Pike Lake Saskatchewan
Remembrance Day
from 
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JoeUser Forums
Yesterday was Remembrance Day across Canada…a day set aside in Canada, as a way to remember all those soldiers and civilians that lost their lives in WW1 and WW2. Quite by coincidence, I received and education regarding Remembrance Day, and it all started with a painting.
Most of you know that Kathline and I have moved to Pike Lake just recently. We’ve been spending every spare minute unpacking and finding places for every piece of furniture and assorted junk that we both own. (…A task I’ve been told we are nearing the completion of, but I’m quite certain will ever end). As it always seems to happen when moving into a new house, lots of things need to be changed, including frames for pictures.
We’ve had artwork on the walls in the living room for quite some time now, but the frames just didn’t look right....didn’t look right in the sense that when you walk in the room, the frames stood out as being out of place. After a trip to Saskatoon on the previous night to get new frames for the artwork we like (A pen and ink drawing of Pirates Alley in New Orleans French Quarter done by an artist turned chef, a reproduction of a Group of Seven painting called Mirror Lake, and other assorted paintings of wildlife like geese and chickadees), Kathline started reframing the pictures.
During the reframing, and quite by chance, Kathline took a closer look at the well worn backing for the mat she had just removed from one of her old drawings. As she removed the backing and mat, something caught her eye. On the side of the backing that was facing inside and not ever intended to be seen, and just minutes ago was destined for the trash, was a piece of Canadian history. History that neither one of us was had ever seen because we weren’t even born at the time it was produced. Staring back at her was a heavy mat board poster of the 9th Canadian Victory Loan, printed in 1945.
Kathline called me over to the kitchen table and we both looked at it. I had never seen any Canadian war memorabilia, but like most artwork of the time, it was easily recognized as being somewhere around the 1940’s, and I told Kathy that this was something special, but I really didn’t have to. We both stared at it for several minutes in silence…it was Remembrance Day. I spent a few minutes on the internet and finally found a picture of the original full sized version and what it looked like.
Not much had been removed, but the damage was done unfortunately.
The top right corner was damaged from age. It had been cut resized to fit the picture it was chosen to strengthen and to backup. Like most old work not stored and properly taken care of, it had that sepia tone character around its edges. Its face carried the razor marks from where it even served as a cutting board for other artwork. I spent several minutes repairing the damage on the top corner to keep pieces of the brittle mat board from falling apart further, but there was nothing that could be done to repair the razor marks across its face. Gently, we both placed it into one of the spare frames we had. Badly cut and damaged, it’s been saved now, having literally minutes before having been destined for the burn barrel.
So on Remembrance Day, Kathline and I identified and saved a long lost war victim. Just like the countless thousands of soldiers and civilians damaged and disfigured by war, the poster on the wall was called into service to do a job it was never intended to do, and in the process it was cut by knives and disfigured…I’m sure many times was close to the edge of death. It was even close to death as early as yesterday were it not for a careful eye and a caring hand. Its now displayed as it was intended to be…in its own glass frame and proudly displayed on the wall. Ironically, it was a victim of being pressed into service it wasn’t intended for. Something no one should ever have to endure.