John Preece was born October 19, 1926 in Toronto’s Queen-Bathurst neighbourhood. John’s early life was not easy, largely because of family circumstances. His mother had emigrated from Scotland, and – alone in Toronto – she fell into a relationship with a married man and turned to alcohol. John does not have many positive memories of […]
Bill Snow was born September 13, 1922 in Bay Roberts, Newfoundland. He grew up in that small community alongside his five sisters. Bill recalls that his father was a fisherman – but that he did many other jobs in the off season. Bill went to school but left in Grade 8: work was available and […]
Stephen Cosgrove was born June 5, 1926 in Liverpool, England. He was 13 when the war began, and he remembers the schools shutting down in the early days of the war: there were fears of a German attack, and authorities did not want a school to get hit. Stephen remembers classrooms set up in people’s […]
Kurt Leuchter was born February 6, 1929 in Vienna, Austria. He grew up there in the 1930s and remembers well the dark days of the Anschluss, when the Nazis marched in. Restrictions began to set in, and then the real brutality was unleashed during Kristallnacht. Kurt recalls seeing the synagogue burned, and remembers his father […]
John Foy was born October 12, 1925 in Rochester, New York. He grew up there against the backdrop of the Great Depression, in a large family of ten children where four of the brothers would serve during the war. In the 30s John went to school and did all the normal things for a teenager […]
John Appel was born August 21, 1937 in what were then the Dutch East Indies, where his parents supervised a sugar plantation. When the Japanese invaded and occupied the area in the Second World War, John and his family were held in an internment camp, living in very difficult conditions. John’s father was taken as […]
Philip Daniel was born July 24, 1925 in Toronto. He grew up on a farm in the Leaside neighbourhood, where his father – a Great War veteran – delivered dairy goods. Philip’s father was part of the Canadian Engineers in the First World War, working with horses and keeping the supplies moving; his mother was […]
Alfred Grubb was born October 25, 1921 on a farm near Hanover, Ontario. Alfred’s father had been a farmer, but when Alfred was three years old the family relocated to nearby Teeswater, where his father took a job at the local creamery. Alfred attended school up to Grade 8, but he was not fond of […]
Marie Doduck was born May 10, 1935 in Brussels, Belgium. She was a young child when the war began, but given the intensity of her experiences, she remembers those early days well. She grew up in a large Jewish family in Brussels, one that had a long history in Poland. When the war came the […]
Stuart Johns was born February 11, 1925 in Walkerville, Ontario. He grew up in and around Windsor, against the backdrop of the Great Depression. Stuart recalls his family being affected by that calamity – but also that they were not living in poverty. His father, a veteran of the Great War, worked at the nearby […]
Betty Damboise was born July 3, 1933 in Schoenecke, Germany. She grew up in the Schnee Eifel region, near the Luxembourg-Belgium border. Betty’s father worked in the metal trades, and he was classified as an essential worker because of his connections to the local farming community. Betty started school in 1939 in her village, and […]
Danny Heller was born June 16, 1925 in Maple Creek, Saskatchewan. He grew up on a farm, working hard and helping out the family during the Great Depression. Danny also attended the local school, and made the most of life in a small town. Danny’s parents were of German descent and had emigrated from the […]
Harry Forbes was born April 11, 1918 in Maple Creek, Saskatchewan. Harry grew up on a farm, the oldest of 11 children. He remembers the 1920s as being a dry decade where farming became increasingly difficult, topped off by the crash and Great Depression. Harry in fact had to quit school when he was 15 […]
Hugh Patterson was born December 30, 1921 in Seneca Township, just outside Caledonia, Ontario. He grew up on a farm: there was plenty of food as Hugh remembers, but money was tight in the days of the Great Depression. Hugh worked on the farm when he was young, but as he put it “milking those […]
Ben Burston was born November 29, 1924 in Kielce, Poland. Ben’s parents made the decision to emigrate to Canada – to escape anti-Semitism and to find better economic opportunities. They settled in downtown Toronto, in the Kensington Market neighbourhood. Ben’s mother died when he was quite young, so he was raised by his father in […]
