Material Type

Artifact

Date Range From

1942

Date Range To

1946

Materials

WOOD

No. Pieces

2

Height

8.0

Length

11.7

Width

1.7

Description

1. WOODEN CIGARETTE CASE, TEXT, "CANADA," CARVED INTO FRONT SURFACE. 2. LID, SLIDES INTO TOP OF CIGARETTE CASE, DIVIT TO ALLOW FOR FINGER TO SLIDE BACK LID.

Subjects

PERSONAL GEAR

Historical Association

MILITARY

DECORATIVE ARTS

History

BOTH POW HANDCRAFTED ITEMS DONATED BY IRENE FEKETE AND MARGUERITE LENGYL ON BEHALF OF THEIR LATE FATHER DAVID GEDDES REID AND THE GREATER REID FAMILY. THEIR FATHER DAVID WAS A MEMBER OF THE VETERANS GUARD OF CANADA DURING WWII, POSTED TO CAMP 133 IN LETHBRIDGE. REID WAS BORN IN LANARKSHIRE, SCOTLAND ON 4 FEBRUARY 1897 AND JOINED THE SCOTTISH RIFLES AT AGE 17. HE SUFFERED WARTIME WOUNDS AND LATER EMIGRATED TO CANADA, MARRYING SARAH WARD IN LETHBRIDGE IN 1927. TOGETHER, THEY HAD FOUR CHILDREN WALLACE REID (KEREMEOUS, BC), MARGUERITE LENGYL (LETHBRIDGE), IRENE FEKETE (MEDICINE HAT) AND EDNA MALACKO (VANCOUVER). IN THE 1940S, REID ATTEMPTED TO RE-ENLIST WITH THE CANADIAN ARMY, HOWEVER, HE WAS DISQUALIFIED ON MEDICAL GROUNDS DUE TO WOUNDS SUFFERED IN WORLD WAR ONE WHICH, INCLUDED SHRAPNEL IN HIS BACK AND RESPIRATORY COMPLICATIONS RESULTING FROM A TEMPORARY BURIAL (SHELL STRIKE?). CONCEQUENTLY, HE JOINED THE VETERANS GUARD SOMETIME ABOUT 1942, TRAINING, HIS DAUGHTERS BELIEVED, IN CALGARY. PRIOR TO HIS VG SERVICE, REID WAS EMPLOYED BY THE CPR. DAUGHTER MARGUERITE COMMENTED THAT HE WANTED TO RE-JOIN THE SERVICE ON ACCOUNT THAT HE, “LIKED THE ARMY”. REID WAS POSTED TO CAMP 133 FOR HIS ENTIRE CAREER. HIS DAUGHTERS NOTED THAT HE ONLY HAD TO WALK ACROSS THE FIELD FROM THE CAMP TO 125 20TH STREET NORTH IN ORDER TO “COME HOME”. AS PART OF HIS CAMP WORK, HE SEARCHED THE CRAWL SPACES OF “CABINS” AND “HUTS” TO LOOK FOR THE EXISTENCE OF ESCAPE TUNNELS WHICH, HE DID, THE DAUGHTERS CLAIMED, FIND. REID BEFRIENDED MANY OF THE CAMP’S INMATES, ACCEPTING GIFTS OF CHOCOLATE FROM THE INTERNEES WHICH, THEY RECEIVED VIA MAIL FROM GERMANY. THE CHOCOLATE WAS LATER BROUGHT HOME FOR HIS KIDS. IN RETURN, HE PROVIDED THE POWS WITH CANADIAN CIGARETTES WHICH, THE DAUGHTERS STATED WAS SOUGHT AFTER BY THE POWS. IT IS THOUGHT THAT THE HANDICRAFTS WERE RECEIVED IN TRADE FOR CIGARETTES. REID SMOKED TOO. HE ESCORTED THE POWS HOME TO GERMANY VIA ENGLAND IN 1946 AND RETURNED TO HIS CPR WORK AFTER THE WAR. IRENE TOOK BOTH ITEMS WITH HER WHEN SHE LEFT HOME IN 1954. HER FATHER DAVID PASSED AWAY IN 1967 IN LETHBRIDGE. IRENE CONSIDERS HERSELF A “KEEPER” OF “OLD THINGS, ANTIQUES”. THE CIGARETTE CASE WAS KEPT IN A DRAWER. *UPDATE* IN 2014 COLLECTIONS ASSISTANT JANE EDMUNDSON DEVELOPED THE FOLLOWING BRIEF HISTORY OF PRISONER OF WAR CAMP 133 WITH INFORMATION FROM THE GALT MUSEUM BROCHURE "LETHBRDGE'S INTERNMENT CAMPS" AND THE LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES CANADA WEBSITE. DURING WORLD WAR II THERE WERE 40 PRISONER OF WAR (P.O.W.) CAMPS CONSTRUCTED ACROSS CANADA