Kingsland, Howard

Howard Kingsland was born October 4, 1921 in Montreal, Quebec, the son of a Great War veteran.  He grew up in the city’s north end, and he recalls that while the Great Depression was difficult, the family was able to make ends meet.  Howards completed high school and went to work for the CNR, and

Foy, John

John Foy was born October 12, 1925 in Rochester, New York.  He grew up there against the backdrop of the Great Depression, in a large family of ten children where four of the brothers would serve during the war.  In the 30s John went  to school and did all the normal things for a teenager

Chouinard, Robert

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

Balabanow, Bill

Bill Balabanow was born February 17, 1926 in the little town of Blue Ridge Summit in southern Pennsylvania, though the family moved to Lancaster in 1931, and that is where he spent most of his childhood.  Bill’s parents divorced when he was an infant, so his parental and family memories come mainly from his mother’s

Davis, Frank “Tex”

Frank “Tex” Davis was born August 24, 1926 in Sackville, Nova Scotia.  He grew up there against the backdrop of the Great Depression, second youngest of eight children, and Tex’s mother died when he was only ten years old.  Tex remembers his father doing what he could to keep”the wolf from the door”.  Tex’s family

Bihl, Clayton

Clayton Bihl was born September 9, 1923 in Buffalo, New York.  He grew up there against the backdrop of the Great Depression, attending Bennett High School and Canisius College.  He and some friends enlisted in the army in 1938, and Clayton went through all the regular training.  He decided though that the army life was

Drake, Emily

Emily Drake was born July 4, 1925 in Sharpsburg, Pennsylvania.  Her parents had emigrated from Vilna in the period before the First World War, and Emily remembers growing up speaking Polish at home.  Her childhood took place during the Great Depression, but – too young to be aware of pressing economic and political matters- she

Pouder, George

George Pouder was born February 18, 1923 in New York City.  He grew up in the Bronx during the difficult times of the Great Depression, a period that impacted his family and the neighborhood.  George recalls that the quality of his schooling varied,  but that he took full advantage of the city, exploring it with

Forster, Wolfram

Wolfram Forster was born October 22, 1925, in Berlin, Germany.  He grew up in that city during the interwar years, witnessing the political changes that were taking place around him as he attended school.  Wolfram’s father was a Great War veteran who became a police officer, and who later fired when he refused to join

Bell, Wayne

Wayne Bell was born June 6, 1947, in Montreal.  He grew up on Montreal’s south shore, with a strong affinity to the United States, where Plattsburgh offered luxuries such as drive-in theatres.  Wayne and his friends would go there often, visiting the beach and escaping the 1960s political tensions that were emerging in Quebec.  While

Harbula, Bob

Bob Harbula was born January 2, 1931 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  He grew up in a working class area there, and he expected to work on the railroad, as had his father and grandfather.  As a young boy he saw the Second World War unfold all around him, and he was inspired by the stories of

Kersh, Mervyn

Mervyn Kersh was born December 20, 1924 in South London. He grew up with two older siblings in a middle class Jewish family in the neighbourhood of Brixton; he experienced significant anti-Semitism at school, until his parents moved him to a Jewish school. They also enrolled him in the Jewish Lads’ Brigade, and Mervyn too

Foreman, Stephen

Stephen Foreman was born August 3, 1946; he grew up near Pittsburgh, in the small town of Jefferson, Pennsylvania.  Life was good in that small, racially-mixed town; Stephen’s father worked at the steel mill, and the family raised its own chickens. Stephen was a boy scout, and later played football and other sports in high

Sprecher, Becky

Becky Sprecher was born in 1950 in Hopkinsville, Kentucky – the Baby Boom had begun. Becky remembers her elementary school teachers saying on the first day of school, “I’ve never had a class this big!”  There were certain advantages in small town America in those days in that the kids could ride their bikes just

Zipperer, Carl

Carl Zipperer was born on May 4, 1950 in Savannah.  He grew up in that part of Georgia, and most of his early years were spent in the country on the family farm.  Carl learned to be self-reliant there, a character trait that would serve him well in future years.  Coming out of high school,

Miller, Keith

Keith Miller was born March 11, 1946 in Pittsburgh.  He grew up in small town America in the 1950s, enjoying what life had to offer, from TV to baseball to playing in the street.  It was also the time of the Cold War, and Keith remembers that his childhood was also interrupted by “duck and

Daniel, Philip

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

Claggett, Rick

Rick Claggett was born March 19, 1947,  not too far from Philadelphia.  Rick grew up against the backdrop of the “Fabulous 50s” – and the Cold War.  By his account he lived a good life, enjoying the outdoor life and just being a child in postwar America.  Vietnam entered the American consciousness in 1964-65; initially

Cottrell, Edwin

Edwin Cottrell was born January 17, 1922 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.  His parents moved to Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania the next year though, and that is where he grew up.  Edwin remembers a good childhood – and one where he played all kinds of sports.  His father – a Great War veteran –  worked at the

Jones, Dorothy

Dorothy Jones was born November 29, 1920 in Lancaster, South Carolina.  She grew up there with her five siblings, against the backdrop of the Great Depression and the early years of the war.  Her father was a barber, and as Dorothy recalls that meant that he held onto his job during the lean years, but

King, Wallace

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

Martin, Donald

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

Stockhamer, Vivian

Vivian Stockhamer was born in Lida, Poland in 1936 to Leibel Litovitz and Charna (Boyarski) Litovitz. Her father had 10 siblings and her mother had 3 siblings, all of whom were married with children and many of whom were living in Lida prior to the outbreak of World War II.  From 1939 to 1941 Lida

Byrne, Jack

Jack Byrne was born March 13, 1925 in Sydney, Nova Scotia.  His parents had to come to Canada – from Newfoundland – just before his birth.  Jack grew up in the Whitney Pier area of Sydney, and he remembers it fondly.  When he saw footage of the Russo-Finnish Winter War, he was motivated to join

Lieberman, Burton

Burton Lieberman was born February 8, 1926 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  Burton’s parents made their way to Pittsburgh from elsewhere:  his mother was born into a large Jewish family in New York City, while his father escaped the pogroms in Russia at the turn-of-the-century, arriving in Baltimore at the age of 14.  They met and married

Bein, Don

Don Bein was born June 5, 1925 in Davenport, Iowa.  He grew up against the backdrop of the Great Depression and the early years of the war, graduating from high school in 1943.  He promptly received his draft notice and headed off to Fort Benning, Georgia.  As he had passed the army IQ test he

Tomter, Reynolds

Reynolds Tomter was born April 26, 1917 in western Wisconsin, not far from Pigeon Falls, where he lives now.  He grew up on a farm in a rural valley, where neighbors worked together to combat isolation, and then the realities of the Great Depression.  Reynolds remembers the tough economic times, but he also remembers the

Gunter, Bill

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

Phillips, Russell

Russell Phillips was born November 9, 1922 in Toronto.  He grew up in the Lansdowne-St. Clair neighbourhood, attending local schools and doing all the things typical for a teenager in 1930s Toronto.  In high school Russell joined the cadets, and then the Irish Regiment MIlitia, and when the war came he lied about his age

Luckadoo, John

John Luckadoo was born March 16, 1922 in Chattanooga, Tennessee.  He grew up living a good life:  his father was a stockbroker who raised horses, and new clothes and good food were the norm.  1929 changed much of that though; the stock market crash brought about a different kind of life for John’s family.  All