Grandpa's Old Chest in the Attic

After grandpa passed away, the brother and sister didn't get together that often any more, but when they did, they spent a lot of time reminiscing about their youth.

This was one of those infrequent occasions where they had come together and were enjoying a rare family dinner. They regaled their children with the stories of growing up in the old house, now occupied by the sister and her family. The times they dressed up in the old clothes of their grandparents. They recalled many other icons of their childhood as they tried to explain to their own kids, the simplicity of the times.

Suddenly the conversation stopped as both brother and sister exchanged knowing looks. "Whatever happened to grandpa's old chest?", they almost asked in unison. They had vague memories of bayonets and shell casings, web belts and puttees, old pictures and letters. As their conversation now continued in earnest, they remembered some of the stories their grandfather told them when they were children.

Nothing heroic, mostly just funny stories of men living in subhuman conditions and somehow managing to enjoy their youth despite the fact they were at war. There were no gory stories for his grandchildren; it was just an episode in grandpa's life. But he could entertain them for hours relating his experiences at war without discussing its horrors or its inhumanity. To listen to grandpa, it was all a game that he passed on to his grandchildren with humorous stories unrelated to the carnage of the battlefield.

They found it there in the attic the next day. Grandpa's chest had been there untouched for years. Now, as the memories came flooding back, brother and sister looked upon the old chest in the attic differently. There was a story before them of one man's life. As they opened the old chest, they began to look at the aged but familiar objects from a different perspective. They put aside the souvenir articles that they now remembered in detail, and began to read the letters. Letters they had paid little attention to as they grew up with the old chest in the attic.

Now the letters revealed the existence of a young man still in the second decade of his life. A young man full of adventure, of youthful exuberance, with hopes, dreams and ambitions. A young man who sometimes wasn't sure he would make it through the next battle and recorded his feelings on the eve of his testing. From the sad and melancholy to the joyous escape, no matter how briefly from the shackles of war. The real story of grandpa unfolded there before them. The story came clear in their adult life in ways they could not have understood in their youth.

They saw the grandpa they knew in a new and different way. They began to understand the suffering that must have attended him as he fought for his very survival on the killing fields of war. His tender letters to a young girl still in school, took on new meaning as they realized the young girl was to become his wife and their grandma. The old chest in the attic now presented them with a whole new dimension. Reading between the lines of the puzzle that the old man had laid out for them, they began to realize that it was to him, and those like him, that they owed their wellbeing, freedom and prosperity.

Stories similar to this are being played out across Canada at an accelerating rate as the old veterans of past wars rise to answer a higher calling. It will be a shame if their stories are not preserved for the education and remembrance of those who follow in their footsteps.

It would be sad if the old chests in the attics of countless family homes get thrown out or ravaged in mindless garage sales. The old chests in the attic have a story to tell. Each and every one is part of a larger puzzle that archivists in military museums across this country treat as new and important discoveries. Letters, pictures, dates, locations are corroborated and come together to form a complete story of an individual, a unit, or a formation at war. Each piece is priceless and care must be taken to preserve the story of man as we toil and suffer through the journey of life.

The old chest in the attic may tell grandpa's story, but it may also fill in a missing piece of the puzzle. Do not lose these precious pieces of our culture. If you are unsure, take grandpa's old chest in the attic to the archivist at your local military museum. They will know what to do with it.