Victor Squigna hails from the west end of Toronto, where he grew up in the interwar years.  Victor recalls that conditions in the Great Depression were not too bad for his family; he in fact had a car, and worked at the local gas station.  When his 18th birthday came in 1942, Victor made his military preparations and he found himself on the Exhibition Grounds in the Horse Palace, along with many others.  But Victor experienced a mishap as he was going through the army physical.  His eardrum was punctured and attempts to treat it by the medical personnel only worsened the situation.  Victor was sent to the hospital at Chorley Park, deemed unfit for military service.  As he recovered, Victor was repurposed by the army, and he helped with incoming recruits and lived his life in wartime Toronto.

We met Victor in the Sunnybrook Veterans’ Wing in December 2018, where he was interviewed by a group of Crestwood students.