Asta Butt was born June 12, 1930 in a small village not too far from Bremen, Germany. Her father had a business transporting goods on the rivers of northern Germany, and her grandfather – a Great War veteran – did the same. Asta went to school , and has largely positive memories from her early […]
Archives: Oral History Project
McGill, Kathryn
Kathryn McGill was born July 21, 1925 in Glasgow, Scotland. She grew up there in the 1930s, and by her account she had a good life, going to school, performing acrobatics and enjoying the odd day at the zoo. Her father was a carpenter who had a disability that kept him out of the Great […]
Kolinek, Henry
Henry Kolinek was born July 28, 1925 in Green, Texas, a small community near San Antonio. His father had been a WWI infantry veteran and during the Depression he ginned cotton and did some carpentry – anything to support the family. Henry attended a local 3-room school and for fun he went squirrel hunting with […]
Cross, John
John Cross was born June 21, 1925 in London, England. His father was a Great War veteran who had served with the Royal Horse Artillery and his mother was a gardener. He grew up in London against the backdrop of the Great Depression and emerging military tensions of the 1930s. John in fact recalls the […]
Growen, Peter
Peter Growen was born December 1, 1939 in Montreal, Quebec. He grew up during the Second World War, and he remembers getting ration books alongside his mother; he also remembers his Norwegian father teaching Canadian troops to ski, readying them for potential winter warfare. At war’s end Peter recalls seeing his father in a parade […]
Sourani, Sami
Sami Sourani was born in Baghdad on April 14, 1934. He was born into a Jewish family in a country where Jews had resided for thousands of years. Sami provides here an overview of Iraqi history, weaving his personal story into the narrative. The time period during and after World War Two was a dark […]
MacDonald, Barry
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 […]
Marshall, Ed
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 […]
McIntosh, Andrew
Andrew McIntosh was born February 20, 1964 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, moving to Souris, Prince Edward Island when he was one year old. He grew up in that small town, born into a family with an extensive military tradition. Andrew recalls that the opportunities in Souris were limited, so with his parents’ blessing he joined […]
Lutz, Ken
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 […]
Ferguson, George
George Ferguson was born July 19, 1924 in Stenhousemuir, Scotland; his family emigrated to Canada when he was just four years old, the oldest son. George’s father was a Great War veteran who tended the war horses; back home he also worked with fox hunt horses and as those class-based traditions started to come undone […]
Toussaint, Bill
William (Bill) Toussaint was born February 8, 1947 in Sydney, Nova Scotia. His father had emigrated from Grenada before the Second World War, looking for work in the region’s steel plants. Bill grew up in that multiracial community, in a family that had developed a military reputation (one of his uncles was in the First […]
Thistle, James
James Thistle was born February 22, 1933 in Mulmer Township, in Dufferin County, Ontario. He grew up against the backdrop of the Second World War and decided to join the Canadian Forces out of high school. He reported to Petawawa for his basic training, followed by additional training in Fort Wainwright, Alberta. By this time […]
MacLean, Jean
Jean MacLean (nee Morley) was born September 11, 1924 in Norwich, Ontario, and she grew up in Claremont, just to the east of Toronto. Her father Fred was a jeweler and general labourer who had served overseas in the Great War, and her mother Verna was a nurse. Jean grew up against the backdrop of […]
Bansbach, Augusta
Augusta Bansbach was born October 9, 1921 in the Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia. She grew up in a small rural community there, living on a farm with her parents and grandparents, alongside her Czech and German neighbours. Educational opportunities were limited for girls at that time, so Augusta’s schooling was complete after 8th grade, and […]
Parfitt, Sheila
Sheila Parfitt was born March 9, 1928 in Lowestoft, England. Lowestoft was a coastal city, so most of the men in the family were involved in the fishing trade, but with tough times in the Great Depression, Shelia’s family relocated to Ely, a cathedral town inland. From that period she remembers well the early events […]
Cameron, Art
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 […]
Brown, Lois
Lois Brown (nee Wall) was born August 26, 1924 in Princetown, P.E.I. She grew up in that rural community, one of 10 children of Everett and Ella Wall. She grew up on a farm and remembers doing lots of chores in her early years. She attended the Fanning School in Malpeque up to Grade 8, […]
Maclagan, Scott
Scott Maclagan was born in Toronto in 1939, and that is where he spent his early life, growing up against the backdrop of the Second World War. The family relocated to the Beaverton area in 1948, and Scott initially attended a one room schoolhouse before going to high school in Orillia, where he remembers being […]
Owen, Mary
Mary Owen (nee Adamson) was born June 2, 1926 in Creighton Mine, Ontario, a small mining town near Sudbury. Her father , a veteran of the Great War, was a gold prospector in those early days, and the family lived in a number of small towns across Ontario’s north at that time. Eventually they settled […]
Brooks, Oliver
Oliver Brooks was born December 23, 1930 in Sundridge, Ontario. He grew up in that northern Ontario town against the backdrop of the Second World War, and once he had completed school and turned 18 he decided to join the forces. Oliver wanted to be a paratrooper, so he was off to basic training at […]
Tho Nguyen
Tho Nguyen was born August 15, 1927 in Vietnam. […]
Diegel, Ralph
Ralph Diegel was born October 27, 1926 in Ferris, Ontario, just south of North Bay. He had been in the Sea Cadets in high school, so when the war came he opted for the Royal Canadian Navy. Initial training took place in Thunder Bay, and from there he was shipped down to HMCS Cornwallis […]
Suckfiel, Mark
Born in 1979, Mark Suckfiel is from the Pittsburgh area, and he hails from a family with a long military tradition: they can in fact trace their roots back to the American Revolution. He had also wanted to be a teacher, and that is the career he was pursuing when 9/11 happened. The events of […]
Preece, John
John Preece was born October 19, 1926 in Toronto’s Queen-Bathurst neighbourhood. John’s early life was not easy, largely because of family circumstances. His mother had emigrated from Scotland, and – alone in Toronto – she fell into a relationship with a married man and turned to alcohol. John does not have many positive memories of […]
Resnicoff, Arnold
Arnold Resnicoff was born October 10, 1946 in Washington, D.C. He grew up there in the context of the 1950s and 60s, witness to the tremendous forces of change that were shaping the world. He lived in the new suburban neighborhoods of the time, watching the miracle of television – on three channels. He also […]
Hough, Richard
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 […]
Gee, Bob
Bob Gee was born January 8, 1948 in Vernal, Utah, a rural community- that means he shares a birthday with a man named Elvis Presley. Bob’s father served in the Army Air Force during WW2, and his uncles served in different capacities during that conflict too. Bob grew up during the Cold War when there […]
Trate, Dorothy
Dorothy Trate was born July 9, 1922 in Narvon, a community in Caernarvon Township in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. She grew up there against the backdrop of the Great Depression. Her husband was put on deferment during the war, as he operated specialized machinery in a war work factory. Dorothy for her part was a ‘Rosie […]
Hartford, Bruce
Bruce Hartford was active with several Civil Rights Movement organizations in the 1960s including SCLC, CORE and SNCC. He was born in Chicago, Illinois, January 15, 1944 to Communist Party activist and union organizer parents, and he grew up in Los Angeles, California. Bruce became aware of social injustice in part through the experiences of […]