Edwin Laird (second left) with some of his First Division army mates. (submitted photo/Geri Sauer)

By Ian Gustafson

A Look Back

Canada declared war on Germany 80 years ago

Sep 11, 2019 | 5:37 PM

It has been 80 years since Canada declared war on Nazi Germany in World War II.

Ed Laird, a Canadian military veteran and local man, was 16 years old on Sept. 10, 1939, when he learned Canada were to join allied forces to fight against Germany.

“We heard the news on the radio,” he said. “There was a war. Germany was taking over. It was bad news, but we weren’t really involved yet.”

“It was a lot of bad feelings that’s right,” he added.

At the time, Laird lived in the district of Mayview, northwest of Prince Albert.

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Laird eventually joined the war when he was 18 years old in late 1941. He said the Nazi’s were some of the smartest soldiers he saw.

“They were the world’s best soldiers, there is no question about that [and] Germany was taking them as kids and making soldiers out of them. They were known as being the best in the world and they just about took over the world,” he said.

He said he was part of the first allied invasion of the war when they landed in Sicily.

“They were terrible because we got bombed as we were invading,” Laird recalled. “Once we got in there it was terrible because it was such a rough rugged country. There was no such thing as a road; it was all just trails. We couldn’t use anything other that donkeys to carry our equipment.

“It’s not as bad as you think because after it’s over is when you get scared. But at the time, you’re so preoccupied and so busy, you got so much going on you’re not thinking about getting scared,” Laird said.

(File photo/CKOM News Staff)

Local and weekly newspapers from around the province provide a window to the past, revealing how people on the Prairies came to terms with a second war in just 21 years. The Provincial Archives of Saskatchewan is digitizing and publishing the papers.

Canada’s entrance into the war wasn’t always declared with big, bold headlines.

“On several of the papers, you’ll see on the announcement of the declaration of war of Canada against Germany, it takes up very small space on the front page,” Curt Campbell said.

He’s the manager of records processing and preservation at the Provincial Archives.

– With Files from Joseph Ho/CKOM

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ian.gustafson@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @iangustafson12