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Prisoners of War (POWs) are members of the military captured in wartime by the enemy. Since the late 19th century, international rules have governed the treatment of POWs, although these are not always followed. Thousands of Canadians have endured time as POWs in conflicts ranging from the First World War to the Korean War.

Jean Victor Allard, soldier (b at Saint-Monique de Nicolet, Qué 12 June 1913 - d at Trois-Rivières, Qué, April 23 1996).

William Moss Landymore, naval officer (born 31 July 1916 in Brantford, ON; died 27 November 2008 in ​Halifax, ​NS).

Ramsey Muir Withers, soldier, public servant (b at Toronto, Ont 28 July 1930). An engineering graduate of the Royal Military College and Queen's University, Withers was commissioned in the Signal Corps in 1952 and served with the Royal 22nd Regiment in Korea in 1952-53.

Léo Major, DCM and Bar, soldier and war hero (born 23 January 1921 in New Bedford, Massachusetts, died 12 October 2008 in Montreal, QC). Major was a veteran of the Second World War and the Korean War. He is the only Canadian to be awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal (DCM) for two separate wars.

Women served in the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) throughout the Cold War. Known for much of this period as “Wrens,” they played an important role in RCN missions and operations, including antisubmarine warfare. In 1951, the Canadian Naval Reserve began recruiting women into the service. Women could join the regular navy beginning in 1955; the RCN was the first Commonwealth navy to integrate women into the permanent force. For many years, Wrens served in shore-based branches and trades, including stores, communications, intelligence, submarine detection and in the medical services. By the end of the Cold War, all naval trades and occupations, except submarine service, were open to women. (See also Canada and the Cold War; Women in the Military.)

Please be advised that Memory Project primary sources may deal with personal testimony that reflect the speaker’s recollections and interpretations of events. Individual testimony does not necessarily reflect the views of the Memory Project and Historica Canada.

Please be advised that Memory Project primary sources may deal with personal testimony that reflect the speaker’s recollections and interpretations of events. Individual testimony does not necessarily reflect the views of the Memory Project and Historica Canada.

"So you know, we’d spend a whole day up at the front and get shelled the odd time and they’d tell you to get down or get into bunker or do something, get out of the road mainly because they wanted to fight, so you got out of their road."

"So I went out and I found a chap crawling along a pathway and his name was [Gordon] Manktelow, and I got to him and he had been stabbed 26 times all over - you could see where the marks were, with his own bayonet on his own rifle."

See below for Mr. Carr's entire testimony.

Please be advised that Memory Project primary sources may deal with personal testimony that reflect the speaker’s recollections and interpretations of events. Individual testimony does not necessarily reflect the views of the Memory Project and Historica Canada.

"One shell came in through, we said, that one came in pretty close. So the corporal told the lance corporal to go see where that one landed. So he came back running, he said, “Well, Maisonneuve was his name.” He said, “Maisonneuve will never see it again.” He said, “He got it.”"

See below for Mr. LaFrance's entire testimony.

Please be advised that Memory Project primary sources may deal with personal testimony that reflect the speaker’s recollections and interpretations of events. Individual testimony does not necessarily reflect the views of the Memory Project and Historica Canada.

"The English transcript is not available. Please consult the French transcript."

See below for Mr. Gagnon's entire testimony.

Please be advised that Memory Project primary sources may deal with personal testimony that reflect the speaker’s recollections and interpretations of events. Individual testimony does not necessarily reflect the views of the Memory Project and Historica Canada.

"Your accommodation was what you could find. You sleep in the back of a truck, you sleep under a truck, you sleep in a truck you sleep in a hole in the ground, you sleep in an old house, wherever you could find a place to lay down."

See below for Mr. Lafrenière's entire testimony.

Please be advised that Memory Project primary sources may deal with personal testimony that reflect the speaker’s recollections and interpretations of events. Individual testimony does not necessarily reflect the views of the Memory Project and Historica Canada.

"There was five guys in the tank, the crew. And we got caught in no man’s land. And we had to stay there all night."

See below for Mr. Cashman's entire testimony.

Please be advised that Memory Project primary sources may deal with personal testimony that reflect the speaker’s recollections and interpretations of events. Individual testimony does not necessarily reflect the views of the Memory Project and Historica Canada.

"I never fired a shot in anger the whole time I was there because we were essentially behind the lines and we’re just repairing stuff."

See below for Mr. Mintz's entire testimony.

Please be advised that Memory Project primary sources may deal with personal testimony that reflect the speaker’s recollections and interpretations of events. Individual testimony does not necessarily reflect the views of the Memory Project and Historica Canada.

"And to this day I’m thinking, those kids, and they were all kids, you know, are of one mind or the other mind, was, if anything comes around like this, this low, they’re going to blow them out of the sky with 50-caliber machine guns."

See below for Mr. Lucano's entire testimony.

Please be advised that Memory Project primary sources may deal with personal testimony that reflect the speaker’s recollections and interpretations of events. Individual testimony does not necessarily reflect the views of the Memory Project and Historica Canada.

"I'd been shelled the odd time, when they'd see vehicles moving. But we went in over what they call Camouflage Hill. And it was pretty well covered."

See below for Mr. Snider's entire testimony.

Please be advised that Memory Project primary sources may deal with personal testimony that reflect the speaker’s recollections and interpretations of events. Individual testimony does not necessarily reflect the views of the Memory Project and Historica Canada.

"We were unsung bums right from the slums, some people said we were crazy, others said we were lazy. We were Big Jim Stone's Patricias."

See below for Mr. White's entire testimony.

Please be advised that Memory Project primary sources may deal with personal testimony that reflect the speaker’s recollections and interpretations of events. Individual testimony does not necessarily reflect the views of the Memory Project and Historica Canada.