Being on vacation can be a lot of fun. Instead of sitting around doing nothing, I took the kids skiing Monday and yesterday (Tuesday), I took Cookie, my ten year old daughter, to the new Canadian War Museum in Ottawa. The cost of her company was a sushi lunch and a Beavertail later in the afternoon which I consider a small price to pay to get a chance to show her a part of our history.
This was my first visit to the museum and I was pretty impressed with the layout and displays. Once you go through one of the galleries, you can easy step out to the main lobby or continue on to the next gallery which made the tour flow wonderfully.
The first gallery (Battleground:Wars on Our Soil, earliest times to 1885) covered much of the historic battles between French, English, First Nations, and to me the highlight was the War of 1812. There was also a great hallway walk through showing what it was like to stand on the line separating British and French soldiers lining up in the traditional manner of war. The courage displayed was quite moving.
The second gallery (For Crown and Country) covered the South African wars and World War I (The Great War). The highlights in this section were the Billy Bishop display, but even more so the display on Vimy Ridge and the depiction of the Creeping Barrage, the brainchild of my favourite Canadian Hero, Arthur Currie. Those of you who have read my blog, or watched some of my videos, know that I am as proud now of our victory at Vimy as Canadians of the day were. I enjoyed watching Cookie kneel down to touch what she thought was mud in a section that was made to look like the battlefield and seeing how surprised she was that it was plastic.
The third gallery (Forged in Fire) covered the 1931 to 1945. Most of this exhibit was dedicated to World War II. It was at this point that I started to notice the artillery progression that the museum displayed. The first gallery showed a French mortar, and the second gallery a proper artillery piece with the big wheels (which my daughter asked about) and in the third section you started to see shielded field artillery and howitzers. The highlights of this section was one of Hitler’s cars, and the informative sections on Dieppe and D-Day. The trench walk through was also really interesting (and one of the fun parts for the kids).
The fourth gallery (A Violent Peace) covered 1945 to present. It was at this point that I could see Cookie glazing over so we didn’t get as much time to spend here as I would have liked but I would say the highlights were the advanced weaponry and the Korean war display and the Cold War section.
There is also the massive LeBreton Gallery which was a bit hard to find without looking at the map and it contained dozens and dozens of vehicles, artillery pieces, tanks, and was a real highlight of my trip. Seeing the size differences between a Sherman Tank and a Leopard was something you just couldn’t get a real feel for unless the two were very close to each other as they were in this gallery. I would call this a must see. The kids at the gallery seemed really impressed with this section.
The highlight of the Special Exhibition galleries was the Afghanistan exhibit. Below is a photo of what a roadside bomb can do to a vehicle. Seeing this vehicle really made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. It was also in this gallery when I was proudest as a father. There were various sections throughout that let you and your children write on stickynotes to leave answers to questions or notes for the troops. Cookie really impressed me with all the notes she wrote. Her message to the press was so touching. I am paraphrasing but the message was “Tell the truth. Tell about all the good things soldiers do.”
I think that everyone should visit this museum at least once in their lifetime. You may get more out of it with older children, but living in Ottawa, I know I will have the luxury of going back a few times to take a slower time going through the museum, and perhaps spend a bit more time talking to the several veterans roaming the exhibits.