War historian Tim Cook explains why Remembrance Day still resonates with Canadians

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When the Ottawa Citizen launched its We Are the Dead project on Remembrance Day 2011, we had no idea how much it would be embraced by readers eager for the stories behind the names of Canada’s war dead. That interest doesn’t surprise Tim Cook, chief historian and director of research at the Canadian War Museum. Cook is the author of 19 books on Canada’s military history from the South African War to the conflict in Korea. His most recent book, The Good Allies, examines the relationship between Canada and the U.S. during the Second World War.

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Q: What is it about Remembrance Day and projects like We Are the Dead that seem to resonate so much with people? 

A: Why do you think we still care? I get asked that. People say, ‘Even the Second World War is 80 years ago. The world has moved on….’

I think there are several elements that continue to resonate with Canadians. The first is the size and the shock of this cataclysmic event. A third of Canadian adult males served and so many Canadians were affected by this war. The First World War, even if it was 110 years ago, there were more than 66,000 Canadians who were killed. So many families were touched by this war, across the country, all classes, and almost all religions. That is one reason why it’s continued to live on from descendant to descendant to descendant.

Q: It often seems like a very personal response from people. 

A: Not every Canadian cares about this — not every Canadian even knows about it. But at the museum we often get letters from people that say, ‘I just found out that I had a great-grandfather or a great-uncle who served in the war. How can I find out more?’  A key element of this desire to know more is that this history is in our families. It’s in our blood. It goes back generations. There are millions of Canadians, in fact, who have a link to this war.

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Q: Why is the First World War especially significant for Canadians?

A: Each year around this time, we return to acts of remembrance and commemoration. Even though our remembrance extends to other wars and other conflicts and our Canadian Armed Forces members today, so much of the commemorative language and systems are from the Great War. Think of the poppy. Think about John McCrae and the poem In Flanders Fields. Think about Armistice Day, which was renamed Remembrance Day in 1931. Think about our national monument and about Vimy Ridge. Even though Remembrance Day is about connecting the past to the present from many wars, the Great War has particular prominence.

It was a defining moment for Canada and we have taught it as such.

Q: It seems Canadians are determined to not forget.

A: In 2010, with the death of John Babcock, who was our last surviving veteran from the First World War, I remember being asked by journalists: Is this the end? Will the Great War fade away and become something like the War of 1812, which is really only dredged up in history classes or in museums? But it seems to me that the Great War is really something quite different. We see this now, the importance and the impact of descendants. They are playing a really critical role in remembrance. Are they just interested in their family history? Clearly that is part of the story. But does that family history also allow them to better understand the war effort and their country’s history? There are a lot of people engaged in genealogical research, I think that the war is a particular event that allows them to learn more about their country.

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Q: For We Are the Dead, we depend on readers to help us tell the stories. In fact, we probably wouldn’t be successful without them.

A: We shouldn’t discount the incredible work of Library and Archives Canada in the digitization of war records. We have far more sources available online and through specialized genealogical sites and newspapers and all of that which allows us to do this important work. Just recently Library and Archives have started to digitize the records of the 42,000 Canadians who were killed in the Second World War. That will open up new research. We don’t have the full 1.1 million personnel files, but whenever privacy laws and resources at Library and Archives allow, that will spark a new exploration of that generation of Canadians at war.

We can be thankful of that opportunity to remember our shared history, which continues to pulse in the present, and which we will hand down to the next generation. You asked why we have not forgotten the Great War and those who fought in it or were shaped by it, and we continue to want to explore these individuals as people. I think, ultimately, because it still haunts us.

This conversation has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

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