Lögberg-Heimskringla - 14.10.1988, Blaðsíða 4

4-LÖGBERG CENTENNIAL YEAR, FÖSTUDAGUR 14. OCKTOBÉR 1988
Editorial
These are the days when the TV
audience is glued to the screen, fol-
lowing every move describing the
Olympic events taking place in
Seoul. In the parade of participating
nations, the commentator com-
mented briefly on each sports con-
tingent as they came in view on the
screen.
When the sports group from Ice-
land appeared, he identified them
and added the following observa-
tion. "Iceland has the highest liter-
acy rate in the world." This brought
forth excited reaction from some of
our subscribers. It is significant that
the commentator felt compelled to
make this observation, when sports
competition must have been upper-
most in his mind. The Icelandic
contingent had a respectable tur-
nout of some 30 athletes from an in-
dependent nation approaching
250,000.
The question of literacy has al-
ways been high, and that was the
case more than a century ago when
the first Icelanders were arriving in
Canada. In a recent research paper
on the Icelanders in Nova Scotia the
author makes the following obser-
vation, "Because of the clergy in
Iceland, the country had already
achieved total literacy. All were
able to sign their signatures on- the
Settlement Agreements. Compared
to petitions for Crown lands coming
from other immigrants at this time,
this group was an educated lot.”
One of the significant factors with
our people is the large amount of
written material during the early
years of settlement in Canada. This
is borne out by the early Icelandic
publications of which this paper
played a major role. Individual ar-
ticles, original stories, poetry and
translations from English are be-
yond compare in quantity, where-
ver the Icelanders left their mark.
Every week we are being contact-
ed by people who have come across
old books in Icelandic and through
lack of capability in the language
wonder what it is all about and
what can be done with this materi-
al. Much of it is duplication and
there are few places one can turn to,
most libraries already having
copies.
In digging around one often
comes across well written material
which is a joy to read, both poetry
and prose. The astounding fact is,
while the literacy rate amongst Ice-
landers has always been high, the
high quality of their literary efforts
is astounding. The basic education
they received leaves one to believe
that the authors and poets were
largely self-educated. The early set-
tlers in this country brought these
capabilities with them and were a
factor in providing the large amount
of original literature found amongst
Western Icelanders.
So, when mention is made of the
high literacy rate in present day Ice-
land, one should remember that this
was the case more than a century
ago, including the people who came
and settled here.
Our heritage is rich and in some
cases richer than individuals realize,
it is there but locked into the Ice-
landic language, how do we unlock
it. Lögberg-Heimskringla tries and
succeeds to a degree, it would be
more successful if more of our peo-
ple with an Icelandic heritage sub-
scribed to our paper. Learn about
your heritage and read Lögberg-
Heimskringla should probably be
our motto.
E.A.
Information need for record book
Dear Friends:
Following the Second World War,
The Icelandic Canadian Magazine
published information on and pic-
tures of Canadian and American men
and women of Icelandic descent who
had served in the Second Worid War,
1939 - 1945.
Recently a meeting was held to dis-
cuss the feasibility of publishing A
Record Book of Icelandic Service
Men and Women (Minningarit Izlen-
skra Hermanna) of World War Two.
This meeting involved Freeman
Skaptason, President of Winnipeg
Betel Foundation Building Commit-
tee; Einar Arnason, Editor, Lögberg-
Heimskringla-, Axel Vopnfjord, Edi-
tor, Icelandic Canadian Magazine,
and three members of Jon Sigurdsson
Chapter IODE — Johanna Wilson,
Past Regent, Mae Westdal, Past Re-
gent and Dora Sigurdson, Archivist.
It was felt that it would be most
worthwhile to publish such a book
and that the material as published in
the Icelandic Canadian would form
the basis for the book, with a search-
ing out of service personnel who had
been missed from these issues.
In 1925, the Jon Sigurdsson Chap-
ter IODE published Minningarit
Izlenskra Hermanna, A Record Book
of Icelandic Service Men and Wom-
en of World War One, 1914-1919. It
has been out of print for many years
but has recently become available
once more thanks to a second print-
ing bf Arni Bjarnarson of Akureyri,
Iceland hnd may be obtained through
the Chapter. It seems fitting then that
the Jon Sigurdsson Chapter IODE
should become actively involved in
planning for the possible publication
of a book to provide a permanent
record of those of Icelandic Canadi-
an/American descent who served in
the Second World War. Accordingly,
we wish to establish that it would
still be of interest to do so.
Our sincere wish is that all service
personnel of Icelandic descent be ho-
nored by inclusion in this publica-
tion. We know there were many not
included in issues of the Icelandic
Canadian. If you, members of your
family, or people known to you are
not among those already published
we would like to hear from you. In
addition to personnel serving in the
Second World War, we would like to
print pictures and details of veterans
of the First World War who were not
included in the Minningarit of 1925.
A special section honoring these vete-
rans would be included. In either
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Financing will be done by pre-selling
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cate this to the undersigned as soon
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< Sincerely,
Johanna Wilson (Mrs. A. F.)
802 - 188 Roslyn Road
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Information to be accompanied with a photograph
(preferably in uniform) for inclusion in record book
Name _____________________________ Birthdate ____________
Address___________________________ Birthplace ___________
Father's name ________________________ Birthplace _____
Mother's name ________________________ Birthplace _____
Date enlisted ________________________ Date Discharged
Branch or unit _______________________ Rank achieved .
Where served __________________________________________
Spouse's name ________________________ Birthplace
Number of children ___________________
Date of veteran’s death (if applicable) _________
Comments:
I wish to reserve _____ copy (copies)
Name _______________________:_______
Address ____________________________