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 […]
Larry Rafferty was born May 30, 1932 in Blackpool, England, where he grew up against the backdrop of World War Two. Larry has many engaging memories of the time, from the Blitz to the rations and Blackpool FC! Larry grew up in Blackpool and Manchester, returning to the latter after the bombings had subsided. His […]
James “Jim” Devlin was born February 13, 1938 in Ireland. He grew up in Ulster, and he recalls the bigotry and hatred of those times: he was Catholic in a predominantly Protestant area. He came to Canada in 1954, eager to get away from those tensions and the economic circumstances of his homeland. Jim’s parents […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Christopher – or Kit – Booth was born September 27, 1929 in Plattsburgh, N.Y. He grew up in upstate New York against the backdrop of the Great Depression and World War Two, where his memories of the attack on Pearl Harbor are vivid. Kit comes from a family with a military tradition; both his father […]
Una Golding (nee Sinclair) was born September 27, 1926 in Fairford, Manitoba. She grew up in that small farming community, where she was raised by her mother and grandfather. Una recalls going to a one room schoolhouse in her small town; to go to high school she would have had to go to Winnipeg, which […]
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 […]
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 […]
Mryl Jean Hughes was born January 1, 1923 in Hibbing, Minnesota. She grew up there against the backdrop of the Great Depression, though Mryl does not remember feeling a sense of deprivation in the Arrowhead region of Minnesota. After high school Myrl was studying to be a med tech, but with the coming of the […]
Alice Nowaczyk was born November 7, 1924 in Bodfari in north Wales, not too far from Wrexham. Her father was a Great War veteran who also saw service in World War Two; he had re-enlisted in the reserves prior to WW2, and when that conflict began he found himself at Dunkirk, where he was wounded […]
Helmut Lemke was born February 3, 1926 in a village in East Prussia. His father was a Great War veteran who had served as a medic on the eastern front, and he never recovered from the shellshock and horrors of that war, taking his life when Helmut was just 13. Helmut grew up alongside his […]