Fort York News Rear Admiral Jennifer Bennett, OMM CD Quarterly Newsletter of Fort York Branch No.165 Spring 2015 Photo: Sgt. Peter Moon Photo: T. Sleightholm Page 2 Fort York News Winter 2015 Fort York Calendar 2015 Executive 2015 Thursday 26 March…………… Luncheon, President……………………… LCdr Donna Murakami RCMI 1st Vice President…..……. LCol Evelyn Kelly Wednesday 22 April…………… AGM, 2nd Vice President……….. Col Fred McCague Toronto Hunt Immediate Past President... Cdr Ed Sparling Thursday, 21 May……………... Garden Party, Secretary……………………… LW Joyce Lloyd McLean House Treasurer……………………… Malcolm Hamilton Thursday 25 June……………… Change of Membership Chair……….. Pte Glenn Carter Command, RCMI Chaplain……………………….. Maj Gillian Federico District D, Zone 5 Rep…… Pte Glenn Carter Dinner Reservations Events Co-Ordinator…….. Maj George Chabrol When making your dinner meeting reservation with our F.Y. News/Historian……….Terry Sleightholm Events Chair, Major George Chabrol, please include the Messing……………………….. F/Lt Chuck Casson names of your guests. It will greatly assist him with his Poppy Fund Chair…………. LCdr Ed Sparling record keeping. Sgt-at-Arms………………….. Capt Larry Rose Newsletter Staff Public Relations……………. Sgt Peter Moon Editor/Publisher…………. Terry Sleightholm Remembrancer…………….. Capt Greg Bailey Proofreaders……………….. Sgt Peter Moon Sunnybrook Liaison………. Col Jim Hubel LCdr Donna Murakami Service Bureau…………….. HCol Gil Taylor Photography………………. Sgt Peter Moon, Terry R.C.M.I. Liaison…………….. Susan Cook Sleightholm Members-at-Large……….. PO Bill Milne Printing…………………….. LCdr Donna Murakami Lt(N) Paul Costello LW Joyce Lloyd Lt Norm Gardner Our New Address Name Tags Please note that Fort York Branch 165 has a new mailbox address: Fort York Legion Branch 165 If you require a name tag, please contact Capt Stu Kellock 1421 Yonge Street and he will arrange to have one made for you. The cost is ap- P.O. Box 69009 proximately $5.00 . Toronto, ON M4T 1Y7 Page 3 Fort York News Spring 2015 she refused my third offer for special assistance, she The Pilgrimage of Alice Kalbfleisch looked at me with a wry smile and asked if I thought she was disabled. And her great grandson Nathaniel By Dennis Makowetsky, 2014 was a story unto himself. Right from the start his at- tention to her every need was remarkable. He was very much the 17 year old, but he set aside his own he first time I heard of Alice Kalbfleisch, she needs consistently to see that his great grandmother T was just a name on a list of travellers preparing was looked after. But the truly heart warming aspect to follow in the footsteps of Canadian soldiers in the of their relationship was the incredible bond that they Italian Campaign of World War II. As the tour man- had. I look back on the tour and remember a groggy ager/guide on the tour, I was preparing materials and Nathaniel appearing at breakfast explaining that his gearing up to escort the group beginning on the land- tiredness was due to the fact that his great grand- ing beaches near Pachino Sicily, finishing finally on mother had kept him up talking until three in the the Senio, Savio and Lamone Rivers near Ravenna. morning. On another occasion I came upon Alice and The centre piece of the tour was to be a moving Re- Nathaniel engrossed in some reading material. When I asked what it was, I was told by Alice that he was membrance Day Service in the Moro River Cemetery reading her his homework and she was giving him a near Ortona. Little did I realize the inspiration that hand. Once in Ravenna, as we prepared to board the was in store for all of us. coach, I looked up just in time to see Alice pushing Nathaniel along the sidewalk in a wheelchair that we While the birth dates of the majority of the travellers had available for her to cover the longer distances. on the list were in the 1930’s and 1940’s as they often Theirs was a truly special relationship. tend to be on tours such as this, my eye was immedi- Alice’s story, the early part of it at least, is sadly typ- ately drawn to Alice’s. Hers was 1918. And directly ical of the stories of her time. She was born in rural below her was that of Nathaniel Kalbfleisch, 1997. Ontario, in West Zorra Township, on March 8, 1918. This can’t be right I thought. A hurried check with my At the age of three, she moved with her family to office, Ellison Travel & Tours in Exeter, ON, not only Maplewood, where her next door neighbour was Clar- confirmed the dates, but informed me that Alice was a ence Kalbfleisch. The two grew together, played to- very healthy 96, and that she would be traveling with gether, attended the same school and became child- her great grandson who was 17. A short time later I hood