The only other pieces I remember that wasn’t mentioned was that it took a week for Daddy to cross the ocean to get to Europe, and he was sea sick all of the way. This left him weak on his arrival. I remember, as a little girl, being upset at the army for making him work when he was so weak!

Also, I remember him telling us that the bread he ate was so moldy it was black… it always made me thankful for our fresh bread.

Dad is a hero in my eyes in many ways! He knew how to persevere and sacrifice. He was tenacious and principled. I am grateful for such a heritage!!

It is good to celebrate those we love! Thank you, Marc!

Ta soeur, Lorraine

PS Hope this appears in the right place (my first time on a blog!!

The memory is a funny thing. We remember in pockets and I can’t add to this except to say that I wish Daddy would have talked more about his time at war. I wish we would have written things down. You just assume the information kept inside their hearts will always be available to us.

We have WWII vets come talk to our students every year. I asked Rolly when he started to talk about war. He said he didn’t talk about the war for years and years. He said that when he got back from the war, no one wanted to hear his war stories. People were either tired of hearing of it or they felt guilty for not going. Whatever the reason, war vets understood to be quiet and go on with life. And so they did.

That made me sad inside.

I am glad that though the men who served in WWII weren’t honored the way they should have been when they returned from the war, that at least now, in their old age, they are admired and treated as heros.

I wish above all, that my dad could know, that his grandson wears his medals with honour on Remembrance Day, that my son now serves in the military, that his picture is seen on facebook by hundreds, and that not one Remembrance Day goes by that I don’t share his story.

Rita

Thank you for writing about Daddy and for posting the video. I watched it with Pierre, we both cried…. Now he knows a little bit more about my past life.

Daddy was a good man!

I miss him but his values live on in us!

Love you Marc!

Rita

PS Pierre and Daddy would have gotten along very well. They could have sat together at family get-togethers and discussed politics.. lol

After reading this blog I have to say I do agree with the news, WW1 and WW2 is becoming too far removed from today’s classes. What’s even more discouraging is seeing how far removed the earlier Canadian history is from today’s classes. They teach the War of 1812 to children in grade 7. To me, the earlier part of our history is just as important as knowing about WW1 and WW2. In grade 7, kids are far too young to truly understand the concept of the war and the purpose of the war. They often are asked to memorize dates and names of people by teachers who don’t find an interest in the subject themselves. After working in several historical forts and doing a lot of historical research myself I believe that the War of 1812 is an extremely important part of our history and I do believe that more emphasis should be placed on it. Unfortunately, I hate to say it, but I believe that this part of our history is slowly going to be forgotten.

I often would get into conversations with people I’d met when I was in University in Windsor. One of my favorite topics (coming from such a historically knowledgeable family) is history. I would ask a simple question such as “When did Canada become a country?” I would honestly say at least half the people would say they didn’t know. To be honest with you, I began to lose faith in the average Canadian. Then one day when I was working at Fort George, I had this 10 year old boy come up to me. He was so interested, he told me all about the books he had read, all about the movies he had watched and I realized then, that no matter how many people don’t remember and don’t care about our history and the sacrifices that people made so that we can live in the world that we know today… we will always have those small numbers that will… and as long as we have those few, our memories and history will never be forgotten.

Lest we forget!