A6 ❚❚❚THE GAZETTE z montrealgazette.com z WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2009 “ Let us never forget the service our armed forces

REMEMBRANCE DAY have provided around the world. ” GORD

The main Remembrance Day activities today in the area: WA R STORIES... The main venue for the Royal Canadian Legion’s official Remem- brance Day ceremony will be at McGill University, 845 Sher- brooke St. W., because of major renovations at . ‘Only once did I see The ceremony starts at 10:30 a.m. inside McGill’s Roddick Gates. SHARE YOUR ACCOUNTS After a wreath-laying ceremony, a 21-gun salute and two minutes my father break down’ of silence, veterans, veterans organizations and members of the Last Saturday’s Gazette featured a story by writer military will march down McGill College Ave. and along Ste. My father,Lloyd George Chapman, Catherine St. to . joined the Royal Canadian Medical Peggy Curran about families trying to learn more about In Pointe Claire, a Remembrance Day ceremony will be held Corps in Ottawa in 1940. He was 19. He the wartime experiences of their parents and grandparents. at the National Field of Honour Cemetery, 703 Donegani Ave., had been invited to join by the band- At montrealgazette.com, we asked readers to share their stories. at 10:30 a.m. master of the Ottawa Boys Band who he knew from playing in that band. My fa- Here are a few of the submissions we received. To read all the stories ther served in Italy and northwest Eu- and share your own, go to montrealgazette.com/yourwarstories rope in a field ambulance unit. He saw so much death and injury before he turned 25 that it was no small wonder why he hadn’t come.Their father want- My father served in England, Italy, that he,like so many others who had ed a Canadian soldier to share their din- France,Belgium and Holland and annu- served, never talked about what they ner.So Dad went. He was filthy. After din- ally can be found selling poppies at a had seen and done. ner,he took a hot shower and fell into a Bank of Montreal branch. This is a very Only once did I see my father break deep sleep on the clean white sheets.He important day in our country’s history. down: when he told me of an incident hadn’t slept that well since England. He Let us never forget the service our where one of the unit’s ambulances had woke up in the morning to find his uni- armed forces have provided around the been sent forward to pick up wounded form cleaned and pressed beside the bed; world throughout the years. soldiers.The ambulance hit a mine and even his underwear.Dad always laughed Gord the two soldiers in the truck were killed. when he told the story. The girls’ father He felt he was responsible for the sol- was a baker.He had just been liberated ‘Most of his comrades diers’ death as he had sent them for- from a concentration camp.He had hid- ward as he had been commanded to do. den a Jewish family in a secret hiding never made it back’ He carried that with him his whole life. place under the bakery oven. An employ- As I grew older and would accompany ee betrayed them. The man’s son-in-law My dad and four of his brothers joined my father to Remembrance Day cere- shot the traitor in the street. the Second World War. My dad left in 1939 monies,Ibegan to understand that Philip Morris when I was 7 and didn’t get back until which was not said but could be seen in 1945. It was very hard on my mother as his face and in his eyes. ‘He had just turned 17’ she was left with four kids.My father’s I never told my father how proud I am of troop was getting ready to sail for Dieppe him and his service for his king and coun- Our father enlisted in the army in when he was wounded by shrapnel when try.All I can do now is honour his memory 1939 when he was 17 years old. He made England was bombed,and he spent sever- every day but especially on Remembrance his decision on his way to work at al months in hospital. Most of his com- Day. It is the least I can do to say to him Eaton’s.He hopped offthe streetcar, rades never made it back. now: “Thanks,Dad.” It is the least any one went to the Black Watch recruitment of- Grace of us can do to say thank-you to those who fice,and was turned away because they have served and continue to serve our had reached their quota (for the ‘Everyone loved him country in the cause of freedom. day/week). He then went to another Lou Chapman army recruiting office,stretched the but could never figure truth about his age (he fact he had just ‘Their father wanted turned 17 within a couple of months). him out’ His mother was so angry with him a Canadian soldier to when he went home and shared the My uncle,Les Cowie,drank as often PHOTO COURTESY OF JACQUES ROY news – in fact she insisted that my as possible and was at times a lonely This photo ran in Saturday’s paper without caption infor- share their dinner’ grandfather do whatever to get him out. guy.But everyone loved him, but could mation. It shows Jack Doucette (on the left with the bird) To which he replied that he would just never figure him out. Anyway, when he and his brother, Gerald, on leave in London during the Sec- It was Christmas Eve in Nijmegen. head up to Toronto and re-enlist. passed, to our surprise many war vets ond World War. Doucette would die near Fleury-sur-Orne, Dad sat in his truck writing a letter to My father did not see his parents or showed up at the funeral and told us of France, on July 21, 1944. His nephew, Jacques Roy, is using Mom. A little girl asked him to come sister again until the spring of 1946, his bravery during World War 2. We the Internet and war records to find out more about his un- home for Christmas dinner.Dad said no. when he landed in New York aboard the never knew! Les was a great guy and we cle’s death. Read Our Father’s Wars at He couldn’t just run offwith a little girl. Queen Mary.Sir Winston Churchill was miss him tremendously. montrealgazette.com/saturdayextra Her older sisters came back. They asked also aboard the ship. Waggie

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