Frances McIlroy was born on June 16th, 1917, in Madoc Ontario. She is the eldest of one brother and one sister. She went to school in Madoc; later on she went to Kingston General Hospital to train as a nurse. From there she became an army nurse. Frances went overseas in June 1944, right as […]
Francess Halpenny hails from eastern Ontario, where she grew up in the 20s and 30s. The family relocated to the Toronto area early on, and it was there that the young Francess fell in love with books, as she made her way through the Great Depression and built upon her education, which would take her […]
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 […]
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, […]
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 […]
William Talbot was born in Montreal’s General Hospital on December 31, 1922. He grew up in the Verdun neighbourhood, attending school until Grade 10 and following the Montreal Maroons – and later the Canadiens. His father was a railroad locomotive engineer, so the family got through the Great depression well enough. William’s older brother joined […]
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 […]
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 […]
John Honsberger was born February 6, 1923 in Toronto, Ontario. He grew up in different neighbourhoods in the city and he attended the University of Toronto Schools – and that is where he was when the war broke out. His father encouraged him to graduate before enlisting – and even then he wanted his son […]
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 […]
Walter Stitt was born July 24, 1924 in Marietta, Ohio, and he grew up in West Virginia and lived for many years in Indiana before moving back to Springfield, Ohio. His early years were spent mainly in Wheeling, West Virginia, where he grew up against the backdrop of the Great Depression. Times were tough, 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 […]
George Rubin was born May 7, 1925 in Brooklyn, New York, and that is where he grew up during the Depression and early war years. He graduated from Erasmus Hall High School in 1943, and he recalls that most of the young men in his class had either enlisted or were drafted right as they […]
John Neu was born August 21, 1923. He grew up in a German-speaking region of Romania, where his family had deep roots. Conditions were difficult there in the post-Great War era though, and John’s parents made the decision to emigrate to Canada in 1928. They initially headed to the Prairies, but they ended up in […]
Irving Locker was born November 8, 1924 in St. Paul, Minnesota. His family moved to New Jersey when he was quite young, so that is where he grew up, the youngest in a large family. Irving’s father was a shoemaker, so he didn’t bring home much money, and Irving remembers that the family struggled to […]
Russ Freeburg was born March 4, 1923 in Galesburg, Illinois. He grew up in the railroad town against the backdrop of the Great Depression, graduating from high school in 1941. Just a few months later Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, bringing the US into the war. Russ remembers that he and others saw the clouds of […]
Jack Moran was born September 3, 1925 in Superior, Wisconsin. He served with the 347th Inf. Reg. K-Company; he enlisted in 1943 and was discharged in 1946. Jack recalls a great childhood with a mix of fishing, hunting and swimming; as was normal for any teenager of the time, he attended school and experienced the […]
Hal Urban was born July 16, 1924 in Chicago Heights, Illinois. He remembers growing up poor in the midst of the Great Depression, and with the attack on Pearl Harbor and the coming of the war, Hal and so many of the men of his generation enlisted. Training took place at Camp Callan near LaJolla, […]
Stan Deveau was born November 19, 1922 in Watrous, Saskatchewan, a small farming community. He grew up there during the difficult days of the Great Depression, when economics and the environment conspired to create the “Dust Bowl”, forcing the family to move to British Columbia in 1938. When the war came along, Stan’s brother decided […]
Anna Cheszes was born in Poland, likely in 1940; she is uncertain of her birthday given the circumstances of her early life, but based on her faked baptismal certificate she celebrates it on June 8. Based on information she has learned, Anna believes that she was born Pola Kaplan, and she was raised as Anna […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
John Preece was born October 19, 1926 in Toronto’s Queen-Bathurst neighbourhood. John’s early life was not easy, largely because of family circumstances. His mother had emigrated from Scotland, and – alone in Toronto – she fell into a relationship with a married man and turned to alcohol. John does not have many positive memories of […]
Irene Solnick was born August 22, 1937 in Przemyśl, Poland. Her name at birth was Ruth, but Irene was the Christian name she was given in wartime Poland – to help her to survive the Shoah. She was raised in a mixed Jewish family, where her grandfather and father were Orthodox, Yiddish-speaking successful merchants, while […]
Bill Snow was born September 13, 1922 in Bay Roberts, Newfoundland. He grew up in that small community alongside his five sisters. Bill recalls that his father was a fisherman – but that he did many other jobs in the off season. Bill went to school but left in Grade 8: work was available and […]
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. […]