War Museum displays historic Christmas card

A Christmas card sent in 1943 by Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King to a Canadian prisoner of war is on display this holiday season at the Canadian War Museum, a poignant reminder of the service and sacrifice of Canada’s veterans and a symbol of a nation’s gratitude and remembrance. The recipient was Arthur Kenneth Pifher from Paris, Ont., who was captured at the battle of Hong Kong in 1941 and held for four years in Japanese prison camps. The card bears King’s signature and the words “All Canada joins in Warmest Christmas Greetings and good wishes to you.”Pifher kept the card for 69 years before presenting it as a memento to Prime Minister Stephen Harper at a Remembrance Day ceremony both men attended in Hong Kong on Nov. 11, 2012. The card was then donated to the War Museum. “This simple Christmas greeting recalls a nation at war, a young soldier’s suffering far from home, and the forms of personal and national remembrance,”said James Whitham, director general of the Canadian War Museum. “We are grateful that Mr. Ken Pifher preserved this important artifact for so many years and we are pleased to add it to our National Collection.”The card will be on display at the War Museum until Jan. 6, 2013.