Danny Heller was born June 16, 1925 in Maple Creek, Saskatchewan. He grew up on a farm, working hard and helping out the family during the Great Depression. Danny also attended the local school, and made the most of life in a small town. Danny’s parents were of German descent and had emigrated from the […]
Archives: Oral History Project
Forbes, Harry
Harry Forbes was born April 11, 1918 in Maple Creek, Saskatchewan. Harry grew up on a farm, the oldest of 11 children. He remembers the 1920s as being a dry decade where farming became increasingly difficult, topped off by the crash and Great Depression. Harry in fact had to quit school when he was 15 […]
Colleran, John
John Colleran was born March 21, 1924 in Saintfield, Ontario. He grew up in the Ontario countryside near Port Perry, attending a one room schoolhouse on nearby Scugog Island. The family was hard hit by the Great Depression and John left high school in Grade 9 because the books were too expensive. By then the […]
Saint-Laurent, Henri
Henri Saint-Laurent was born February 5, 1926 in Ottawa. His father was a veteran of the First World War, later a civil engineer who worked for the federal government. Because of his father’s work, the family was sheltered from the worst impacts of the Great Depression, and Henri grew up in relative comfort, and at […]
May, Ken
Ken May was born November 19, 1921 in Toronto’s East York neighbourhood. He grew up there, against the backdrop of the Great Depression, doing all the normal things for a young boy during that time. Ken left school when he was 15, going to work for Weston’s Bakery, where his father had worked. When the […]
Heller, Mickey
Mickey Heller was born November 3, 1921 in Toronto. Born into a large Jewish family, he grew up in the city’s Bathurst-Harbord neighbourhood against the backdrop of the Great Depression and the prevalent antisemitism of the time. When the war came, Mickey opted for the RCAF. He went through the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan […]
Patterson, Hugh
Hugh Patterson was born December 30, 1921 in Seneca Township, just outside Caledonia, Ontario. He grew up on a farm: there was plenty of food as Hugh remembers, but money was tight in the days of the Great Depression. Hugh worked on the farm when he was young, but as he put it “milking those […]
Burston, Ben
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 […]
Allen, Ernie
Ernie Allen was born January 14, 1922 in Heaton Park, in Manchester, England. His father served in the Royal Artillery during the Great War, and his mother worked in the cotton mills of Manchester. Ernie went to school and did all the normal things a boy would do in 1930s Britain; when he completed school […]
Boon, Art
Art Boon was born November 12, 1924 in Peterborough, England, emigrating to Canada when he was a baby. Art’s father had come to Canada for the first time in 1912, but with the outbreak of the Great War Art’s father and uncle returned to Europe to fight in that war. Art grew up in Stratford, […]
Bark, Chad
Chad Bark was born July 16, 1924 in Toronto, Ontario. He grew up against the backdrop of the 1930s, attending Oriole Park Public School and the University of Toronto Schools and playing and excelling at many sports. When the war came, Chad joined the army hoping to get into the action: he began in the […]
Paley, Jack
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 […]
Bergstein, Bunny
Bunny Bergstein was born April 1, 1924 in Toronto. His parents had emigrated to Canada in the period after the Great War, fleeing anti-Semitism in Lithuania and Galicia. They raised their family in downtown Toronto, where Bunny attended school and busied himself with his friends, playing ball in the local playground. By the time Canada […]
Miller, Robert
Bob Miller was born December 7, 1923 in New York state. He grew up in Bellmore, Long Island, not too far from Jones Beach, an area that Bob remembers fondly. The Great Depression impacted Bob and his three older sisters, but the family managed to get by, with everybody pitching in. The family moved a […]
Hennessy, Tom
Tom Hennessy was born May 31, 1922 in Dublin, Ireland. His father was transferred to Liverpool when Tom was quite young, and then the family returned to Ireland, relocating to the small town of Scarriff, in County Clare. Tom attended a boarding school – Windermere – in northern England, and when he completed that he […]
Graham, Arnold
Arnold Graham was born December 12, 1925 in Lakefield, Ontario. He grew up in a large family: there were 12 children, and Arnold was the youngest. Arnold grew up against the backdrop of the Great Depression; life was tough for the family, especially when Arnold’s father died. His older siblings and his mother managed to […]
