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DALHOUSIE - The Restigouche Regional Museum wants to hear from people who remember what things were like in the county during World War II.

The war that gripped the world from 1939 to 1945 was different from any before or after. It was total war in a new way. Everybody seemed to be involved, one way or another. People collected scrap metal to help the war effort. Newspapers solicited money to send cigarettes to "the boys." Women's groups sewed and knitted items to be sent to the troops.

It was also the time when the cadet movement began, when local industries were involved with war production, when we guarded railway bridges and practiced for air raids.

The museum wants to hear from people who remember these things. It's preparing an exhibition dealing with Restigouche At War. While most historic attention has been rightly devoted to what happened in Europe and the Pacific, there are other stories — stories of how people at home did whatever they could to help with the war effort.

Of course, that includes the contact that local people had with their loved ones serving in the war zones. The museum would like to learn about letters that people in the area may have received from sons, husbands, or fathers.

Restigouche at War will be one of the most ambitious exhibitions the museum has produced. It may also become a book preserving the story of the way this area responded to an unbelievable threat.

Anyone who remembers those days is asked to contact the museum, 684-7490 or by e-mail, gurrm@nbnet.nb.ca so they can be interviewed before those memories are lost forever. People don't have to be veterans or of that age. Those who were children during the war years have their own memories to share.

The museum would also like to learn about artifacts that are pertinent to this period: military badges, letters advising of casualties, ration books, and similar items.