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As you can imagine we require security on the museum artifacts. This is the only entrance. The museum volunteers do their part in keeping alive the memory of the people who paid with their lives that we may live in peace. |
The guest book that we use was donated in 1979 by the Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba, the Honourable Mr. McKeag. |
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Our library has several thousand books, all of historical significance. There are no books of fiction. Many of the books may be borrowed to read, for a one-month period. LIBRARY DATA BASE |
The archives are housed in a large cupboard and are comprised mainly of hand-written orders. The paper in some of the books is very delicate and white cotton gloves must be worn to handle them. |
The Manitoba Rangers was raised just after the turn of the century, with Regimental headquarters in Brandon. This regiment was paired with the Sherwood Foresters of the British Army. They recruited troops for the 8th and 45th Battalion in the first war. In 1936 the regiment was retired and all ranks were taken on strength of the 26 Field Brigade of the Royal Canadian Artillery. The picture is of all the officers just before they went to the artillery. |
Years ago, photographers were able to take very wide pictures -- we have a good collection of this type of picture. |
Our library is used extensively for research. A few of the old sweats come and take out a book to read to re-live the source of their wartime adventures or maybe to see what other people were doing at some point in time. The books can be taken from the library for a period not to exceed one month. |
Bugle and trumpets were used in the forces for many years. The calls were sounded to get you up in the morning,
Due to the fact that these are not used anymore,
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The trophies were given for
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The silver cigarette boxes which could be filled with cigarettes and set on the tables at the Officers' Mess after a formal mess dinner or other special occasions. The brass boxes were Christmas presents from Princess Margaret to troops in the trenches. They contained a small card, a small bar of chocolate, 10 cigarettes, matches, and a bar of soap. |
The rocket here is steerable, anti-tank rocket. In the event your target moved just as you fired at it, it could be mad change course to follow your target. |
The ammunition in our display cases has all been inspected by ammunition technicians to ensure nothing could be dangerous to anyone. . |
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Our collection of rifles includes many interesting pieces such as an Old Roling Block and a Ross Bolt Action, as well as an anti-tank Mauser 13mm which is quite an oddity. |
At the end of WWI the allies tried to denude Germany of all its heavy weapons. Every village, town and city recieved a weapon of some type. The museum has several of these weapons. This aircraft machine gun was mounted on a tripod which is missing. It should be noted that a lot of these souvenirs were collected up at the start of the second war and sent to rolling mills. |
 
The Bren gun was the backbone of the infantry during WWII. It used the same ammunition as the rifle and was very accruate. It could be fired in a single rounds or fully automatic capacity. Although our troops did not have as many machine guns per unit as the Germans, we still used ours to advantage. |
The Walthers P38-9mm hand gun, as with others in the collection, was brought home as a souvenir. The P38 indicates that it is of 1938 design. |
This is a F.N. revolver, 38 standard calibre and is of about 1890 vintage. . |
A Polish factory made this VIS-9mm handgun for the army. When the Germans invaded they continued to manufacture the hand gun with the Nazi insignia on it. Note that this hand gun has a but trigger safety. |
This is a Smith & Wesson 38 Standard revolver, the same as Canadian Army issue, and was used up to 1942 when the issue was changed to Browning 9mm. . |
This hammerless 32 calibre revolver is a Harrington & Richardson. It came west with a C.P.R. man in 1902 as he had heard stories about the wild west. It was never used and due to calibre and length of barrel it can not be registered. |
The Very pistol or flare gun was used during the First World War to signal batteries in the rear at night and occasionally during the day. During the Second World War its use was not necessary as radios were used extensively. |
 
The Zenna and Mauser are auto loader guns and made nice souvenirs. The Zenna is 5.25mm and the MSa Mauser is 7.65mm -- both odd calibres. |
The Very pistol or flare gun was used during the First World War to signal batteries in the rear at night and occasionally during the day. During the Second World War its use was not necessary as radios were used extensively. |
