Andrew McIntosh was born February 20, 1964 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, moving to Souris, Prince Edward Island when he was one year old. He grew up in that small town, born into a family with an extensive military tradition. Andrew recalls that the opportunities in Souris were limited, so with his parents’ blessing he joined […]
Ken Lutz was born February 27, 1957 in Souris, Prince Edward Island. He grew up in that small community alongside his three siblings; Ken’s father was a mechanic but Ken spent much of his early years at the farm across the street, and he even attended a one room school at one point. He […]
William (Bill) Toussaint was born February 8, 1947 in Sydney, Nova Scotia. His father had emigrated from Grenada before the Second World War, looking for work in the region’s steel plants. Bill grew up in that multiracial community, in a family that had developed a military reputation (one of his uncles was in the First […]
James Thistle was born February 22, 1933 in Mulmer Township, in Dufferin County, Ontario. He grew up against the backdrop of the Second World War and decided to join the Canadian Forces out of high school. He reported to Petawawa for his basic training, followed by additional training in Fort Wainwright, Alberta. By this time […]
Art Cameron was born September 29, 1939 in St. Peter’s Bay, P.E.I. He grew up there against the backdrop of the Second World War, living on a mixed farm in Head of Hillsborough with his numerous siblings and attending the College at Prince of Wales in Charlottetown. He remembers the 1950s as a period of […]
Scott Maclagan was born in Toronto in 1939, and that is where he spent his early life, growing up against the backdrop of the Second World War. The family relocated to the Beaverton area in 1948, and Scott initially attended a one room schoolhouse before going to high school in Orillia, where he remembers being […]
LCdr Damien Ciotti was born and raised in Hamilton, Ontario, and he joined the Naval Reserve in HMCS Griffon as a Boatswain in 2004 while attending Lakehead University. He enrolled in the Regular Officer Training Plan in 2005 as a Maritime Surface and Sub-Surface Officer (MARS), and graduated from Lakehead in 2008 with an HB.A […]
Derek Prohar grew up on a farm outside of Avonlea, Saskatchewan. He attended high school at Notre Dame College in Wilcox, Saskatchewan, where he played hockey, football and rugby. Those sports and academic interests took him to McGill University in Montreal, where he received a Bachelor of Arts and played varsity hockey with the McGill […]
Chris Justason is a member of the Canadian Armed Forces, where he is presently a major in the Armoured Corps. He is originally from New Brunswick, where he grew up in the Fredericton area. His family had a military tradition, though it was almost entirely navy-connected; joining as an Armoured officer did allow Chris to […]
Wing Yoke Lai was born January 27, 1925 in San Francisco’s Chinatown. He was the fourth of five children living in a small 2-bedroom housing unit. He grew up against the backdrop of the Great Depression in a tough neighborhood where the YMCA and the movies offered an outlet. Wing attended Galileo High School, where […]
Oswald Reece – Ozzie – was born March 17, 1951 in Guyana. He came from a military tradition, with a number of relatives having served alongside British troops in the world wars. He came to Canada when he was young, and completed his schooling in Toronto. As Ozzie recalls, he always wanted a kilt, so […]
Thomas Pitt was born January 12, 1931 in London, Ontario. He grew up there against the backdrop of the Second World War, watching his older brother and father go off to war. Tom stayed home with his mother and sister, and in 1945 he was able to greet his brother and father on their homecoming. […]
Raymond Corbett was born September 3, 1934 in Bass River, Nova Scotia. He grew up in that small community against the backdrop of the Second World War, where he attended school and church and did all the things that were normal in small town Canada at the time. Ray left school in Grade 10, and […]
Welby “Ike” Isaacs was born January 20, 1939; he grew up on the Six Nations reserve in southwestern Ontario, where he was raised by his grandmother. She died when Ike was 16, and neighbours took him in, allowing Ike to avoid the fate that would have awaited him otherwise – a residential school. Ike didn’t […]
Louis Kreamer was born October 25, 1934 in Welland, Ontario. He grew up during the Second World War, the eldest of eight children. Lou’s father worked for Ontario Hydro, and was deemed an essential worker, and as Lou recalls his mother took care of them all. Lou played softball and rugby and attended Welland Vocational; […]
