By BRIDGET COOK
CRANBOURNE’s Beryl Craig has seen firsthand the effects that war has on soldiers once they finish their service and return home.
Her father Arthur Walter Sinclair served in WWI in France after enlisting at the age of 18 in 1916.
He was wounded badly from shrapnel during service and spent a year in hospital – but Ms Craig said it was the mental ailments once he returned home that affected him the most.
“The war affected him for the rest of his life,” she said.
“Those who returned were badly affected mentally for so long.
“We didn’t understand that as they never spoke about it and they didn’t have counselling back then.
“I feel guilty now that I didn’t seem to understand why my father was like he was, but we are just starting to understand how these men were affected.
“He was very depressed later in life.”
Ms Craig has loaned some of her father’s belongings from the war, which were passed down to her, to the Cranbourne Library, which is running a number of projects to commemorate the centenary of WWI.
For the next couple of months, the library has an exhibition running which features photos and stories of Cranbourne soldiers who served in WWI, six biographies from the Victorian Indigenous Honour Roll and war items from local families.
Librarians Jenny Bremner and Tracy Howard have been instrumental in putting the display together.
Ms Craig said she was more than happy to loan a letter from her grandmother to her father, some war medals and photos to the library for the display.
“The library deserves recognition for putting this together,” she said.
“Commemorations hold a special place in my heart and I’m sure many others.
“It’s nice for people to understand what went on before them and what these men and women went through.
“We do not celebrate war, but we should commemorate those who made that sacrifice.”
The Cranbourne Library is also contributing to the nation-wide 5000 Poppies project, having already collected 400 knitted, felt and crepe paper poppies for commemorations next year.
The library also has the ‘Casey Cardinia: Commemorating the Great War 1914-1918’ blog running which records the impact of WWI on the people in the region.
The blog can be viewed at www.caseycardinia1914-1918.blogspot.com.au.
For more details contact the Cranbourne Library on 5990 0150 or visit the display at 65 Berwick-Cranbourne Road, Cranbourne. The library will be closed from Monday to Thursday next week for renovations.
