Henry Beissel was born April 12, 1929 in Germany. It was a period where Germany was still struggling to recover from the punitive terms of the Treaty of Versailles, which were at the time of Henry’s birth coupled with the impacts of the Great Depression. Henry grew up in Nippes, near Cologne; both parents were […]
Jozef Palimaka was born May 9, 1926, in Czaple Male, a village not too far from Krakow, Poland. His parents had a small farm there, though they made the decision to relocate to Czarne Konce, near Lviv, a few years later, when they purchased a larger farm with an orchard. As Jozef was the oldest […]
Frank “Tex” Davis was born August 24, 1926 in Sackville, Nova Scotia. He grew up there against the backdrop of the Great Depression, second youngest of eight children, and Tex’s mother died when he was only ten years old. Tex remembers his father doing what he could to keep”the wolf from the door”. Tex’s family […]
Clayton Bihl was born September 9, 1923 in Buffalo, New York. He grew up there against the backdrop of the Great Depression, attending Bennett High School and Canisius College. He and some friends enlisted in the army in 1938, and Clayton went through all the regular training. He decided though that the army life was […]
Emily Drake was born July 4, 1925 in Sharpsburg, Pennsylvania. Her parents had emigrated from Vilna in the period before the First World War, and Emily remembers growing up speaking Polish at home. Her childhood took place during the Great Depression, but – too young to be aware of pressing economic and political matters- she […]
George Pouder was born February 18, 1923 in New York City. He grew up in the Bronx during the difficult times of the Great Depression, a period that impacted his family and the neighborhood. George recalls that the quality of his schooling varied, but that he took full advantage of the city, exploring it with […]
Wolfram Forster was born October 22, 1925, in Berlin, Germany. He grew up in that city during the interwar years, witnessing the political changes that were taking place around him as he attended school. Wolfram’s father was a Great War veteran who became a police officer, and who later fired when he refused to join […]
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 […]
Bob Harbula was born January 2, 1931 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He grew up in a working class area there, and he expected to work on the railroad, as had his father and grandfather. As a young boy he saw the Second World War unfold all around him, and he was inspired by the stories of […]
Mervyn Kersh was born December 20, 1924 in South London. He grew up with two older siblings in a middle class Jewish family in the neighbourhood of Brixton; he experienced significant anti-Semitism at school, until his parents moved him to a Jewish school. They also enrolled him in the Jewish Lads’ Brigade, and Mervyn too […]
Stephen Foreman was born August 3, 1946; he grew up near Pittsburgh, in the small town of Jefferson, Pennsylvania. Life was good in that small, racially-mixed town; Stephen’s father worked at the steel mill, and the family raised its own chickens. Stephen was a boy scout, and later played football and other sports in high […]
Becky Sprecher was born in 1950 in Hopkinsville, Kentucky – the Baby Boom had begun. Becky remembers her elementary school teachers saying on the first day of school, “I’ve never had a class this big!” There were certain advantages in small town America in those days in that the kids could ride their bikes just […]
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. […]
Carl Zipperer was born on May 4, 1950 in Savannah. He grew up in that part of Georgia, and most of his early years were spent in the country on the family farm. Carl learned to be self-reliant there, a character trait that would serve him well in future years. Coming out of high school, […]
Gerry O’Leary was born December 3, 1924 in Tottenham, Ontario. He grew up on a farm there, one of ten children, doing chores such as milking the cows and spreading manure. When the time for war came, both Gerry and his older brother joined up, and they were on their way overseas in 1944. Gerry […]
Keith Miller was born March 11, 1946 in Pittsburgh. He grew up in small town America in the 1950s, enjoying what life had to offer, from TV to baseball to playing in the street. It was also the time of the Cold War, and Keith remembers that his childhood was also interrupted by “duck and […]
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 […]
Rick Claggett was born March 19, 1947, not too far from Philadelphia. Rick grew up against the backdrop of the “Fabulous 50s” – and the Cold War. By his account he lived a good life, enjoying the outdoor life and just being a child in postwar America. Vietnam entered the American consciousness in 1964-65; initially […]
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 […]
Edwin Cottrell was born January 17, 1922 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. His parents moved to Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania the next year though, and that is where he grew up. Edwin remembers a good childhood – and one where he played all kinds of sports. His father – a Great War veteran – worked at the […]
Dorothy Jones was born November 29, 1920 in Lancaster, South Carolina. She grew up there with her five siblings, against the backdrop of the Great Depression and the early years of the war. Her father was a barber, and as Dorothy recalls that meant that he held onto his job during the lean years, but […]
Wally King was born October 31, 1923 in Cortland, Ohio. He grew up in that rural part of the Buckeye state, not too far from the Pennsylvania border. Wally recalls a pretty normal childhood, growing up against the backdrop of the 1920s and the Great Depression 1930s. His father had two sons from his first […]
Don Martin was born June 9, 1933 in Toronto, and he attended Danforth Tech in the city’s east end. Don grew up during the war years, and two of his older brothers served in the Second World War. That includes Jack, who stormed Juno Beach on D-day, and whose story also appears in the Crestwood […]
Vivian Stockhamer was born in Lida, Poland in 1936 to Leibel Litovitz and Charna (Boyarski) Litovitz. Her father had 10 siblings and her mother had 3 siblings, all of whom were married with children and many of whom were living in Lida prior to the outbreak of World War II. From 1939 to 1941 Lida […]
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 […]
Frank Mayer was born January 22, 1927 in Pittsburgh’s 27th Ward. His father was a First World War veteran who died when Frank was just seven, so Frank grew up in the care of his mother, grandparents and uncles. He remembers growing up against the backdrop of the Great Depression and the early years of […]
Durwood Williams was born November 24, 1921 in Godwin, North Carolina. He grew up in that state, playing on the banks of the Cape Fear River, and looking for lost Confederate treasures. The Great Depression impacted Durwood’s family; his father went to Fayetteville to work, and Durwood had to work his way through college. He […]
Jack Byrne was born March 13, 1925 in Sydney, Nova Scotia. His parents had to come to Canada – from Newfoundland – just before his birth. Jack grew up in the Whitney Pier area of Sydney, and he remembers it fondly. When he saw footage of the Russo-Finnish Winter War, he was motivated to join […]
Burton Lieberman was born February 8, 1926 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Burton’s parents made their way to Pittsburgh from elsewhere: his mother was born into a large Jewish family in New York City, while his father escaped the pogroms in Russia at the turn-of-the-century, arriving in Baltimore at the age of 14. They met and married […]