Beyond the memorial, archives reveal the lives of Windsor soldiers lost in war
David Yott gathers photographs, newspaper accounts, military records, school documents and personal correspondence for a new display in Leddy Library's Archives and Special Collections reading room. It reveals the lives of local soldiers who never returned home. (JOHN-PAUL BONADONNA/University of Windsor)
By John-Paul Bonadonna
War telegrams carried the power to change a family’s life in a single sentence.
One message could tell a mother her son was safe.
Another could bring the devastating news that he was never coming home.
For David Yott, an archival assistant at the University of Windsor's Leddy Library, a telegram message sent by Private Joseph Cerullo to his parents – that is preserved in the archives – brought the human cost of the Second World War into sharp focus.
