“It’s a very glaring mistake” T Hunter
Terry Hunter knows his history. He served as a peacekeeper with the Canadian Forces, and in addition to current military knowledge, he is also very knowledgeable about Second World War history, and especially Canada’s participation. He is a military re-enactor portraying a member of the Second World War 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion in special events around eastern Canada. He likes to get historical details right.
When he saw the poster for the current Canadian War Museum exhibition about women’s roles in the war, he was at first impressed by the accuracy of the uniforms, but then noticed the salute was wrong.
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What he noticed was that the women were all saluting with the palms down which is sometimes called “the American salute”. Except for members of the naval service, the standard Canadian salute followed the British example with an open palm salute up until 1968 when the various service arms were unified and the palm down was standarized. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police still use the open palm salute.
The navy saluted palms down as a tradition begun in Victorian times so that sailors, working on tarred ropes, wouldn’t have to show dirty hands to officers or royalty.
The museum has been using the poster since the “World War Women” exhibit was announced in October. It continues until April 3.
“Stylized, not meant to be real, historical representation” C Schryer CWM
Museum staff apparently pointed out the mistake but Chantal Schryer, the museum’s vice-president of corporate affairs told the Ottawa Sun newspaper, “It’s a stylized image that was developed by our marketing team to be used as a marketing tool. It was never meant to be a real, historical representation.”
Hunter does not want to be overly critical but says the museum is supposed to educate, and “would strive to be historically correct. It”s important to convey our corret history and heritage”.
He adds that the national museum has to set the example to “get things right”.
He also notes that it’s too late to correct retract and correct the poster as a lot of money was spent on it.
He says though that although the museum admits the mistake, he says that from their comments it almost sounds like they’re trying to justify it instead of saying they will make a better effort in future.
One thing was accomplished though, it has generated a renewed discussion about the exhibit.
Addtional information- sources
- Ottawa Citizen newspaper-Blair Crawford
- National Post newspaper version
- Canadian War Museum
- 1st Canadian Parachute Bn-reenactors
http://1canparareenacted.weebly.com/
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