Ed Neal was born January 28, 1940 in Montreal. His father was a veteran of the Second World War, and he missed all of Ed’s early life as he was overseas for the first five years. Ed grew up in the care of his mother and grandparents, Scottish immigrants where his grandfather was a veteran […]
Richard James Earl was born July 3, 1924 in Winnipeg. He was the youngest of six brothers and three sisters – in a family that covered a wide range of ages. His father was a tailor who made uniforms for Canadian National Railroad employees, particularly the porters, conductors and dining car staff. He had served […]
Bill Seifried was born May 3, 1925 in Ariss, Ontario, a rural community. His early years were spent on a farm with his many siblings, and the family moved to nearby Guelph when Bill was 14. He and a brother worked at Leland Electric, and when his brother went into the RCAF Bill joined up […]
Douglas Stinson was born October 30, 1922 in Halifax, Nova Scotia. His father was a Great War veteran who served in the Canadian navy, and after the war he continued as a wireless operator, and Doug recalls that the family was often on the move during this time. Doug was the oldest of six, and […]
Peter Growen was born December 1, 1939 in Montreal, Quebec. He grew up during the Second World War, and he remembers getting ration books alongside his mother; he also remembers his Norwegian father teaching Canadian troops to ski, readying them for potential winter warfare. At war’s end Peter recalls seeing his father in a parade […]
Ed Marshall was born December 18, 1923 in Toronto, Ontario, where he grew up in the city’s east end. His father and grandfather were veterans of the Great War, and both had served as bakers in the Canadian Expeditionary Force. Ed’s early life was set against the backdrop of the Great Depression, so while he […]
Jean MacLean (nee Morley) was born September 11, 1924 in Norwich, Ontario, and she grew up in Claremont, just to the east of Toronto. Her father Fred was a jeweler and general labourer who had served overseas in the Great War, and her mother Verna was a nurse. Jean grew up against the backdrop of […]
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 […]
Lois Brown (nee Wall) was born August 26, 1924 in Princetown, P.E.I. She grew up in that rural community, one of 10 children of Everett and Ella Wall. She grew up on a farm and remembers doing lots of chores in her early years. She attended the Fanning School in Malpeque up to Grade 8, […]
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 […]
Mary Owen (nee Adamson) was born June 2, 1926 in Creighton Mine, Ontario, a small mining town near Sudbury. Her father , a veteran of the Great War, was a gold prospector in those early days, and the family lived in a number of small towns across Ontario’s north at that time. Eventually they settled […]
Howard Davis was born July 7, 1925 in Wentworth County, Ontario. His father was a veteran of the Great War, and his mother was a “country girl” as he recalls. Howard had two brothers and a sister, and they grew up in a rural community, attending the one room schoolhouse in Valens, Ontario. Howard did […]
Frederick Joseph Reid – Joe – was born April 19, 1920, in Sillsville, Ontario. He spent his early years there on the family farm, alongside his seven siblings. The family later moved to Trenton, and that is where Joe spent his formative years. He went to high school there, but he left early to take […]
Rex Arnett was born November 12, 1924 in Toronto. He grew up in the city’s east end, in the Danforth-Woodbine neighbourhood. Rex and his friends kept busy playing all kinds of sports, and against the backdrop of the Great Depression Rex worked as a delivery boy for a local drugstore. He was attending De La […]
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 […]
Reginald “Crash” Harrison was born August 16, 1922 in Pheasant Forks, Saskatchewan, not too far from Regina. Reg’s parents had come to Canada from Yorkshire not long before the Great War, and Reg’s father returned to Europe as part of the Canadian Expeditionary Force to fight alongside his brothers still in England. He came back […]
Yvonne Wildman was born August 1, 1923 in Portland, Oregon. Her parents were from Canada, and the family returned to Saskatchewan when Yvonne was 4. She grew up there against the backdrop of the Great Depression. When the war came, Yvonne and four of her brothers joined up. Yvonne and a friend chose the RCAF […]
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; […]
Graham Tipple was born March 1, 1924 in Burin, Newfoundland. His father was a fish merchant in that small town, but his mother longed to get away from the area, having lost multiple male relatives to the sea. The family – with their young son Graham – resettled in Toronto in 1925, and Graham grew […]
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 […]
Nick Borisko was born December 10, 1925 in the little village of Hubbard, Saskatchewan. He grew up in that very small community, the third of eight children of immigrants from the Ukraine who had left the Austro-Hungarian Empire looking for a better life. His father was a farmer, and although the family grew up in […]
Katherine McIntyre was born May 20, 1923 in Toronto. She grew up in the Forest Hill neighbourhood, where she was lucky to grow up in an affluent family. Her father was a well-known lawyer, and the family was able to avoid the worst aspects of the Great Depression. Katherine attended Bishop Strachan School, and after […]
Joan Cracknell was born July 3, 1923 in Ottawa. Her father worked for the federal government, and Joan grew up there in the interwar years, attending Ottawa Ladies’ College. Times got tough when her father lost his job as the Depression set in, but he was able to pick up some work on the side. […]
Wally Adam was born in Winnipeg during the Second World War, where his father was serving in the Army Pay Corps. He grew up there, and decided to join the RCAF Reserves in his own right when he was in high school. After university, Wally enlisted in the RCAF, serving during the Cold War years. […]
Richard Clarry was born October 23, 1936 in Toronto. He grew up in the city’s west end during the Second World War, when his father was a pilot in the RCAF. Richard’s wartime years were spent in school and in High Park, where he played baseball and hockey and everything else. He left school at […]
Harold Kearl was born December 10, 1922 in Cardston, Alberta, where he grew up on a farm with nine siblings. He attended school in that town, where he did well, and all the while he kept busy doing chores on the farm. He grew up against the backdrop of the Great Depression, and while […]
Tom Hewlett was born October 18, 1938 in Toronto. He grew up during wartime and the “Fabulous 50s”, where he has memories of Elvis Presley and the arrival of television; Tom also attended school, but at Forest Hill Collegiate he decided that he had enough. He chose to leave and enter the RCAF. Vision prevented […]
Orville Marshall was born July 24, 1922 in Woodstock, Ontario. He grew up there against the backdrop of the Great Depression, developing an interest in automotive mechanics and radio. He also joined the Oxford Rifles Reserve, and when the war came he decided to join the RCAF. He reported for Manning Duty at Lachine, Quebec, […]
Roly Armitage was born February 8, 1925 in South March, Ontario, in the Ottawa area. He was raised on a farm, with many brothers and sisters. Roly’s father was a veteran of the Great War who saw action at Ypres: he was gassed and while being treated in England he met a young Red Cross […]
Hugh McGeach was born May 8, 1921 in London, Ontario. He grew up on a farm, and later in the city of London, against the backdrop of the Great Depression. Hugh’s father was a Great War veteran whose health had deteriorated, necessitating the move. Lloyd graduated from a technical high school and became an automotive […]