Roberts, Earl

Earl Roberts was born November 24, 1923 in Madoc Ontario.  He grew up there against the backdrop of the Great Depression, but Earl doesn’t remember it as a period where he and his family wanted for anything; rather he remembers the family house, and the time he spent on his bicycle, riding the country roads.  When the war came he was finishing school, and he made the decision to enlist, as did his friends.  He recalls that his mother was not happy about his decision, but Earl was 18, and ready for the new demands of the Royal Canadian Artillery.  So he went into training, and soon was off to Scotland, and then France.  The 17-pounder crew went into action in Normandy, and saw action many times as they drove through Belgium, and Holland, and into Germany.  The war ended there for Earl, when he was in the Reichswald Forest.  With the fighting finished, the men returned to Holland, where Earl remembers a girl from Groningen; he returned to Canada a single man though, and not long after he met the woman who would become his wife.  Together they fell into the rhythms of postwar life, raising a family and making their way in postwar Toronto.  Earl Roberts was interviewed via zoom in October 2020, during the pandemic; we thank Kathleen and the dedicated employees at Sunnybrook for helping us to share Earl’s story.