Some were taken in case the unthinkable happened:
Somehow very Canadian, very not-American. What is it?
Because of all the to-and-fro of migration, quite a few people of Nova Scotian stock served in the American armed forces. Here's a brace of brothers (on the back: John's oldest boy... John's second boy I think it's the one in the Navy Arthur C. Roscoe son of John and Bertha):
Another Doughboy:
For another view of WW I activities, see extracts from a 3-foot panoramic view of the Jordan Marsh Rifle Club's Preparadness Parade, May 27 1916
World War II sparked an avalanche of picture-taking. Some images feature gravity-defying headgear:
Perhaps the hair is the single (triple?) most interesting element. This one is labeled "Elwood, Elwood Jr., and Anne as Elwood was leaving for Guam, May 14 1945":
IWW II also produced a lot of group photographs of military people in lines. These three are details from a Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps group at Petawawa Military Hospital, May 21st 1942:
This one may help to explain why sailors are called 'gobs':
For fuller explanation, consult the third sense at answers.com:
Probably shortening of earlier gobshite, wad of expectorated chewing tobacco, sailor. See gobshite.
...and while we're on the subject, consider all those folksongs about young maidens who dress themselves in sailor's clothing and go to sea, only to be rumbled by Wicked Captains...
From an earlier era, another case of two sons in the Forces (compare the ears...):
The Queen's Own Bellhops:
The Queen's Own Soupstrainers:
...and the Sackbut Corps:
This one memorializes a trip to French Cross, also called Morden, not far from the Greenwood airbase:
