Dingle, Durwin

Durwin Dingle was born August 6, 1926 in northern Saskatchewan, though he grew up in Wawota, in the Qu’Apelle Valley in the southern part of the province.  Durwin was one of six children, so he grew up doing many chores around the family property, especially during the difficult Depression years. Durwin’s father was an educational officer in the RCAF, so he was involved in the war from the beginning, and Durwin’s older brother enlisted as well, as did so many other men in the community.  That being the case, Durwin remembers a community where people helped one another through the tough times, whether Depression or war.   Given his young age, Durwin did not go overseas, but he too was in the service, and he did grow up during the war, dealing with rationing and so on.  By the time of his training, the war in Europe was winding down, so he went through jungle training, getting ready for a potential deployment to the Pacific.  But the August 6 atomic bomb changed all that – and gave Durwin a different way to remember his birthday.  Today Durwin lives in the Sunnybrook Veterans’ Wing, where Crestwood students were able to visit him in June 2022.