r/canada • u/SluttyCosmonaut • Oct 05 '24
Image 3 soldiers in the Canadian Machine Gun Battalion sent this postcard home from France, 1918.
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u/SluttyCosmonaut Oct 05 '24
Side note as a Yank: I love that the Canadian soldier Mr Ferguson worked the word “eh” into his message home.
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u/Procruste Oct 05 '24
Sgt Chic Allan: Chick was often used as a nickname for Charles
Sgt Ray Ferguson: This could be him https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/military-heritage/first-world-war/personnel-records/Pages/item.aspx?IdNumber=387656
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u/Minimum-Ad-3348 Oct 05 '24
I had a weird realization that I'm part of the last generation to be able to read this without it being "translated" to English...
If you also want to feel ancient they stopped teaching cursive in 2006
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u/Creative-Resource880 Oct 05 '24
They teach it in Ontario
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u/mikayla_canada Oct 05 '24
And in Alberta.
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Oct 06 '24
[deleted]
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u/Hot_Cheesecake_905 Oct 06 '24
What college expects you to write essays by hand?
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Oct 06 '24
[deleted]
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u/josnik Oct 06 '24
Same ones that told you you'd never have a calculator perpetually in your pocket no doubt.
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u/Flashy-Psychology-30 Oct 06 '24
They didn't tach us to read chicken scratch, the main issue is it's illegible.
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u/Illustrious-Fruit35 Oct 05 '24
The last sentence i can’t figure out.
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u/Few-Sweet-1861 Oct 05 '24
“I am looking well eh, just like Dummy Jim the simple one of old.”
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u/CiredFish Oct 05 '24
I am looking well ah, just like Sunny Jim the simple one of old.
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u/coconutpiecrust Oct 05 '24
Yeah also thought it was Sunny. Actually, after looking at this I am kind of happy we don’t do cursive anymore. Peopls’ handwriting in cursive is so hard to read, and everyone adds weird quirks to their lettering, so it takes longer to read than it should.
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u/noputa Oct 06 '24
Yeah even just like on the word simple, not dotting the i made me look at it for a bit too long.
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u/bartkurcher Oct 05 '24
Sunny Jim was a mascot for cereal around that time. Basically looks like an Uncle Sam
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u/Illustrious-Fruit35 Oct 05 '24
I thought it said summy.
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u/Kvaw Saskatchewan Oct 05 '24
It says sunny. That's definitely a S, and the cursive 'n' has two humps (on of which is the lead-in connection from the previous letter).
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u/Kenny_log_n_s Oct 05 '24
It's hard to read because it's written like shit, not because it's cursive.
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u/hextilda45 Oct 06 '24
Are you serious? You aren't serious right? This is lovely script.
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u/Kenny_log_n_s Oct 06 '24
Picture - no dot on the i, and the cross for the t is offset
I was - no space between two separate words
Telling - cross for the t is again offset
And other such sloppy writing.
It's a lovely little piece of history, but that doesn't make the writing neat, tidy, or easily read.
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u/tyler111762 Nova Scotia Oct 06 '24
even though i was taught it in school, i still have a very difficult time reading it these days.
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u/-Experiment--626- Oct 05 '24
I’m a millennial, and can’t read that whole note. Both my kids in grade school are learning cursive in school still.
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u/SmashertonIII Oct 05 '24
I taught cursive as an EFL teacher in Asia. It wasn’t in the materials but I found if I showed the kids a few letters and how they flowed together they wanted to learn. It was great until they all had smart phones.
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u/jmmmmj Oct 05 '24
I can’t read half of it and I learned cursive.
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u/Minimum-Ad-3348 Oct 05 '24
Ya I think that's what made me come to the realization too haha
Im not going to lie I struggled a bit there
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u/data-ject Oct 05 '24
Us canadians have been proud rockers of the chevron stache for centuries.. even in the comb stache days in the states.. we've always been chevron dudes..
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u/VideoEleven Oct 06 '24
Dated July 1918, right before the big push at Amiens on August 8, 1918 and the last 100 days of the war. Wonder if they made it.
Lest We Forget.
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u/forlilactime Oct 06 '24
Couldn’t that be determined if you looked up their names in a database somewhere?
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u/ndtoronto Oct 05 '24 edited Oct 05 '24
Any way to tell what regiment they belonged to from their collar dogs?
I believe the Sgt on the right is wearing the Canadian Machine Gun Corps dogs.
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u/Procruste Oct 05 '24
This brings back sad memories. My father's older brother was in the 3rd Bn CMGC. He died on 24 Sept 1918 near Wanquetin France. He was 17 years old. I wonder if he fought alongside these soldiers. My father always got teary eyed thinking about his brother.
He is buried here: https://www.cwgc.org/visit-us/find-cemeteries-memorials/cemetery-details/7804/wanquetin-communal-cemetery-extension/
You can look up their personnel records at: https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/military-heritage/first-world-war/personnel-records/Pages/search.aspx
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u/Shirtbro Oct 05 '24
"Dear mom, today I machine gunned forty Germans as they tripped in the mud. A light work day in the trenches."
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Oct 06 '24
[deleted]
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u/DougNix Oct 06 '24
They were rough wool. I had a WWII version of the Canadian dress jacket and it was beyond scratchy to wear.
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u/tucci007 Canada Oct 06 '24 edited Oct 06 '24
when I went to France with the Army, one day I looked into my kit
I was hoping to find me a sandwich, but the darn thing was all full of SHHHHHHH...
...AVING CREAM BE NICE AND CLEAN SHAVE EVERY DAY AND YOU'LL ALWAYS LOOK KEEN
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u/Garbage_Billy_Goat Oct 06 '24
Holy shit.. I never thought I'd ever see anyone link or quote a Benny Bell song or lyric on here. Love it! Here's another classic song.
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Oct 05 '24 edited Oct 06 '24
In one picture you can clearly see the degeneration of our society. Classy lads
Edit: I meant these people were classy and not the ones now in Canada. Too much to ask
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u/DudeIsThisFunny Oct 05 '24
This is the picture I was telling you about in my last letter. I am looking well eh? Just like Sunny Jim, the simple one of old.