Lloyd Brown was born August 18, 1923 in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, and he grew up in the nearby community of Mortlach in his early years. The family later relocated to Edmonton, where Lloyd left school after Grade 8, taking work at McGavin’s Bakery. He worked there until 1942, when he turned 19 and joined the […]
Les Schrenk was born November 16, 1923 in Long Prairie, Minnesota. He grew up on a small dairy farm, milking cows, shoveling manure, and bailing hay among other farm chores. He attended a one room schoolhouse and graduated from high school. He had an older sister; his older brother served on a B-24 in the […]
Gordon “Bud” Hardwick was born March 12, 1926 in Toronto. He grew up in Toronto’s west end, in the Dovercourt and Bloor neighbourhood, and he attended Central Tech high school. Bud played sports – baseball and hockey – and he was a fan of the Maple Leafs. During the Great Depression Bud shoveled snow or […]
Randi Gage was born on April 21, 1950 in southeastern Michigan, and she presently lives in Manitoba. She is a Vietnam era veteran who joined the US Army when she was 17, the daughter of a Korean War veteran. Serving during a turbulent period in American history, Gage represents a generation of veterans shaped by […]
George Morasch was born May 24, 1923 in Calgary, Alberta. He was 16 when the war broke out, and he watched many of friends sign up for the fight. George tried to do so too, but the recruiter put him off at first, so he went back when he was 19. Basic training at Camrose, […]
Ralph Folman was born September 1,1941, in the Warsaw Ghetto, under the name ‘Raphael Folman’. His family members were active in the Jewish, as well as the Polish Resistance, and therefore could be smuggled out of the Ghetto, where they survived in the Polish (“Aryan”) part of Warsaw on false ID papers. Ralph’s father and […]
Michele Melfe was born March 1, 1922 in Caltanissetta, Sicily. He grew up in a big family in this country town, where he bicycled and played soccer and attended school up to 3rd grade. Benito Mussolini was dictator of Italy, and Michele was a member of a youth organization. At the time though, the war […]
Ray Baxter was born September 23, 1948 in Yorkshire, in the U.K. He spent his early years in the village of Barkisland, moving to Manchester when he was a teenager. Coming out of high school Ray attended one of the army apprentice schools, where he learned a trade. Ray trained to be a vehicle mechanic […]
Joe Maxwell was born September 4, 1925 in Glasgow, Scotland, the oldest of six children. The family briefly went to Canada in 1929 as Joe’s father had been promised work, but when that didn’t work out they returned to Glasgow, and subsequently Clydebank, and that is where Joe attended school. The war broke out when […]
Felix Labelle was born May 27, 1927 in Montreal, where he grew up in the Outremont neighbourhood, speaking both French and English. Felix attended a boarding school in St-Vincent-de-Paul, and near the end of the war as a 17-year-old he began to look for work in war industry. Not finding anything to his liking Felix […]
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 […]
Russell Hollefeur was born September 1, 1925 in Montreal. He grew up an only child in the city’s downtown neighbourhood, attending school and following the Montreal Maroons. His teenage years unfolded against the backdrop of wartime, and he recalls the rationing and other realities of the war. Russell reported for duty when he was called […]
John (Arnold) Bedard was born April 19, 1924 in Montreal, and much of his early life was spent in the city’s NDG neighbourhood. His father was a Great War veteran who had been in the Royal Flying Corps, and he continued to serve as an RCAF officer in World War Two. The family had some […]
Alfred Cormier was born February 25, 1925 in Boston, Massachusetts. The family had Canadian roots, and when Alfred’s father’s health deteriorated, they moved to New Brunswick when Alfred was 7. Alfred grew up there in the small community of Adamsville. As he recalls he left school when he was 13 – so that he could […]
Ernie Wiles was born April 1, 1926 in Omemee, Ontario. He was born into a large farm family, and his father was a veteran of the Great War who had suffered in one of the gas attacks of that war. Ernie grew up against the backdrop of the Great Depression, and he was 13 when […]
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 […]
Born on September 5, 1924, Frank Stellar grew up in Lebanon, Pennsylvania – in a family of ten children with eight sisters. Both of Frank’s parents were immigrants from Austria Hungary who came to the U.S. in search of better opportunities. Frank left school after Grade 11 and worked so he could help out the […]
Russell Sattazahn was born April 17, 1926 in Rexmont, Pennsylvania, though his parents relocated soon after, and Russell ended up living in a number of rural communities in the southeastern portion of the state. He grew up on a small farm alongside his four siblings, navigating the realities of the Great Depression. He attended high […]
Elizabeth Samson was born June 20, 1922 in Coleman, Alberta. Her maternal grandparents were indigenous: they were non-registered Cree First Nations. Elizabeth’s father was of German descent, an immigrant from the U.S. She grew up in a large family with five siblings; it was a mining area where the workers came from everywhere – a […]
Harold McLean was born September 11, 1925 in Toronto, Ontario. He grew up in the city’s Mount Pleasant area, attending Northern Collegiate. His father worked for the Otis Elevator Company, so the family was able to make ends meet during the hard days of the Depression. Harold was in Grade 9 when the war began; […]
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 […]
Nancy Jurgevich was born into a military family on July 20, 1940 in Stoystown, Pennsylvania. Her father was in the navy and had served on the USS Columbia during the Second World War, and an uncle fought in the Korean War. In high school she wanted to travel, but there was no money and she […]
Gerry Teldon was born August 28, 1924 in the Bronx, New York. The family moved to Cedarhurst, Long Island when Gerry was quite young, and that is where he grew up. His father, a Great War veteran, ran a successful dressmaking business, so even in the dark days of the Depression the family was doing […]
Tony Mastromatteo was born May 15, 1921 in Toronto, where he grew up on Wellington St. in a family of 12 children. Tony’s parents had emigrated from Italy, looking for better opportunities, but the fact that Italy was in the war didn’t bother Tony: he said he was Canadian and he had no doubts about […]
Joe Sciarra was born December 21, 1924 in Los Angeles, California. He grew up there with his five siblings against the backdrop of the Great Depression, attending school and going to the beach – all typical things from the time period. Joe graduated high school in 1942, and he was quickly inducted into the army […]
William (Bill) Dibble was born October 7, 1921 in Buffalo, New York. His father was a veteran of the Great War who was wounded several times and who was gassed – it disabled him significantly and he died young. An only child, Bill grew up against the backdrop of the Great Depression and attended Boys’ […]
Jacob (Jake) Ruser was born December 27, 2025 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the son of a Great War veteran. His parents moved to the nearby town of Conshohocken when he was young, and that is where he and his sister grew up, all against the backdrop of the Great Depression. Like many kids, Jake did not […]
Burdett Sisler was born April 14, 1915 in Akron, Ohio. His father worked for the Goodyear Rubber Company, and early in the century he was tasked with finding a location for a factory in Canada, and the family ended up settling in New Toronto (present-day Etobicoke). That is where Burd and his siblings grew up, […]
Thane Startzell is from San Antonio, Texas and is a colonel in the present day U.S. Army. He grew up in a military family, and he decided to pursue that goal in his own right, choosing to attend West Point. He was there when 9/11 happened, recognizing right away that it was a moment that […]
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 […]