More than 70 years ago, during the height of the Second World
War, Canadian military photographers were silent witnesses to a
nation at war: landing on D-Day, flying with air crews and
sailing on battle ships. All with the aim of capturing the
moment on film, however grim. But many of the pictures of
Canadian military personnel from the Second World War were
staged for the media to use back home, shot by former press
photographers who signed up to chronicle our involvement in the
conflict. According to Collections Canada, late in 1939, Frank
Badgley, commissioner of the Canadian Government Motion Picture
Bureau, prepared a report recommending that the Canadian Army
organize a special film and photographic unit. The purposes of
this unit, he wrote, would be: “… to record in motion pictures
and photographs the day by day activities and achievements
of…those units actively engaged in the combat zones, not only to
provide an historical record, but to provide informational and
inspirational material for…the mainte