Art Boon was born November 12, 1924 in Peterborough, England, emigrating to Canada when he was a baby. Art’s father had come to Canada for the first time in 1912, but with the outbreak of the Great War Art’s father and uncle returned to Europe to fight in that war. Art grew up in Stratford, […]
Douglas Fitzsimmons was born July 22, 1924 in Toronto. He grew up in a large family in the city’s east end, in the Gerrard and Woodbine neighbourhood and attended the local Catholic school. Doug’s father was a Great War veteran who went on to a successful career as a salesman, so the family was sheltered […]
Mervin Fisher was born May 7, 1926 in Collingwood, Ontario. He grew up against the backdrop of the Depression in Collingwood, Dixie and Toronto, moving around after his parents’ divorce and some family difficulties. Mervin went into service at the midway point of the war, and trained for the Armoured Corps. He was only 17 […]
Frank Cohn was born August 2, 1925 in Breslau, Germany. Born into a Jewish family, Frank began to understand the realities of Nazism when he was a young boy: an uncle was murdered by stormtroopers, and he saw violence in the streets outside his home. He also compellingly remembers the day his Grade 2 teacher […]
Don Greenbaum was born March 10, 1925, in the suburbs outside Philadelphia. He grew up in an observant Jewish family, dealing with the realities of the Great Depression and attending military school. When the war came, Don was quickly inducted and sent into basic training. He was assigned to an artillery unit – the 283rd […]
Joe Novak was born September 10, 1923 in Montreal, into a Polish family in the city’s Frontenac neighborhood. Both of Joe’s parents were teachers, though his father later worked for Canada Customs. Joe’s father passed away in 1934, and times were difficult for the family as the Great Depression wore on. Joe did manage to […]
On May 27, 1942 Belgian Jews were forced to wear the yellow star, signalling what would be an ominous change in the tone of the Nazi occupation of their country. One of the Belgian Jews who had to endure this was Anne Eidltz. She was born in 1936, just before the war started. She was born […]
Nursing Week is the annual celebration of this critical profession. It is held every May to coincide with the birthday of Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing. This year more than ever we have to be aware of the critical role these health care providers play in Canadian society, as has been true through […]
Margaret Newman (nee Kaufman) was born March 29, 1923 in Satu Mare, Romania. She was the second child in a family of eight children, and as the eldest daughter it was her job to maintain a respectable and observant household. When Satu Mare and the surrounding region were annexed by Hungary, life became more complicated […]
Harry Miller was born July 2, 1928 in Columbus, Ohio. He would serve in the American Army in the Second World War, when he was not yet 18 years old. Harry’s mother died when he was only 3, so it would be his father and sister who guided the family through the difficult days of […]
Albert Card was born March 12, 1924 in Hastings, England. He grew up there in a big family, and Bert remembers they did well even during the Depression, because of his father’s food allotment. Life in Hastings was good: Bert grew up on the beach, going to school, playing sports – all the normal things. […]
George Herbert Beardshaw was born September 14, 1923 in Thorne, Yorkshire, England. He grew up in Garden Boys City, one of the Barnardo orphanages. He remembers that one day a man came into class, asking who wanted to go to Canada: George raised his hand, and in 1938 was off on the grand journey. He […]
Kenneth Lett was born July 13, 1923 in Carp, Ontario, a small farming village to the west of Ottawa. He worked the land and would go to the Byward Market with his mother when he wasn’t playing hockey or attending school. When the war came, Ken and his brother opted for the RCAF. Ken went […]
Meet the Teacher: Nasser Koaich Subject: French Grades: 8 – 9 Mr. Koaich was born in Oran, Algeria. He moved at age 4 to Brussels, Belgium, where he learned French and Dutch. He came to Canada in 2014 and now lives in Richmond Hill. Nasser grew up playing video games and cherishes them. He is […]
Earl Roberts was born November 24, 1923 in Madoc Ontario. He grew up there against the backdrop of the Great Depression, but Earl doesn’t remember it as a period where he and his family wanted for anything; rather he remembers the family house, and the time he spent on his bicycle, riding the country roads. […]