Paul Vaillancourt was born October 21, 1938, in Dill Township, just outside of Subbury, Ontario. Paul’s father worked for the railroad until he was injured on the job, which put the family in difficult financial circumstances. Paul’s mother was left alone with their seven children as he underwent multiple surgeries, and the stress of that […]
Bill Comstive was born April 3, 1929. His father was a Great War veteran, but he was injured on a postwar job, so Bill’s mother cleaned houses to make ends meet. The family endured difficult economic times in those years. Bill indicated that his father did share memories of his military service: he was assigned […]
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 […]
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 […]
Dave Yoho was born August 19, 1928 in Philadelphia. He grew up in a row house, during the difficult times of the Great Depression, commenting that he had no real “fun”. He did not participate in sports, parties or dances: he worked on weekends and helped to support his family. When the war came, Dave […]
Henry Kolinek was born July 28, 1925 in Green, Texas, a small community near San Antonio. His father had been a WWI infantry veteran and during the Depression he ginned cotton and did some carpentry – anything to support the family. Henry attended a local 3-room school and for fun he went squirrel hunting with […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Bob Gee was born January 8, 1948 in Vernal, Utah, a rural community- that means he shares a birthday with a man named Elvis Presley. Bob’s father served in the Army Air Force during WW2, and his uncles served in different capacities during that conflict too. Bob grew up during the Cold War when there […]
Jerry Augustine was born July 29, 1945 in Middletown, Connecticut. He grew up in that community during the “Fabulous 50s”, enjoying all that life had to offer in that idyllic time – comic books, early TV, rock’n’roll and cars. It was also the time of the Cold War and Jerry remembers Sputnik and the Red […]
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 […]
Jennifer McMullen (nee Conaway) was born October 22, 1924 in Scio, Ohio. She grew up there against the backdrop of the Great Depression, and she recalls government agencies such as the CCC and the WPA. When the war came her two brothers were drafted, and Jennifer recalls the way the country united, with everyone wanting […]
Tom Wakeman was born November 22, 1922 in Birmingham, England. He was born into a large family of six brothers and one sister. Tom’s father had had a career as a soldier, serving with British imperial forces in the Sudan and India, and he also served with the Royal Warwickshire Regiment in the Great War, […]
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 […]
Kenneth Cooke was born August 8,1925 in East Kirkby, Nottinghamshire, a coal mining district. He indicated that he had a rough early life growing up: there was a general strike, and there was no income. He attended school at age 5 and completed his education at age 14, and then had to find employment. […]
Audrey Hines was born April 1, 1921 in Surrey, England, and she grew up in and around the village of Hindhead. Audrey had 4 siblings, and her father worked in the iron business. When the war came Audrey was already 18, and in the early years she did war work, working at a factory […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Robert “Boots” Chouinard was born December 21, 1923 in Newburyport, Massachusetts. He was the youngest of 8 children. His father was employed in a paper mill and as a barber. Robert attended various schools, including Massanutten Military Academy in Woodstock, Virginia, where he played football on a scholarship. He said that he went from being […]
Henry Sienkiewicz was born January 4, 1923 in Syracuse, New York. He grew up in a working class neighborhood, where his father worked in the local foundry. Henry worked a variety of jobs himself in the prewar years, helping the family to make ends meet during the Great Depression. When the war came Henry knew […]
Bob Fischer was born July 14, 1926 in West Allis, Wisconsin. He grew up in that industrial town in a family with five siblings including a twin brother, and he attended Catholic school – all while the Great Depression was unfolding. Bob does remember good times from that decade, but he also remembers working – […]
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 […]
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 […]