Historian Eric Story on the legacy of Great War veterans with disabilities
STORY BY ALEX BOWERS
When the guns of the Western Front fell silent on Nov. 11, 1918, the smoke of battle gradually faded. The violence of the previous four years, however, had left countless scars—not only on the shattered landscape, but on those who survived it.
In time, sites of such bloodshed could largely heal—mud replaced with fertile fields, ruins rebuilt into thriving communities. The same could not always be said for tens of thousands of Canadian veterans with disabilities—men who had lost limbs, developed chronic illnesses or otherwise endured life-altering wounds. For many of these individuals, the Great War was carried home with them.
Medical and military historian Eric Story, an assistant professor at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ont., has studied the legacies of the conflict for more than 10 years. Rather than the quagmires of Belgium and France, his research has charted the very different—yet no less complex—landscape of postwar disability and advocacy in Canada.
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With Saskatchewan’s lieutenant governor firing the pistol to officially open the 48th annual Legion National Championships during the opening ceremonies, competition got underway on Friday August 6. Over 800 athletes from across Canada have gathered at Regina’s Canada Games Complex in Saskatchewan to compete in a range of track and field events until August 9. 
Royal Canadian Legion, US Branch #25 