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Question: Any ideas for WW1 History project!?
I have a project in my grade 10 History class due this Tuesday, and I can't think of anything to do!

For our project, we have to put together a memento box from World War 1!. We have to pretend that we were associated to the war in some way, either actually a soldier in it, a nurse, or someone back home!. We have to put together 7-9 objects that we would have kept that would have been important to us in some way!. We also have to write what each object is and why it was so important to us!. I can't think of anything to add to it! I was thinking along the lines of putting an acception letter for joining the war, a discharge paper, a medal of honour, or something like that!. Any ideas would be great! also, if anyone had any good websites on papers like I mentioned from the war, that would be great! Oh, I almost forgot, it has to be Canadian and what Canadians did in the war!. Thanks so much!Www@QuestionHome@Com


Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:
If you ever see any documentaries about WW1 you will only find how awful it was!. Because of the newer weapons the old (British) ways of fighting were obsolete and whenever the British generals, who were in command of the Commonwealth forces (ie: Canadian, Australian, New Zealanders, etc) tried to fight the old ways they got massacred!. Effectively everyone just dug themselves into defensive trenches where the war was literally bogged down for years!. The whole region around the front lines was reduced to dirt and mud even though there might previously have been farms or forests or towns there so this would reflect the awful living conditions there!.

Some ideas you could come up with for a soldier might be!.!.!.

A photograph of a large group of WW1 Canadian soldiers: You could say it was your unit!. I suggest you might circle/identify 3 or 4 of them and say they were the only ones to survive the war with you!.

A poppy: These red flowers were often the only thing that grew in the battlefields!. You kept the first one you saw because it was the only symbol of life amid all that death and carnage!. It comforted you!.

A piece of metal: You can say it was the piece of shrapnel that got stuck in your helmet!. It was from a British shell!

Another small piece of shrapnel: Removed from your back!. It is also from a Britsh artillery shell!. This is because one day when you went "over the top" of the trenches and attacked the Germans the British mis-timed their artillery barrage!. It happened a lot!.

A cloth: This is the bandage/blindfold you wore after you were blinded by mustard gas!. You were blind for a whole week!. You don't know if the gas was "theirs" or "ours"!

A cork: From a bottle of French wine when you went on leave!. You didn't get much leave because the British tended to keep the Commonwealth units in the trenches for much longer periods than their own units!.

A birthday card: from your mother for your 18th birthday!. You had been in France and Belgium for nearly 6 months by this stage!. You were under age to join up but you and a few others in your unit lied about your age because you wanted to go on an adventure and see some of the world!. Everyone thought it would be like some kind of a holiday and you would win in only a few months!. You didn't want to miss out!.

A button: From the uniform of one of your best friends, William (Willow)Davis who was a school chum and even younger than you when you joined up together!. He was close to you when your regiment attacked the German lines but the Germans beat back the attack!. Willow was still close by when they sounded the retreat but the next time you looked he was gone!. You don't know where he's buried!.

A cigarette or some tobacco: From a German soldier you took prisoner!. His name was Werner Klink and he was a primary school teacher before the war!.

Hope that helps!. Have fun!.Www@QuestionHome@Com