For the past few years, the Fredericton Region Museum has hosted a Remembrance Day exhibit through the York-Sunbury Historical Society to honor service members who died in service to their country.
This August, the museum utilized their exhibit centered around stories that came from New Brunswick’s involvement in the liberation of Italy during the Second World War to showcase the life of Lieutenant Russell Edward Ganong.
Cynthia Wallace-Casey was the curator of the exhibit in collaboration with Gary Campbell, the exhibits’ committee member and historian.
“What we’ve done over the past three or fours years is find an object within our collection related to somebody involved with the wars to highlight,” said Campbell.
This year, the highlighted item is the memorial cross that was given to the mother of Ganong following his passing in Ortona, Italy in March 1944. He was 23-years-old.
The memorial cross was later donated to the museum by Ganong’s family. Both Wallace-Casey and Campbell are excited to continue promoting the stories of soldiers that sacrificed their lives for their country.
“It’s nice just bringing out and highlighting somebody’s artifacts, mementos, that are in our collection, who died in the war and bring their stories back to life,” said Campbell.
The exhibit surrounding the liberation of Italy features the stories of over 45 soldiers during their time before and after the war. It also features an old jukebox that plays five recordings of reports from Matthew Halton, a CBC war correspondent who reported directly from the battleground.
Ganong was born in St. Stephen and served time as a member of the Royal Canadian Air Force and the 48th Highlanders before being transferred to the Carleton and York Regiment where he fought in Italy.
“When we were putting this exhibit together, the cross appeared,” said Campbell. “What better person to highlight than Russell Ganong, who was an officer with the Carleton and York Regiment and lost his life.”
Wallace-Casey said that Ganong’s story stood out within an exhibit that features both happy and tragic stories of the soldiers who fought in the war.
“It’s symbolic of what many families in the local area experienced,” she said.
Campbell wants to ensure that this exhibit continues in the coming years to “keep their memories alive.”
“It helps to name those that fell. They’re not just a number, they’re human,” said Campbell.
