own grandfather Walter Shapton, Chochla said he wants to make the war more personal rather than just statistics.
"These are real flesh and blood people they had families they had dreams they had hopes and the way the war affected them, motivated them to go to war in the first place just seems more important and immediate," he said.
Shapton was nicknamed "Happy" before he went to war with the 52nd Battalion, known for his optimism. He returned injured physically and emotionally, likely with what today would be known as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.
"He was still a great guy, a wonderful person to be around but he did suffer as many soldiers do today as well," Chochla said.
Chochla's grandmother Julia also took photographs of Shapton as he trained for war, which are now part of the project as well.
Bill Houston was also a focus for Chochla. A city councillor, a school board trustee, gifted athlete and contractor Houston became Fort William's first casualty of the First World War. When the news came the Fort William Curling Club stopped, removed their hats and bowed their heads in silence.
"It was a shock to the whole community," Chochla said.
"It was an important community event and drove home the horror of the war which would only become worse," he said.
Roberts is hoping more and more organizations contribute to the project over the next four years.
"It's all well and good for us to have these collections," she said. "But if they just sit on our shelves, if they just sit in a backroom and aren't used then they might as well not be there because they're not worth anything if nobody knows about them or cares about them."
