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Web brings 90 years of war stories to life

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Traditionally, all military records have been stored in vast and dingy warehouses by Libraries and Archives Canada in Ottawa. Digging up the intimate details about veterans used to include a trip to the capital, an appointment with an archivist and not to mention countless hours of sifting through stacks of dusty old documents.

Since the late 1990s however, tens of thousands of official military files and first-hand accounts of war have been restored, digitized and permanently archived to the web.

Now, the personal journeys of soldiers can easily be explored with the click of a mouse from a family living room or local library.

Preservation technology has taken "leaps and bounds" thanks to digital media, said Gordon Jung, a web specialist for Libraries and Archives Canada.

Thanks to Jung and a team of about 10 archivists at the library, nearly 1,600 hours of audio and video conversations with veterans long since passed can be accessed through the "Heroes Remember" online catalog.

Photos, handwritten diaries and letters continue to pour in from across the country and are being uploaded to the web regularly.

The artifacts offer a rare glimpse into the horrors of trench warfare and the camaraderie of soldiers for Canadians living decades later.

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