William – “Wille” – McGregor was born in Northern Ireland on March 23, 1923. His family emigrated to Canada when Willie was just two, settling in Vermilion, Alberta. That meant that they were there for the difficult years of the Great Depression; in 1935 the family relocated to Sandy Rapids, and Willie went to school […]
Sid Levit was born in Philadelphia July 17, 1924, and he has spent a good portion of his life in New Jersey. He attended Hebrew School, where he said he was not a good student. Sid said all families were affected by the Great Depression: he recalls that his father lost his sales job, but […]
Alexander Graham was born October 12, 1922 in Coleraine, Northern Ireland. He had two brothers and a sister, and their parents brought the family to Canada in 1927. They settled on a farm at first, but after a few years the family moved to Rockwood, Ontario, and that is where Alex and his siblings grew […]
David Barkun was born June 1, 1923 in Montreal. He grew up in the city’s east end, the son of immigrants from Russia who had to Canada in the 1920s to escape antisemitism. David recalls growing up in an English-speaking enclave surrounded by largely French neighbourhoods – and that the two communities did not mix. […]
Martin Jones – Marty – was born May 30, 1925 in Lamont, Alberta. He grew up in a large family against the backdrop of the Great Depression, leaving school after Grade 10 to join the military – “we had business to attend to”, as Marty remembers. He was training with the Battleford Light Infantry in […]
Tim Kiniry was born November 15, 1921 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and that’s where he spent his first two years, though he really grew up in New Jersey. Tim had four sisters and a younger brother, and they all grew up during the Depression, attending grammar school – Tim’s education ended at the 8th grade. During […]
George Couture was born November 25, 1924 in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. His father was a Great War veteran from Selkirk, Manitoba who headed south when work was tough to find after he returned to Canada from his overseas service. They stayed there for four years before returning to Canada, where the family confronted the realities of […]
Don Carter was born January 1, 1925 in Wellsville, New York. Don and his siblings grew up in nearby Hornell, where his dad was a contractor and his mother was a telephone switchboard operator. Don grew up against the backdrop of the Great Depression; he remembered that his father’s contracts were suspended and times were […]
Rene Vinet was born April 29, 1923 in Verdun, Quebec, on the south shore of Montreal. He had three siblings, including an older brother who served in the Royal Canadian Artillery in the First Division; older brother Rudy saw action in Sicily and Italy, including the Battle of Ortona. Rene enlisted when it was his […]
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 Buist was born May 17, 1918 in Sydney, Nova Scotia. He grew up on a farm outside town, with his two brothers and five sisters. Ernie left school after Grade 10 and worked a number of jobs before getting work at the steel plant. He was there when Canada went to war in 1939 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Jack C. Thomas was born on June 4, 1924, in Blenheim, Ontario, where he grew up in a family of 8. 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 […]
Gordon Schottlander was born January 10, 1925 in London, England. He was the son of a Great War veteran; Gordon was an only child, and he grew up in good circumstances, attending boarding school in Brighton – his father was self-employed in the Great Depression years. Gordon’s father also had the foresight to move the […]
Len Van Roon was born December 1, 1921 in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Len was an only child, and his father died when Len was only 10. Len attended a local school, and he was one of a few who graduated from high school at a time when most students only went to the 8th grade. Len […]
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 […]
George Ferguson was born July 19, 1924 in Stenhousemuir, Scotland; his family emigrated to Canada when he was just four years old, the oldest son. George’s father was a Great War veteran who tended the war horses; back home he also worked with fox hunt horses and as those class-based traditions started to come undone […]
This video, made in 2023 and 2024, for Remembrance Day and the 80th anniversary of the Normandy D-Day invasion features a number of the best interviews completed by the Crestwood Oral History Project. Most of the clips involve veterans who played a role in Operation Overlord. The four parts are each approximately 10 minutes long […]
Mr. Masters was in Normandy for the 80th anniversary of the D-Day invasion in June 2024. He made a series of videos “walking in their footsteps”, chronicling the many of the Normandy veterans that we have interviewed through the Crestwood Oral History Project. A few of their stories are featured here. […]
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. […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Warren Goss was born February 9, 1925 in Glenshaw, Pennsylvania, where he grew up in a large farm family. He grew up against the backdrop of the Great Depression, working around the farm and delivering papers and being a Boy Scout. When the attack on Pearl Harbor happened, Warren recalls selling many newspapers – and […]
Bud Norman was born October 29, 1923 in London, Ontario. He grew up there in his grandparents’ care, attending school and doing all the other things teenagers of the day were doing – school, sports, work, and so on. Bud was able to complete high school at an early age, and he went to work […]
Michel Mockers was born December 17, 1922 in Nantes, in the northwest of France. His father was a successful director of casinos, both in Nantes and Cannes, so Michel had a positive childhood. He attended school at the Abbaye de Calcat, where he received an excellent education, and as a teenager he was even learning […]
Bill Gunter was born February 27, 1925 in South Hull, Quebec. He grew up there in the 1930s, alongside his older brother. When the war came, both brothers joined up, but Bill’s older brother was killed in a horrible elevator accident at the naval headquarters in Ottawa. Bill joined several army reserve units while he […]
Roly Armitage was born February 8, 1925 in South March, Ontario, in the Ottawa area. He was raised on a farm, with many brothers and sisters. Roly’s father was a veteran of the Great War who saw action at Ypres: he was gassed and while being treated in England he met a young Red Cross […]