Ray Howells was born February 26, 1941 in Trenton, Ontario. He grew up near the air base there, and as his uncle was in the RCAF Ray too was motivated to join, which he did right out of high school. He spent most of his time at RCAF stations in Quebec, where he was connected […]
Wayne Bell was born June 6, 1947, in Montreal. He grew up on Montreal’s south shore, with a strong affinity to the United States, where Plattsburgh offered luxuries such as drive-in theatres. Wayne and his friends would go there often, visiting the beach and escaping the 1960s political tensions that were emerging in Quebec. While […]
Chris Snider was born March 19, 1932 in Sunbury, Pennsylvania. His parents were Canadian but were living in the U.S. at the time, and as the 1930s unfolded they moved a few more times, eventually landing in Oakville, Ontario. The realities of the Great Depression had kept them on the move, as Chris’s father looked […]
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 […]
John Regan was born March 22, 1950, in the Channel Islands. His parents were both from there, and had experienced the Second World War firsthand. John’s mother was a teenager, and she endured German occupation during those years; John’s father – a few years older – enlisted in the British military, first as a gunner […]
Major Tyler Wentzell is a currently serving member of the Canadian Forces, one who hails from Nova Scotia. He comes from a family with a military and especially a policing tradition, and as a teenager he worked on an oral history project that involved interviewing some of the same veterans that we have met here […]
Commander Leanne Crowe is a currently serving member of the Canadian Forces; she is on staff at the Canadian Forces College in Toronto and visited Crestwood twice during the 2022-23 school year. She was born in Vancouver in 1964 and grew up in different parts of Canada, including Montreal and Oakville, Ontario. In high school […]
Dallas Willett was born August 3, 1930 in Rouge Hill, Ontario. Third child in a family of 12, he grew up there against the backdrop of the Great Depression, working the family farm and delivering newspapers when he wasn’t at school or playing soccer or hockey. They would also go into the nearby town of […]
Gord Kowalishen was born February 14, 1950 in Toronto. Gord grew up in 1950s Toronto, against the backdrop of a time of prosperity where new technology such as TV and cars were beginning to affect Canadians’ lifestyles. Gord grew up in the west end of the city, attending school and playing baseball, but when he […]
Dear Parents: At Crestwood we are proud of the commitment we have made to Community Service in the past. We are beginning the 2022-2023 school year with our annual Terry Fox Walk/Run, which will take place during the day on FRIDAY, September 23rd, 2022. Students should be in their House t-shirts, Crestwood gym shorts […]
Ken Villiger was born October 19, 1930 in Montreal, Quebec. He joined the Canadian Forces right out of high school, just as the Cold War was heating up. Ken would see service in Korea, and during his long military career he played on just about every sports team the army had. Ken was a paratrooper […]
Ben Wright was born on July 25, 1946, and he was raised in Texas’s Big Bend country, where he and his siblings grew up in 1950s America. Ben graduated high school in 1964, as American involvement in Vietnam was beginning to escalate. Knowing the draft board would soon be after him, Ben opted for the […]
Dear Parents: At Crestwood we are proud of the commitment we have made to Community Service in the past. We are beginning the 2021-2022 school year with our annual Terry Fox Walk/Run, which will take place during the day on WEDNESDAY, September 29th , 2021. Students should be in their House t-shirts, Crestwood gym […]
Georges Branchaud was born June 12, 1941 in Cornwall, Ontario. His father moved the family to Valleyfield, Quebec during the war, in order to work in the war industries that were booming in that city. The family relocated to Ontario later though, and Georges grew up in Cornwall, where he decided to join the navy […]
Major Alexander Prymack is a currently serving member of the Canadian Forces. Born in 1985, he grew up in the Calgary area. His military career began in 2003, when he attended RMC in Kingston, Ontario. From there he became an artillery troop commander and forward observer, and was deployed to Afghanistan during Operation Attention, where […]