Cy Hammond was born in Toronto in 1921. He lived in East York, in a working class family, with his mother and father. Cy used to play near the Don River with his friends and cricket at church. In 1941, Cy joined the Royal Canadian Air Force. After six months, Cy was sent to Halifax […]
Bill was born in Winnipeg in 1923. Bill joined the air force in the early 1940’s where he would later become a bomb aimer . After his term as a bomb aimer, he went to university to pursue an education in electrical engineering. Bill married Betty Cooperstock. They had 5 children and have 11 eleven […]
Fred Davies was born May 6, 1923 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, into a family of six brothers and one sister. He graduated high school and volunteered for the RCAF, choosing the air force because he wanted to be a pilot. After enlisting, he was sent to Manning Depot in Montreal for training, after which he […]
Benjamin Dantsig was a pilot in the Soviet Air Force during WW2. He fought in a number of battles during the war, including the final Soviet attack on Berlin. He also protected the convoy routes through the Arctic. He was shot down several times and was lucky to survive a partial amputation of his leg. […]
Joyce joined the Royal Canadian Air Force Woman’s Division. She requested to go to England because she had never traveled the world and this was an once in a lifetime opportunity. She was trained at Rockcliffe to become a stenographer in the Orderly Room. She went over to England on Aug. 14, 1942. Her air […]
Paul Vaillancourt was born October 21, 1938, in Dill Township, just outside of Subbury, Ontario. Paul’s father worked for the railroad until he was injured on the job, which put the family in difficult financial circumstances. Paul’s mother was left alone with their seven children as he underwent multiple surgeries, and the stress of that […]
Barry MacDonald was born February 17, 1955 in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He grew up in the Eastern Passage area of Nova Scotia, the son of a World War Two veteran. Barry made the decision to enlist in his own right in 1971; as he was underage his parents signed on his behalf, and Barry’s career […]
Ed Marshall was born December 18, 1923 in Toronto, Ontario, where he grew up in the city’s east end. His father and grandfather were veterans of the Great War, and both had served as bakers in the Canadian Expeditionary Force. Ed’s early life was set against the backdrop of the Great Depression, so while he […]
Ken Lutz was born February 27, 1957 in Souris, Prince Edward Island. He grew up in that small community alongside his three siblings; Ken’s father was a mechanic but Ken spent much of his early years at the farm across the street, and he even attended a one room school at one point. He […]
Art Cameron was born September 29, 1939 in St. Peter’s Bay, P.E.I. He grew up there against the backdrop of the Second World War, living on a mixed farm in Head of Hillsborough with his numerous siblings and attending the College at Prince of Wales in Charlottetown. He remembers the 1950s as a period of […]
Richard Hough was born in Napanee, Ontario, where he grew up on a dairy farm. He wanted to be a pilot, and that led him to join the Canadian Forces; while his dream of pilot did not work out, he did qualify as a navigator, and he set off to RMC to study engineering. He […]
LCdr Damien Ciotti was born and raised in Hamilton, Ontario, and he joined the Naval Reserve in HMCS Griffon as a Boatswain in 2004 while attending Lakehead University. He enrolled in the Regular Officer Training Plan in 2005 as a Maritime Surface and Sub-Surface Officer (MARS), and graduated from Lakehead in 2008 with an HB.A […]
Derek Prohar grew up on a farm outside of Avonlea, Saskatchewan. He attended high school at Notre Dame College in Wilcox, Saskatchewan, where he played hockey, football and rugby. Those sports and academic interests took him to McGill University in Montreal, where he received a Bachelor of Arts and played varsity hockey with the McGill […]
Tom Wakeman was born November 22, 1922 in Birmingham, England. He was born into a large family of six brothers and one sister. Tom’s father had had a career as a soldier, serving with British imperial forces in the Sudan and India, and he also served with the Royal Warwickshire Regiment in the Great War, […]
Thomas Pitt was born January 12, 1931 in London, Ontario. He grew up there against the backdrop of the Second World War, watching his older brother and father go off to war. Tom stayed home with his mother and sister, and in 1945 he was able to greet his brother and father on their homecoming. […]
Raymond Corbett was born September 3, 1934 in Bass River, Nova Scotia. He grew up in that small community against the backdrop of the Second World War, where he attended school and church and did all the things that were normal in small town Canada at the time. Ray left school in Grade 10, and […]
Reginald “Crash” Harrison was born August 16, 1922 in Pheasant Forks, Saskatchewan, not too far from Regina. Reg’s parents had come to Canada from Yorkshire not long before the Great War, and Reg’s father returned to Europe as part of the Canadian Expeditionary Force to fight alongside his brothers still in England. He came back […]
Ray Howells was born February 26, 1941 in Trenton, Ontario. He grew up near the air base there, and as his uncle was in the RCAF Ray too was motivated to join, which he did right out of high school. He spent most of his time at RCAF stations in Quebec, where he was connected […]
Garry Willard was born June 24, 1939 in Cornwall, Ontario. He grew up largely in the town of Winchester, not too far from Ottawa. As a young boy, Garry remembers the soldiers coming home after the Second World War; he also remembers the cadets and drum and bugle corps from the time, and summers spent […]
Al Topping was born in Montego Bay, Jamaica in 1939. His family emigrated to the United States in 1946, on a Pan Am flight to Miami, and Al grew up in Brooklyn. He made the decision to join the airline industry in 1964, first with United and then with Pan Am in 1969. Pan Am […]
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 […]
Cliff Fejfar was born May 1, 1949 in Yankton, South Dakota; when he was 3 the family moved to Sioux City, Iowa, and that’s where Cliff grew up. It was the 1950s, and life was good: Cliff and his friends played baseball, went to school, and watched TV – all the things that punctuated American […]
Larry Woods was born December 17, 1947 in Pittsburgh. Larry grew up there against the backdrop of the 1950s, which he remembers as an idyllic time. His father worked in a steel mill, supporting Larry and his many siblings as best he could. Life in the 50s was good, and Larry recalls games with his […]
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 […]
John Regan was born March 22, 1950, in the Channel Islands. His parents were both from there, and had experienced the Second World War firsthand. John’s mother was a teenager, and she endured German occupation during those years; John’s father – a few years older – enlisted in the British military, first as a gunner […]
Don Pennell was born October 16, 1937 in Grimsby, Ontario. He grew up there and in Oakville, first against the backdrop of the Second World War, and the “Fabulous 50s”. Don was young during the war, but he recalls an uncle who served, and he remembers the rationing from the time. His father became a […]
Hugh McGeach was born May 8, 1921 in London, Ontario. He grew up on a farm, and later in the city of London, against the backdrop of the Great Depression. Hugh’s father was a Great War veteran whose health had deteriorated, necessitating the move. Lloyd graduated from a technical high school and became an automotive […]
Dallas Willett was born August 3, 1930 in Rouge Hill, Ontario. Third child in a family of 12, he grew up there against the backdrop of the Great Depression, working the family farm and delivering newspapers when he wasn’t at school or playing soccer or hockey. They would also go into the nearby town of […]
Ben Burston was born November 29, 1924 in Kielce, Poland. Ben’s parents made the decision to emigrate to Canada – to escape anti-Semitism and to find better economic opportunities. They settled in downtown Toronto, in the Kensington Market neighbourhood. Ben’s mother died when he was quite young, so he was raised by his father in […]
Jack Paley was born December 2, 1921 in a Yorkshire village. His father was a veteran of the Great War, one who had seen action at the Somme and who had been a POW of the Germans. Jack attended school until he was 14; he went to work at that time as a keymaker, and […]