Exhibit highlights difficulty WW I soldiers faced upon return home

A national travelling exhibit now on display at Lougheed House tells the story of soldiers readjusting to life in Canada after returning home from the First World War.

Created by the Canadian Centre for the Great War in Montreal, the exhibittitled After the War: Coming Home and Fitting In At The End of the Great Warfeatures more than 45 photos and artifacts from that era.

"We have artifacts related to reintegration programs that were developed by the government and community organizations to help soldiers gain employment, get the medical care they needed and to reintegrate into society," said Caroline Loewen, the curator at Lougheed House.

"So we have objects like farming implements that were provided to veterans to help them start their new lives as farmers, objects that were made at vocational training programsto help them learn new skills like woodworking, mechanics," she added.

Returning home was "really difficult" for many soldiers, said Loewen.

"A lot of these soldiers had been away from home for many years, and a lot of them had gone to war when they were very young, so they didn't necessarily have the skills to start a new career back home," she said.

"A lot of them also had physical injuries, psychological trauma, and just these experiences that really continued to live on for them post-war. What we kind of say is the war, for returning soldiers, really didn't end in 1918;it continued on for many years."

The exhibit opened Wednesday and will remain on display at Lougheed House 707 13th Avenue S.W. until March 17 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Wednesday to Friday and from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. It's closed on Mondays and Tuesdays.

Admission is $8.50 for adults; $6.50 for seniors and students; $5 for children ages six to 12 and $25 for families. Children under age six get in free of charge.

• MORE CALGARY NEWS|Student at Calgary school diagnosed with typhoid fever
• MORE CALGARY NEWS|Elder guidance, storytelling and language focus of Central Library's new Indigenous centre
• Read more articles byCBC Calgary, like us onFacebookfor updates and subscribe to ourCBC Calgary newsletterfor the day's news at a glance