I
wrote this to let you know a little about me and why I decided to work in the
museum field. It is about my most memorable museum experience. Please think of “museum” in the broadest sense
of its definition:
My
most memorable museum experienced occurred at Bretteville-sur-Laize Canadian
war cemetery in France. This cemetery is like most Canadian World War II cemeteries. It appears abruptly just off a country road and is surrounded by fields and hills.
It’s beautiful, but seems out of place in its environment, a cemetery in the
middle of the countryside. Many of the Canadian
war cemeteries have pillared entranceways which invite visitors into the
pristinely kept burial grounds; white marble gravestones are surrounded by
gardens of roses. I walked into the
cemetery and through the rows, reading the name engraved on each and then
moving onto the next one. I had been thinking about this place and these names
long before I had arrived.
Months
earlier I was chosen to be part of the Canadian Battlefield Study Tour. This tour involved visiting various WWI and
WWII battlefields, cemeteries and sights of significance. As a part of this
group of twelve students, I was supposed to do a presentation on a Canadian soldier
who had died at war. I spent weeks at Bowmanville’s Museum and Archives,
researching soldiers and their families. I chose a local man named Wilfred
Edward Flaxman, a soldier who died during WWII. He grew up in Bowmanville, on Lover’s Lane,
which is very close to the street that I grew up on. Wilfred and his twin brother worked alongside
their father constructing many of the street’s English style homes. I learned about his family’s involvement in
the war effort and about his death and who he had left behind. The archives
contained letters to his family, his medals and some photographs of him and his
family. Through all this research and
time at the Museum, I became connected with someone I had never met or
previously known even existed. I was disappointed to hear that there were no
living relatives of Wilfred, there was no one for me to interview, no children
or grandchildren, no family historian or old grandmother. None of his siblings
had had any kids. I decided that I was going to remember him and share his
story, even though I had never really met him. I think that museums can present
an opportunity for visitors to connect with someone from history. This
potential is what I consider to be one of the values of the museum experience.
In
the cemetery, as I walked by the names, dates, and verses, I counted them until
I reached row G number 12. There, engraved on the stone was Lieutenant W.E
Flaxman, 22nd August 1944, age 31. Teary eyed, I gained my composure
and read the group my story about W.E Flaxman. I finished the presentation on a
side note about remembrance. I noted that many of the young men who died in
WWII were dead uncles; a perspective passed on to my dad and then onto me by my
veteran grandfather. Many of these soldiers had died young, unmarried and
without children. Their siblings went on to have families; they were remembered
by nieces and nephews, many of whom had never met them. In Wilfred’s case, this
was not possible, so I requested that as a group, we could act as his nieces and
nephews remembering him and his life. This task I continue to do today, sharing
his story with others and visiting his family`s tombstone annually. I think I
will always have a connection with him.
Sometimes
when we are learning about history it is hard to remember that it was people like
you and I who lived through it. We often look at the big event and the overall
conditions. In WWII history we learn about Dieppe, D-Day landings and the
closing of the Falaise pocket. We are given death tolls and POW (prisoner of
war) figures. In all of this it is easy to forget the individuals. It is easy
to forget that when one person dies, it is a tragedy for an entire family and
community. At Bretteville-sur-Laize I was given the opportunity to recognize
this. As a visitor I saw thousands of almost identical tombstones, many with
the same date, age, rank and regiment, however, each had a different name and
family message. Each of these people had stories like Wilfred, they had people
who loved them, cared for them and missed them.
At
most museums visitors are shown objects and told stories about people. They are
invited to connect with individuals, learning about how they lived and what
they did. I believe this is one of the greatest impacts museums can have on a
visitor. Museums tend to bring history alive, as they show the objects,
possessions and pictures of actual people. They make history less of a story
and more of an experience. The history
of the Falaise pocket is no longer just a tactical operation that resulted in
the separation of Nazi forces and the death of thousands. It was an operation
that Lieutenant W.E Flaxman was a part of and one which he died in.