TO HOUSE THE LARGE NUMBER OF INCOMING POWS - ENEMY MILITARY PERSONNEL THAT WERE CAPTURED IN COMBAT. CAMPS WERE BUILT IN ONTARIO, QUEBEC, THE MARITIMES AND ALBERTA. THE CAMPS IN LETHBRIDGE AND MEDICINE HAT WERE THE LARGEST, TOGETHER HOUSING 22,000 MEN. THE LETHBRIDGE CAMP, NO. 133, WAS BUILT IN THE SUMMER OF 1942, AND BY NOVEMBER OF THAT YEAR HOUSED 13,341 PRISONERS. THE CAMP WAS DIVIDED INTO SIX SECTIONS, EACH WITH SIX DORMITORIES, MESS HALLS, KITCHENS, AND ENTERTAINMENT FACILITIES. MEALS WERE IN SHIFTS WITH PRISONERS SERVING AS COOKS. TAILOR, BARBER AND SHOE REPAIR SHOPS WERE ALSO STAFFED BY PRISONERS, AND NON-COMBAT POWS PRACTICED THEIR PRE-WAR PROFESSIONS AS MEDICAL DOCTORS AND DENTISTS. HOUSING AND RATIONS WERE THE SAME STANDARD AS FOR THE CANADIAN ARMED FORCES, WHICH SOMETIMES CAUSED RESENTMENT AMONG LETHBRIDGE CIVILIAN RESIDENTS, WHO WERE UNABLE TO OBTAIN MANY OF THE SAME SUPPLIES ON THEIR STRICT WARTIME RATION ALLOWANCES. WITH MANY YOUNG LOCAL MEN AWAY AT WAR, LOCAL FARMERS BEGAN TO REQUEST LABOUR ASSISTANCE FROM THE CAMP, ESPECIALLY FOR THE SUGAR BEET INDUSTRY. BY 1943 AN AGREEMENT WAS REACHED AND SOME OF THE PRISONERS WORKED ON FARMS THROUGHOUT SOUTHERN ALBERTA. MOST OF THESE PRISONERS WENT FROM THE CAMP TO THE FARMS DAILY, BUT SOME WERE KEPT AT 'LODGES' AT THE MORE DISTANT FARMS FOR DAYS AT A TIME, WITH MINIMAL GUARDING. FOR THEIR LABOUR, THE PRISONERS WERE PAID 50 CENTS PER DAY. WITH WAR'S END, CAMP 133 CLOSED IN DECEMBER 1946 AND ITS PRISONERS WERE SENT BACK TO GERMANY. THE AREA WHERE THE CAMP STOOD EVENTUALLY BECAME AN INDUSTRIAL PARK AND PART OF THE FEDERAL AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH CENTRE. THE FOLLOWING BRIEF HISTORY OF THE VETERANS GUARD OF CANADA WAS DEVELOPED WITH INFORMATION FROM THE GOVERNMENT OF CANADA ONLINE CANADIAN MILITARY HISTORY GATEWAY. THE VETERANS GUARD OF CANADA WAS FORMED IN MAY 1940, DRAWING FROM FIRST WORLD WAR VETERANS BETWEEN THE AGES OF 40 AND 65. THE GUARD PERFORMED BOTH FULL-TIME AND RESERVE SERVICE DURING WORLD WAR II, AND AT ITS MOST ACTIVE POINT IN 1944 ENCOMPASSED 10,000 FULL-TIME MEN WITH ANOTHER 8,000 ON PART-TIME SERVICE. THE MAJORITY SERVED IN CANADA - SOME STANDING GUARD AT POWER PLANTS, FACTORIES, DAMS, BRIDGES, AND OTHER FACILITIES DEEMED ESSENTIAL TO THE WAR EFFORT, MOST SERVING AS GUARDS AT POW AND ENEMY ALIEN INTERNMENT CAMPS ACROSS THE COUNTRY. A FEW COMPANIES ALSO SERVED OVERSEAS IN ENGLAND, THE BAHAMAS, AND GUYANA. THESE WWI VETERANS, THOUGH AGING, WERE CONSIDERED GOOD CANDIDATES FOR GUARD SERVICE GIVEN THEIR PREVIOUS MILITARY TRAINING AND IN SOME CASES, PERSONAL EXPERIENCE WITH BEING PRISONERS OF WAR THEMSELVES. THEY UNDERSTOOD THE PRISONER MENTALITY AND THE REGIMEN OF CONTROLLED LIFE. THE VETERANS GUARD CONTINUED TO SERVE AFTER THE WAR UNTIL IT WAS DISBANDED IN MARCH 1947. SEE PERMANENT FILE P20000091002 FOR HARDCOPY OF ONLINE SOURCE MATERIAL.

Catalogue Number

P20080016001

Acquisition Date

2008-07

Collection

Museum

Less detail