Civvy Street: Civilian Lives During World War II

Richard Wilbur is supervisor of the Legislative Research Service at the
New Brunswick Legislature, and the author of The Rise of French New
Brunswick.

Author/compiler Heather Davidson points out in her brief introduction
that the “lives of the civilians have been ignored in most war
histories. For every person who served in the military, at least five
civilians were affected.”

The 13 reminiscences that make up this book are mostly centred on
wartime Nova Scotia. In terms of hardship and anguish, they run the
gamut. First, there are the relatively painless experiences of Alex
Colville’s young wife, who stayed in her family home in Wolfville
while her husband worked overseas as a war artist. Bob Oulton, who was
just starting out on his lifelong career as a poultry and dairy farmer,
describes how basic food production changed as a result of wartime
pressures. One brief paragraph tells Nan Elliott’s wartime story:
“Mac was killed August 3, 1944. I was eight months pregnant when he
died. Our son Michael was born September 9, 1944. He was born
handicapped. It was tough. These things happen.”

As a young Anglican minister serving a rural Nova Scotia parish,
Russell Elliott had the grim task of delivering yellow telegrams to the
families of war casualties. Peter Voss, who was 13 when the war ended,
describes life in Rostock, Germany: his bomb-shattered home, his
near-starvation after the Russian army moved in, and his eventual move
to Hantsport, Nova Scotia, where he ran an engine repair shop until he
retired. In the book’s most gripping account, an anonymous Polish
woman describes her experiences as a member of the Polish underground.

This well-written book is a good start toward giving a voice to those
who remained at home during World War II.