Life at the Front

The three case studies presented here all concern the lives -- and in one case, the death -- of men at the front during the First World War. In Violets from the Trenches you will be able to hear as well as read the exchange of letters between Roland Leighton, a young British officer, and his sweetheart Vera Brittain. Gerald Blake participated in the legendary Christmas Truce of 1914 and Canadian William Fingland's work with the YMCA took him into the heart of the battle. In addition to these examples, more studies of men in military service can be found in the theme The Hamilton Connection – soldier David Elliot and airman Gerry Bell were both from Hamilton, Ontario. Also, the theme The Soldier Artist and Poet includes studies of four more soldiers who served at the Front. We have included an animated re-creation of a trench raid here.

Case Study: Violets from the Trenches: Selections from the Letters of Roland Leighton and Vera Brittain

Leighton, Roland, Poem, April 1915

Violets from Plug Street Wood
Sweet, I send you oversea.
(It is strange that they should be blue,
Blue when his soaked blood was red,
For they grew around his head:
It is strange they should be blue.)

Case Study: Home Away from Home: William Fingland and the YMCA in World War I

Canadian YMCA, Photograph, 1917

The Canadian YMCA provided a wide variety of services – educational, social, spiritual, practical and even psychological – for Canadian troops serving overseas during the First World War. In a revealing and affectionate series of letters, William Fingland, an officer serving with the “Y”, provided vivid insights into his daily life to his sweetheart, waiting at home.

Case Study: Gerald Blake, an English Participant in the Christmas Truce of 1914

Photograph, December 1914

The Christmas Truce of December 1914 has become the stuff of legend. In a savage war which dragged on for four long years and in which perhaps eight million people died, it seems almost inconceivable that groups of soldiers in the trenches, the declared enemies of one another, could have exchanged songs and cigarettes, even for a brief interlude. Gerald Blake was there.