The swords and sabres in our collection came mainly from the Officers' Mess in Virden which was the headquarters for the XII Manitoba Dragoons. Included is an infantry officers' sabre from 1791. |
This Luftwaffe dagger would have been presented by Hitler to an outstanding air force officer. It was found in an abandoned airport by Fred Constable who donated it to us. |
The German dagger in this display would have been given by Hitler to the general officer commanding the concentration camp at Osterwaggen. When trooper Brooks jumped out of his car to capture prisoners there was no enemy there and the officer had left his dagger and arm band. The prisoners in the camp were in extremely poor condition. |
The military saddle has changed little in the last couple of hundred years. Even today the ceremonial mounted troops have the same saddle as the one shown in the picture. This one has parts made in 1914. . |
This is a picture from the front of a program showing a mounted soldier picking up a tent peg with the point of his sabre at the full gallop. This was part of the show, usually in Winnipeg, put on by the military to show off their shields. The regimental bands put on a real good show. This type of show died out at the time of the Second World War and is now trying to make a comeback. Of course there will be no horses or tent pegging. |
| The late Wilf Falconer, who worked for the Brandon Sun for a short period after WWII, wrote a history of the batteries that were involved in the war. As most histories mention the artillery regiments but not the batteries, his book "Battery Flashes," took several years of his retirement to write. It also involved many trips to Ottawa and other areas for research. As he was writing he made a model of the Canadian Army using cap badges and shoulder flashes. When the book was completed he brought his model from his home in Victoria to Brandon and donated it to the museum. It is used regularly for research. |
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The circular display is made up of 12 frames, each representing
a different division; five divisions of the Second World War, two COTC,
two corps troops, and the remainder ancillary and Korean War units.
Each frame contains the had badge of every regiment in the division, the shoulder flash and of course the division patch -- a total of 474 items in the 12 frames. Each artillery regiment is represented by the flash that was worn on the epaulet of the battle dress blouse, and beside each flash is a red sticker with the battery numbers of that regiment on it. |
The cap badges in this display are all from the British Army - each one with its own distinguished history. . |
Cap badges of various regiments are represented in this photo, each one having its own history. Collecting cap badges was a hobby that a lot of military men liked to pursue. |
We felt a need to show people what had to be worn at different periods of time and this seemed to be the best selection. |
The collection of hats in the museum cover a period from the early 1800s to present. |
Corporal Curter, a Brandon boy, worked at the Mental Hospital before enlisting. He was wounded in the face, arm and leg but was able to walk to the rear for bandaging and transport to a hospital. An alert photographer took his picture as a medical officer was assisting him. This picture, which is in the Ottawa Archives, is often used for newspaper articles, etc. . |
This picture and medals are from Robert Limb. His ribbons indicate that he served in South Africa and had received the Queen's South African medal and the King Edward South African medal -- although the medals did not come with his first war medals. He served with the Fifth Canadian Railways Troop during the war and he is buried in Saskatoon. |
The picture shows a pair of spatts. A gentleman who wore oxfords found it cold around the ankles and he would put on his spats to go out. Army officers usually wore oxfords. The fad died out in the thirties -- maybe the winters just weren't as cold. |
During the Second World War an army camp was established in the the south end of Brandon. As most young people don't realize this, we undertook to build a diorama to show its location. Two of our volunteers, Mrs. Ainsley (Ranson) Sim and Mr. Les Fraser both served there at one point in time. |
These illuminating rounds were fired at night to light up an area. Mortars fired the rounds at close range and most had parachutes to have the light hang up in the air for a period of time. This one is 155 mm. |
The Vimy display commemorates the first victory by the allied armies in the First World War - a battle won by Canadians. The display shows the book that was published for the dedication and opening of the memorial in 1937. There is a piece of chalk from the tunnels as well as a photo of the names of men with no known graves carved in the stone. The sten gun in the display was a Second World War invention.
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New Museum Tour
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