As clouds of war gathered across the Atlantic, the people of Queens County found themselves caught between the forces of tradition and change, struggling to balance military service with their commitments to domestic industry and charitable volunteerism. While their contribution to the military effort may have lagged behind that of the province at large, they were nonetheless determined to supply comforts to men at the front and to remind them that they were not alone in their fight. Their sense of patriotic duty included not only overseas service in uniform but also service at home on the farms and in the coal mines athe fed and fuelled the province. With few exceptions, the men and women of Queens County supported the war by taking care of their own â both those from the county who volunteered for service and the families they left behind.

Drawing on a wide range of archival sources, Till the Boys Come Home links the experiences of the men and women of Queens County on the home front to those of their brothers and sisters serving overseas. The result is a rich portrait of a community at war.

Till the Boys Come Home: Life on the Home Front, Queens County, NB, 1914-1918 is volume 22 of the New Brunswick Military Heritage Series.