Our Unsung Heroes: World War 1 Stories from Newfoundland and Labrador

St. John’s Storytelling are pleased to announce that at a launch event next week, episode 1 of the podcast series on Newfoundland and Labrador stories of World War 1 will be unveiled to the public.

The group received funding earlier in the year to collect unknown stories of WW1, focusing on stories that have probably been circulating in families, communities and historical documents for years, but were never recorded. These include the Royal Newfoundland Regiment, merchant navy, the reserves, forestry corps, women, and indigenous groups. Given this past summer’s entombment of the Unknown Soldier and the 100th Anniversary of the Newfoundland War Memorial, the project was very timely, given the province’s contribution to the war effort.

Titled, “Our Unsung Heroes: World War 1 Stories from Newfoundland and Labrador”, the podcast will focus on 30 such stories from all over the province, and additional episodes will be released as they are completed. In addition, a 2 show television series will air on Rogers Cable at a date to be announced, which will profile another collection of stories.
SJS President Karen Carroll said, “we are proud to say that we have collected over 90 stories from all over the province, and very grateful to have gotten such wonderful cooperation from people who wanted to share the stories of their loved ones, communities and people who have inspired them.” She went on to say that the stories are very special, and that they will all be shared in a digital archive that will be accessible to the public at the end of the project.”

Funding for the project was secured from the NL Year of the Arts Fund through ArtsNL and the Perlin Family Trust and was used to fund the organization, recording and collection of the stories. Partners on the project include the Royal Canadian Legion, Rogers Communications and Memorial University of Newfoundland.

Carroll said “we invite anyone in the community who would like to come along to the launch next Thursday, November 7, 2024, to join us at 7:30pm at the CLB Armoury. In addition to the launch of the first episode of the podcast, we are very fortunate to have some special people sharing stories and music will be provided by the CLB Regimental Band.”