There are two parts to this fonds. The first part consists of a 33-page 'newspaper' entitled the Cherokee Gas Bag that Erskine and his brothers John Telfer Erskine and James Oliver Erskine produced in the summer of 1922. The handwritten document records the impressions of life in Montreal's Pointe St. Charles neighborhood through the eyes of local teenagers.The fonds contains the original newspaper along with a digitised version in PDF.
The second part of the fonds documents Ralph Erskine's service during the Second World War. He joined the military in 1941 and served in Canada and Britain as a non-commissioned officer with the Canadian Engineers. In mid-1943, he was one of several dozen men assigned to the 220 Military Mission. The Canadian element of this secret War Office mission was led by Colonel C.J. Bermingham, who commanded 1 Army Group, Royal Canadian Engineers. The 220 Military Mission toured allied bases in the United States, Australia, New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, New Caledonia, Burma and India to assess tactics and strategies for fighting the Japanese Army in the jungle. The Mission's report, which was published in early 1944, laid out the training, and tactical requirements that were used to defeat the Japanese Army.
In 1945, Erskine was awarded the British Empire Medal, likely as a result of his work with the 220 Military Mission.
Ralph Erskine wrote letters in this fonds to his wife between 1941 and 1945. They cover all elements of Erskine's service. Although he never revealed secrets about the 220 Military Mission, Erskine identified where he wrote from and gave vivid impressions of these places in wartime. The fonds contains the original letters along with digitised versions in PDF.
The letters show the war through the eyes of an ordinary soldier and document the strains put on the Erskines' marriage by their long separation. Erskine was also very candid about life in the military and his off-duty activities in the various countries in which he served.
The fonds also includes Erskine's army pay book, a 'certificate of achievement' from the Educational Services, Canadian Army Overseas, for courses he took at London's Battersea Polytechnic, and 'the Liberator: for Members of the Allied Forces' for May 1945; a two page sheet printed by the Dutch to welcome their liberators..
