If you’re a Canadian veteran, a family member of someone who served, or simply interested in helping to safeguard and share Canada’s military history, 2025 is a significant year.
The 80th anniversary of the Battle of the Atlantic, Victory in Europe Day, Victory over Japan Day, and the end of the Second World War will be bittersweet and solemn. Almost 1.1 million people served in Canadian uniform. Some 45,000 were killed, and many more wounded. Now, fewer than 10,000 veterans remain. Their experiences are sobering to contemplate.
Liberation of Hilversum, Netherlands, May 7, 1945.
George Metcalf Archival Collection, CWM 19920085-1384
This year, the Canadian War Museum will present several initiatives associated with these anniversaries. This will include the major exhibition Last Voices of the Second World War. Opening in May, it will reveal hidden histories, with some of the war’s last living veterans sharing how their service shaped the rest of their lives.
The same month will see the opening of a smaller exhibition, Liberation! Canada and the Netherlands. Events to mark the War Museum’s 20th anniversary will also begin.
A display about Canada’s War Against Japan will open in August. This year, 30 stories will also be added to the online exhibition In Their Own Voices: Stories From Canadian Veterans and Their Loved Ones, and in the fall, we’ll host an In Their Own Voices conference. To round out this Second World War anniversary year, we’ll be restoring several Second World War Universal Carriers in the coming months.
Alongside the Second World War 80th anniversaries, this year marks the 25th anniversary of Canada’s Unknown Soldier coming home. This soldier, someone’s son, grandson, and perhaps brother or husband, was buried near Vimy Ridge, France during the First World War. On May 28, 2000, he was laid to rest in Ottawa at the National War Memorial. His original tombstone is the lone artifact in the War Museum’s Memorial Hall. The War Museum will open a display about the Unknown Soldier in May.
Many of you answered our call early this year to donate in support of these plans. Thank you! Your generosity is meaningful, and we’re grateful.
We hope you’ll join us at the War Museum for these events. Whether in person or online, we invite you to participate and honour the history that shaped our country and the world.
For more information, please contact Kim Strydonck, Senior Fundraising Officer, Annual Program, at 819-776-8640 or kim.strydonck@warmuseum.ca.
