Military museum honouring wartime knitters through new exhibit
Article content
A new exhibit at the New Brunswick Military Museum is paying tribute to a pastime that supported troops during the Second World War and continues to this day.
The museum on Base Gagetown is featuring the exhibit, entitled “Knitting: Remembrance and Recognition,” in its main lobby until March 29, with socks, scarves, caps, and mittens knitted by Canadian women on display.
Museum manager David Hughes said the exhibit is meant to educate people about a little-known contribution to the war effort. He said hundreds of thousands of women knitted items for soldiers serving overseas, and many still do today for Canadian troops from the 2nd Battalion Royal Canadian Regiment stationed in Latvia.
“It was a big thing during the Second World War for groups of women to get together and knit items for the troops overseas,” said Hughes. “A bunch of knitters knit patterns from a wartime knitting pattern book put out by the Monarch Yarn Company during the war. These were all patterns approved by the military for their personnel to wear as part of their uniforms.”
Hughes said the exhibit is on loan from the Kings County Museum in Kentville, N.S., in partnership with the Four Seasons Fibre Group. It includes items used by French and Dutch resistance forces with Morse code knitted into the patterns to discreetly deliver messages without being caught by enemy forces.
When the Kings County Museum reached out and offered the exhibit to his museum, Hughes said he jumped at the opportunity. He said the exhibit has been well received so far, as many connections with ladies’ knitting groups happened in New Brunswick.
The museum has also partnered with the Military Family Resource Centre, which has English and French-speaking knitting groups producing items for troops currently in Latvia. Hughes said that will coincide with International Women’s Day in March.
“Knitting items for troops overseas and for children and European refugees was a way for women to help the situation over there,” he said.
Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion. Please keep comments relevant and respectful. Comments may take up to an hour to appear on the site. You will receive an email if there is a reply to your comment, an update to a thread you follow or if a user you follow comments. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information.