Book offers different look at First World War

‘TWEETS FROM THE TRENCHES’ AVAILABLE LOCALLY

With the 100th centenary of Armistice approaching, a newly released book is reviving the short stories of soldiers on the Western Front, many of whom are from Alberta, with a new and refreshing blend of poetry, tweets, historical documents and photographs, much different than traditional war books.

“Tweets from the Trenches,” written by Jacqueline Carmichael, was an idea that was developed after her research into her grandfather’s journal entries and letters. He was a farmer from Hanna and fought on the Western Front. Travelling to the Western Fronts in France and Belgium, Carmichael discovered the small horror and heartbreaking personal entries from soldiers in the First World War.

“I went to do the research after I was given my grandfather’s letters and journals and books that he was in, and I wanted to find out more so I went after that, and came about the idea of writing a book after those trips,” said Carmichael. “It is unique because it has so many stories because of the diversity in the history from all across Canada, as well as some American and some from Europe, and it is very heavily based on personal accounts from people that were documented.”

The book digs into the personal lives of not only those who fought on the front lines, but also into the lives of women who hid their identities to fight in the war, experiences of nurses and the interesting journal entries of the first Native American who was able to fight on the front lines.

The touching story of Albert Mountain Horse, who came from the Blood Reserve, has his journal entry in the book, where he talks about the whistling sounds of bullets over their heads, being gassed by the Germans three times, and being badly wounded in the field, to being sent home and dying en route to the reserve in Quebec in 1915.

“It is creative non-fiction, but it combines documents, photographs, papers from the war, and there is some poetry and even a song within the book, so it has a wide range of content,” says Carmichael. “There is a number of Alberta soldiers in it just because my grandfather came from Alberta, it is more of the perspective of the Commonwealth side because adding both sides would result in a book double the size.”

Touching stories like these are beautifully portrayed in small pieces, enough to let the reader into the personal mind of the people who made the ultimate sacrifice for the betterment of society’s future. “Tweets from the Trenches” is available at Chapters and other local book stores, as well as Amazon’s online store.