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Children Support the War Effort

Yes, YOU BOYS AND GIRLS can help win the War!

(The following is an excerpt from a message issued by the Department of Munitions and Supply of Canada)

When you boys go out and cut lawns or collect paper and scrap, you are enabling one more man to work in the armed forces or in war plants. When you go to the store and carry parcels home, you relieve a man and also a truck, making more tires and gasoline available for carrying on the war.

When you girls wash the dishes and help with the housework, your mother is relieved of some duties. This means more hands to work in war plants.

So, boys and girls, do all the odd jobs you can find to do. Make yourselves useful around your home and in your community. Every little job you do brings victory one step nearer.

What Boys and Girls Can Do

(adapted from The Citizen’s Handbook For War)

Boys and girls like everybody else will have to sort themselves out and find the places where they can be most useful on the home front. They will find work at home, in local Scout or Military troops, in 4-H Clubs, through churches or other community organizations.

  • If your home is in a target area, you should learn what to do in case of an air raid
  • Keep yourself strong by eating the right food, getting enough sleep and exercising in the open air
  • Save money regularly and buy War Stamps
  • Be careful not to waste anything, take care of your cloths, books, bicycle, all the things you use at home or in school, so that they will last as long as possible. You won’t be getting many new things in wartime
In the School

(adapted from A Century and Ten – The History of Edmonton Public Schools)

In most of the schools, students contributed nickels and dimes for the purchase of War Saving Stamps and enthusiastically participated in projects designed to support the war effort. These projects included salvage drives for wastepaper, rags, bottles, tinfoil and scrap iron. A campaign entitled “Tins for Britain” was well responded to by most students and they contributed through canned food donations. Classes in many schools filled ditty bags for the Navy League of Canada. Various Junior Red Cross clubs in the schools donated wool and knitted numerous afghans, mitts and scarves for the victims of air raids in the United Kingdom.

In 1944, students at the Bennett school raised $16.00 and voted to send the money to Prime Minister Winston Churchill. This was done and much to their surprise, a sincere letter or appreciation was received from the office of the British Prime Minister.

Saving in the School

(adapted from Canadian Schools at War)

To be successful, a war activity must be performed steadily with a full understanding of the part it is playing to bring Victory nearer. Coordinating war activities into one sound program is the most effective way in which schools can play a significant role in war. Boys and girls who buy War Saving Stamps at school should learn what their savings mean, to themselves as well as to their country. They should know that regular War Savings are the responsibility of every citizen. They must know why citizens in wartime must save and not spend, conserve and not waste. They should buy War Savings Stamps regularly with money they would spend on luxuries, non essentials and items made scarce by war. They should learn how to save and why, and on what. They should learn where, how and why their money is needed and they should be proud to hear of the things their pennies, dimes and quarters have done.

Children's War Gallery

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