Littell, Jeff
Jeff Littell was born February 8, 1922 in Hundred, West Virginia. He grew up on a farm in a large farm family – 12 children in total, where Jeff was the oldest. Times were difficult for them, as the Great Depression began to intensify. Jeff left school after Grade 8, and he worked to support […]
Kendall, Fred
Fred Kendall was born in Woodstock, Ontario on March 7, 1927. His father was a Great War veteran who ran a cartage company, so even against the backdrop of the Great Depression, the large family (Fred had eight siblings) did well. Fred joined up when he was in Grade 10 – and only 16. Three […]
Christie, Jeanne “Sam”
Jeanne “Sam” Christie was born September 26, 1944 in Madison, Wisconsin. Her father was a fire captain there, and Sam remembers growing up with a sense of community service. Hers was a large family, and Sam had an older sister and two younger brothers that she would help to take care of. When she finished […]
Pinderhughes, Charles
Charles Pinderhughes grew up in the Boston area in the 60s and 70s. His parents were connected to the civil rights movement of the time, and the young Charles absorbed the ethos of the day, often attending the SNCC (Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee) meetings that his parents held in their home. Charles moved in this […]
Graham, John
John Graham was born February 25, 1921 in Toronto. He grew up in a large family in the western end of Toronto’s downtown, attending the public schools and playing ball at Christie Pitts. John was able to graduate Grade 13 at Bloor Collegiate, after which time he went into the RCAF. Basic training followed, and […]
Fitzsimmons, Douglas
Douglas Fitzsimmons was born July 22, 1924 in Toronto. He grew up in a large family in the city’s east end, in the Gerrard and Woodbine neighbourhood and attended the local Catholic school. Doug’s father was a Great War veteran who went on to a successful career as a salesman, so the family was sheltered […]
Norberg, Bill
William (Bill) Norberg was born November 13, 1922 in Lemington, Wisconsin. The circumstances in Bill’s early life were difficult; his mother was diagnosed with tuberculosis when he was quite young, and when she was sent to a sanitarium Bill’s father was forced to break up the large family. Bill and a brother were sent to […]
Hoy, William
William (Bill) Hoy was born in Welland, Ontario on January 30, 1924. His family had emigrated to Canada from Britain and settled in the Ottawa area, but by the time of Bill’s birth they had settled in Welland, where Bill’s father did his Great War service, guarding the Welland Canal. Bill grew up against the […]
McBride, Willard
Willard McBride was born on January 23, 1924 in west Texas. He grew up against the backdrop of the Great Depression, and was forced to leave school in 5th Grade so he could help support the family. Willard worked on farms, fought forest fires, picked cotton, dug ditches…in short he did what he had to […]
Bryans, Wilbur
Wilbur Bryans was born April 3, 1922 in Sullivan Township, Ontario. He grew up on a farm, attending the local two-room school house before moving on to business school in Owen Sound. While there Wilbur picked up critical skills that would impact his time in the military. Wilbur was called up in 1941, reporting to […]
Bray, Stewart
Stewart Bray was born October 7, 1921 in Raglan, Ontario. He grew up on a farm, with nine siblings; they all attended the local one room schoolhouse and managed to have occasional fun times, but as Stewart recalls there was always work to be done on the farm. When the war began in September 1939 […]
Metatawabin, Mike
Mike Metatawabin was born and raised in the First Nation community of Fort Albany located in northern Ontario along the shores of western James Bay. Mike is a survivor of the St. Anne’s residential school which was located right in his community. Like so many indigenous children he endured those abuses, while other Canadians remained […]
Moczulski, Edward
Edward Moczulski was born in Brest, Poland. Edward’s family ended up in the Soviet zone of occupation after Poland was divided in the 1939 Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact. Life continued in these new circumstances, but then in 1940 a Red Army officer appeared at the family’s door, looking for Edward’s older brother. The family did not […]
Parker, Ted
Edward (Ted) Parker was born March 30, 1925 in Haverhill, Massachusetts. He grew up in Massachusetts and Florida, as the family moved back and forth during those years. He grew up against the backdrop of the Depression and the early years of the war, by which time he was attending the Governors’ Academy in Massachusetts. […]