THUNDER BAY - In January 1918, Sgt. Jack Little wrote a letter to his family in Fort William from a hospital bed in Brighton, England. In the short letter, published in the Port Arthur News Chronicle, he tells his family about the good time he had during Christmas, including a parcel he received containing Canadian maple sugar, cigarettes, and a pair of socks, and how a friend will be coming to visit him in the coming days.
“The flesh is gradually closing over the end of the stump now,” Little wrote. “It is no longer painful except when dressed (which is once in 24 hours). The funny part of it is that I can still feel the hand (which is not there). It still feels as if it was strapped to the splint. Peculiar feeling, but not unpleasant.”
Little survived the Battle of Passchendaele in 1917 and his letter home is just one of countless voices from the past being shared again through the World War One Centennial Project website.
The website is part of a broader centennial project commemorating the First World War and involves several community partners including the City of Thunder Bay, the Thunder Bay Public Library, the Thunder Bay Museum, and the Lakehead University department of history.
An updated version of the website was launched on Tuesday and includes new functionality, including a search feature, additional content, and a permanent URL.
The website includes letters, newspaper clippings, records, and photographs both from soldiers fighting in Europe and the people living in Fort William and Port Arthur during the First World War.
“Most of the material on the site was uncovered and written for the project itself,” said Michel Beaulieu, chair of the Lakehead University history department. “If you were digging deep and going through local newspapers, you would have found it, but this actually pulls this out of regional newspapers from 1914 to 1918.”
While working on the project Beaulieu said there was never a shortage of surprises or uncovering new or forgotten stories.
He pointed to the Battle of Vimy Ridge, which was one of the key victories for the Canadian Expeditionary Force in 1917 and became woven into Canada’s national identity.
“There are other battles, other events during the First World War that, at a local level, had a much more substantive impact on the community in terms of contributions, loss of life, and also the home front element,” Beaulieu continued. “It still falls within that normal First World War narrative, but with regional peculiarities, regional differences that would have otherwise been lost.”
Dave Nicholson, an independent researcher and committee member for the Centennial Project, said it is important to remember the past and the contributions of the young men and women from Thunder Bay and Fort William First Nation during the war.
“What we can do with this kind of project is make these sources and resources available so students can study them and hopefully remember and find out what these men went through,” he said.
Men like Jack Little, writing from a hospital bed, which struck Nicholson by how positive he and other young men seemed to be in the face of such horrific and terrible experiences.
“What stands out to me is the positive attitude that these men reflect in their letters,” Nicholson said. “The main fact is they survived and are in hospital and very happy to be there. They are getting on with life and have to make new plans.”
After describing to his family the peculiar sensation of feeling a hand that is no longer there, Little closed his letter with a quiet observation.
“Had quite the snow the other day, but a day’s rain yesterday washed the lot away,” he wrote. “Your affectionate son, Jack.”
The World War One Centennial Project website can be found at www.tbayworldwarone.com.
