In Their Own Words

A historian examines the letters written by three residents of Canada’s Maritime provinces during their service in World War I.
 
What was the First World War really like for Maritimers overseas? This epistolary book, edited by historian Ross Hebb, contains the letters home of three Maritimers with distinct wartime experiences: a front-line soldier from Nova Scotia, a nurse from New Brunswick, and a conscripted fisherman from Prince Edward Island. Up until now, these complete sets of handwritten letters have remained with the families who agreed to share them in time for the one-hundredth anniversary of the Great War’s end in 2018. These letters not only give insight into the war, but also provide greater understanding of life in rural Maritime communities in the early 1900s.
 
In Their Own Words includes a learned introduction and background information on letter writers Eugene A. Poole, Sister Pauline Balloch, and Harry Heckbert, enabling readers to appreciate the context of these letters and their importance. 
 
A welcome companion to Hebb’s earlier book, Letters Home: Maritimers and the Great War; 1914–1918.