Gas Masks:
FROM HANKIES TO RESPIRATORS
The worst of warfare has certainly included the possibility of gas or other lethal chemical weapons. Respirators and hoods have saved lives, but they’re hot and take some getting used to on the battlefield. Urine-soaked hankies saved some at Ypres in 1915.
Bandages:
From Rags to Glue
Bandages and wound dressings have been around probably since the first child skinned a knee and the first cook’s hand slipped while skinning dinner. Strips of hide or absorbent plant fibres were first used to staunch bleeding and protect wounds as they healed. Some of the earliest written records describe using such material to bind up battle wounds.
1 JULY 1916
The Anglo-French Somme offensive begins astride the Somme River in Picardy, France. The Newfoundland Regiment, attached to the 29th British Division, is decimated at Beaumont-Hamel.
It has been 65 years since the end of the Second World War, and this year’s commemorations in Ottawa for VJ-Day (Victory over Japan Day) will include special focus on Canadian veterans of the Burma Campaign.
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