Jim LaForce was born June 13, 1924, just outside of Gravenhurst, Ontario. Jim’s mother was from England, and she came to Canada as she had tuberculosis, and Gravenhurst had a well-known Tb sanatorium at the time. She met Jim’s father there, who was partly indigenous, and the two of them struck up a relationship and […]
Daphne Kinnaird was born in London, England in 1921. She grew up in the Kensington neighbourhood, raised by her father and grandmother. She recalls a relatively good life before the war, with fond memories of friends and school. When the war came, she remembers listening to the declaration of war on the BBC, followed by […]
Claire Baum was born in Rotterdam, Holland in 1936. A young child when the war began, she remembers little from the prewar period, but her memories of the attack on Rotterdam are vivid. Once the German occupation began, her life became one full of restrictions. And when the government began rounding up Jews, Claire’s parents […]
John Vassair served in the Canadian Forces during the Cold War era, and as such he participated in a number of peacekeeping missions from the period. Most notably John was deployed in Korea and the Suez in the 50s, during and after the conflicts in both of those nations. As such John followed the actions of the […]
John Henry Thomas – Jack – was born September 14, 1923 in Sydney, Australia. He grew up there during the difficult days of the Great Depression, attending school and playing sports. He recalls that the war came to Australia on September 4, 1939, and that from the beginning he and his friends were aware of […]
John McDonald was born January 31, 1925 in Nagambie, Australia. He grew up on a farm in that part of western Australia, experiencing the Depression and drought of the 1930s. In February 1943, while working as a clerk for Victorian Railways, John enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). He was mustered as a […]
Tom Kirk was born November 10, 1928 in Richmond, Virginia. He grew up an avid musician, and by the end of high school he was playing gigs 3-4 nights a week – time he should have been studying according to his father. So the decision was made to send him to the Virginia Military Institute […]
Davinder Kaur was born in 1928, though the actual date from that year is unclear; the date her family celebrates her birthday is July 7 (1935). She is from Gujranwala, which at the time was part of India; she grew up there with five siblings, attending school and joining her four brothers in field hockey […]
Hari Jaswant Singh was born January 19, 1924 in Lahore, a city that was part of British India at the time and later became part of Pakistan after Partition. His early life was shaped by both the final years of British colonial rule and the outbreak of the Second World War. His family had deep […]
Charles Arcand was born January 4, 1925 in Montreal, where he grew up in the city’s east end, near Mont Royal and DeLorimier. His father was a CP Rail yardmaster at that time, so even during the Great depression the family did relatively well. Charles left school in Grade 9, taking work in local grocery […]
Harold Musikoff was born in Akron, Ohio on July 31, 1924. His father immigrated from Odessa (Russia), and his mother was from Hungary. At age 3 Harold moved from Akron to Brooklyn, and that is where he spent his childhood – and that is where the family was when the 1929 Crash occurred. His father […]
Keith Cunningham was born February 11, 1950 in London, Ontario. He spent his early years on a farm in the Bruce Peninsula, where he did a lot of hunting in the northern Ontario wilderness. Keith attended school in that area too, where he was raised by his grandparents – he graduated in 1968. His mother […]
Bob von Bargen was born July 4, 1935. His parents emigrated to the United States from Germany between the two world wars, and after a short stay in Germany in 1934 – when they witnessed the brutalities of Nazism – they decided to return to the U.S., settling in New York City. Their first stop […]
Tom Fitzpatrick was born September 6, 1924 in Wyndmoor, Pennsylvania. His father was a Great War artillery veteran who ran a grocery business after the war, until the Great Depression led to a significant economic downturn in the area. He was able to find employment in an elevator factory as the war drew closer, so […]
Dave Sever was born September 23, 1960 in Coral Gables, Florida, though his father moved the family to Nampa, Idaho when he was very young. He grew up there and attended college, studying psychology and going into the field of juvenile corrections. He later went back to school to get his nursing degree and along […]
Ralph Galati was born March 22, 1948, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He grew up in that city in the 1950s, attending Catholic school and choosing Air Force ROTC when he went to college. Ralph remembers the 60s as an exciting but tumultuous time, one which saw a very polarized America, especially in terms of the war […]
Joe DeMarco was born May 22, 1926 in Garfield, N.J., the youngest of four brothers in the DeMarco family. His father had emigrated from Italy about the time of the Great War, looking for better opportunities; the times were tough though, especially with the advent of the Great Depression. Joe recalls that everyone was poor […]
Ken Cameron was born March 24, 1934 in Lumsden, Saskatchewan. He grew up against the backdrop of WW2 and the postwar period in different parts of Saskatchewan, from farming areas to the north of the province. Ken finished his schooling after Grade 10, at which time he worked different jobs, including stints at HBC and […]
Jack C. Thomas was born on June 4, 1923, in Blenheim, Ontario, where he grew up in a family of 7. Jack’s early life was tough and he quit school and started at construction and factory work. Well aware of the war in Europe Jack was eager to join, particularly the RCAF (Royal Canadian Air […]
Art McGann was born June 18, 1924 in Connellsville, Pennsylvania. He grew up in a family of 12 children – and 5 of the brothers were in uniform. Art grew up during the Depression and he remembers that the family had to “make do”. Pearl Harbor would change the fortunes of Art’s generation: he graduated […]
Antoine Labranche is from Dunham, Quebec, in the Eastern Townships. He is in the Canadian Air Force, and is a currently serving member of the CAF, which he joined in 2006. After going through the various levels of pilot and survival training, Major Labranche was sent on his first deployment as part of Operation Impact, which […]
Ralph Smith was born October 12, 1930 in Perdue, Saskatchewan. His father had emigrated from Shropshire, England in 1910, and he farmed that quarter section of land he had purchased in Saskatchewan; Ralph’s mother was from Brampton, Ontario, and she had moved out west originally as Ralph’s father’s housekeeper. Ralph grew up there as one […]
Justin Roy was born August 19, 1924; he grew up in M’Chigeeng First Nation, an Ojibwe band government in the Manitoulin District of Ontario. He attended the Jesuit-run St. Peter Claver residential school but left at age 13 to find his own way in the world after his father passed away. He first worked at […]
Mary “Molly” Torrens was born July 28, 1923 in Milltownpass, Ireland. She went to England when she was 15, so she was there when the war began in 1939. Molly ended up getting involved in the war effort, joining the Women’s Royal Air Force when she was old enough. Initially she was assigned one of […]
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 […]
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 […]
Mel McMullen was born June 5, 1925 in southern California, growing up in the Los Angeles area. He had two brothers, and both parents were employed; his father was a master welder, and his mother became a phone operator when the boys were grown. With that, they were insulated from the worst effects of the […]