sweethearts. Friendship naturally developed into courtship. But the war ominously intervened and discovered that her husband had been killed just out- Clarence enlisted. On October 6, 1942, while home side of Ortona on Christmas Day, 1943, that he was on leave, Private Clarence Kalbfleisch married Alice buried in the Moro River Cemetery, and that that this Currah. Just two short months later, he was on his would be her first visit to his grave. So it was with way overseas leaving his expectant new bride be- great anticipation, and not a little trepidation, that I left hind. By July of that year he was in Sicily as part of for Pearson Airport in Toronto to meet the group. the Royal Canadian Regiment, fighting in the Italian Campaign. Clarence never made it home to Alice and When I first saw Alice, moving purposefully along Maplewood, nor did he ever see his newborn son the airport concourse, she looked very much the no- George, Nathaniel’s grandfather. The tour had its nagenarian. She was small, somewhat frail, with a memorable moments from the start. The group stood shock of gray hair, strolling behind a walker with her on the beach known as Bark West, where the Cana- great grandson by her side. But very soon I was to dians of the First Division landed. learn that there was very little that was 96 about Al- Pilgrimage, page 4 ice. Her eyes were bright, her stride was firm, she had a ready smile, she exuded confidence and after Page 4 Fort York News Spring 2015 Pilgrimage They visited such important battle sites as Leon- Nathaniel. It was indeed the most memorable of Re- forte and Assoro, and paid respects at the Agira Ca- membrance Days. □ nadian War Cemetery. They crossed the Gustav, Hit- Written by: Dennis Makowetsky, Tour Manager, Ellison ler and Gothic Lines, stood on the spot where all Travel & Tours (Submitted by BGen Garry Thomson) three Canadian Victoria Crosses were won in Italy, mounted the dikes on the Lamone River, stood on the edge of the infamous Gully and walked the streets of Ortona. And all along the way, Alice was there, fol- lowing the path of the RCR, seeing the landscapes her husband would have seen those many years ago. While in Ortona, a very moving encounter took place, between Alice and a woman named Francesca LaSorda, a 93 year old Ortona resident who lived through the war, and who cared for Canadian sol- diers, doing their laundry and mending their clothes. Today, she has gained a measure of notoriety herself by keeping flowers on the Price of Peace Canadian Memorial. The meeting of these two women in their 90’s, each impacted by the war in such different Nathaniel, Alice and Francesca ways, reduced members of the group to tears. But none of the experiences could compare with Remem- brance Day in the Moro River Cemetery. For the nineteenth consecutive year, the students and staff of Canadian College Italy, located in nearby Lanciano, gathered at the cemetery for their excellent Remembrance Day Program. In attendance were the Canadian students of CCI, local Italian students, members of the Canadian and Italian military, the mayors of Lanciano and Ortona, members of the pub- lic and Peter McGovern, Canada’s Ambassador to Italy. But the most poignant moments by far were the laying of the wreath at the Cross of Sacrifice by Alice and Nathaniel, and her first visit to the grave of her husband. There was great dignity as Alice stood stoi- cally beside the grave with the Ambassador, as Na- thaniel read a tearful biography of his great grandfa- ther. And I will never forget the scene as we left the cemetery, leaving Nathaniel and Alice to commune one last time, alone, at the grave site. When they de- parted, they left behind a wreath with Nathaniel’s hand written note that said, “You fought a good fight. You did well. We love and miss you grandpa. Grand- Alice Kalbfleisch ma and I saw and know your sacrifice. Love Alice and Page 5 Recruiting Dinner, Albany Club, January 2015 Col Hugh Stewart, Mrs. Stewart and Son LCol Evelyn Kelly, Major Gillian Federico, LCdr Donna Murakami Lillian Shery, Col Fred McCague, F/O Les Graham BGen Giguere and Maj Don Harris Col Evelyn Kelly thanks speaker, BGen Richard Giguere Page 6 Fort York News Spring 2015 Artist Donates Glass Work to Sunnybrook Elizabeth Beecham Chaplain Mary Jo McDonald and Sunnybrook Veterans in the Chapel, December 14, 2014 Thank You ! A big THANK YOU goes out to all of you who contributed to this year’s Poppy Trust Fund. Our Sunnybrook and Tony Stacey Vet- lizabeth Beecham, artist and creative director of E Glasstronomy Studios, has donated to Sunnybrook erans will directly benefit from your this fused glass work of art entitled “NEVER FORGET” in generosity.