Historical book delves into lives of internees at Vernon First World War camp

Photo: Museum and Archives of Vernon

More light is being placed on a dark time in Vernon's past.

A book dealing with the First World War internment camp that once operated on the site where W.L. Seaton Secondary School sits today will be launched next week at the school.

The camp was located in MacDonald Park and operated from 1914 to 1920.

Some 1,100 men, women and children, mostly of Austro-Hungarian and German descent, passed through the camp’s gates before it closed.

The book, that was written and printed in Vernon, was researched by members of the Vernon & District Family History Society.

It will be launched Tuesday, 4:30 p.m. at Seaton.

'The Vernon Internment Camp 1914-1920' takes readers into the lives of the internees with numerous biographical sketches, photographs from local, national and international sources, details of camp life and reaction from citizens of Vernon.

The book also contains details about other wartime work camps situated at Mara, Edgewood and Monashee.

Copies of the book are being donated to the Museum & Archives of Vernon, the five secondary schools in the Vernon School District, secondary schools in the North Okanagan-Shuswap School District, and other museums in the area.

The book was made possible by a grant from the endowment council of the Canadian First World War Internment Recognition Fund.