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Second World War
The Navy Ashore  - The Navy and the Home Front

The Royal Canadian Navy became a strong presence on Canada's home front during the Second World War. Naval imagery appeared in fundraising and propaganda materials, while Canadians built equipment for the navy, or were encouraged to support it through volunteer work.

Sailor's Fur Vest
Sailor's Fur Vest

Canadian volunteer organizations helped make and supply warm fur-lined vests like this to members of the navy and merchant navy.

Working as part of an organization called the "Seamen's Fur Vests War Project," fur companies and fur industry workers in cities like Montreal and Toronto helped fashion these vests from donated fur coats or from fur pelts. Groups like the Navy League or the Imperial Order Daughters of the Empire then distributed them. This particular example came from the estate of Percy Wooster, a banker heavily involved in the Navy League in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Vest
CWM 19810260-001





$90 Killed this U-Boat!
Fifth Victory Loan, 1943
Seventh Victory Loan, Halifax, 1944
Careless Words may cause Disaster!
Censored Photograph, HMCS Wentworth
What would you do if I quit?
Manufacturing Naval Guns and Mountings
Torpedo Depth and Roll Recorder
Send the boys good Books and magazines
Knit for the Navy and Merchant Navy
Ditty Bags for Sailors
Sailor's Fur Vest
"Meet the Navy" Program
"Meet the Navy" Program
Royal Canadian Navy Certificate of Acknowledgement
Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve Pillow Cover
Cut-Out Allied Naval Units
The Canadian Navy Paint Book
V-E Day, St. John's, Newfoundland
Bedford Magazine Explosion, 1945