Constantine Chrysafidis was born August 13, 1925 in Leonidia, Greece, born of an American mother and a Greek father. He was raised in Athens, and when his parents divorced he came to the United States with his mother in 1939, beginning his American journey. They settled in Maysville, Kentucky, where Constantine adapted to life in […]
Archives: Oral History Project
Dingle, Durwin
Durwin Dingle was born August 6, 1926 in northern Saskatchewan, though he grew up in Wawota, in the Qu’Apelle Valley in the southern part of the province. Durwin was one of six children, so he grew up doing many chores around the family property, especially during the difficult Depression years. Durwin’s father was an educational […]
Diltz, Charles
Charles Diltz was born July 28, 1927 in Lindsay, Ontario. His family relocated to Bronte, and as a teenager Charles attended the University of Toronto Schools. Charles grew up against the backdrop of the war and he remembers well the rationing and the propaganda that accompanied Canada’s declaration. When the time came, Charles went into […]
Smoyer, Nancy
Nancy Smoyer is from Princeton, New Jersey, where she grew up against the backdrop of the 50s and 60s United States. Coming out of college, Nancy yearned to travel the world, and after a year spent abroad in France – where she witnessed protests about Vietnam – Nancy decided to learn more about the issue […]
Moore, Chris
Chris Moore was born in Little Rock, Arkansas in the years after World War Two. He grew up against the backdrop of the 1950s, seeing the civil rights movement and the Cold War unfold during those years. As Chris came from a military family, when he came of age in the 60s he volunteered for […]
Goldman, Ralph
Ralph Goldman was born in Iwaniska, Poland on July 25, 1921. He came to Canada as an infant, early in the 1920s, and he grew up in downtown Toronto against the backdrop of the Great Depression. The economic situation forced him to leave school when he was only 14, and he went to work to […]
Mizwa, Robert
Robert Mizwa was born April 3, 1947 in Oil City, Pennsylvania. He grew up there against the backdrop of the idyllic 1950s – but also in the shadow of the Cold War. When he went to college Bob enrolled in the ROTC, making him a 2nd Lieutenant and setting him up for two years of […]
Cameron, Dianne
Dianne Cameron was born in 1943, and she grew up in southern California. She enjoyed the typical childhood of the time, going to Catholic school and watching TV and going to bowling alleys – all in the shadow of the Cold War. She took up the drums when she was young and by her late […]
Wozniak, Stanley
Stanley Wozniak was born January 9, 1928 in Warsaw, Poland. He was born into a large family of 11 children, and they grew up in a positive environment in the 1930s, though the coming of war in 1940 impacted the family dramatically. They had been living in western Poland, but the aftermath of the German […]
Reid, Brenda
Brenda Reid (nee Cruikshank) was born August 24, 1924 in Beirut, Lebanon. Her father was a doctor at the American University in Beirut, and Brenda attended the community school there; the family – including her mother and two younger sisters – lived there in relative peace until the war. In 1940 France came under the […]
McConnell, Lorne
Lorne McConnell was born February 9, 1924 in Central Butte, Saskatchewan. He grew up in that small community, helping his father to run the town’s water and telephone systems. He also did very well in school, which Lorne credits to early lessons from his sister, and he developed as an athlete too, even being offered […]
Nitsch, Gunter
Gunter Nitsch was born December 3, 1937 in Konigsberg, Germany. He was only two when the war began, so he has no memories of that, but he does remember many remarkable events during and especially after the war as Gunter grew up against the backdrop of Nazism and the war, and then Stalin and the […]
Ortega, Sandra
Sandra Ortega was born March 29, 1937 in Baltimore, Maryland. She grew up against the backdrop of 1950s America, when the Jim Crow Laws governed life all across the south, a truth that was in evidence in her own city of Baltimore, where segregation ran deep. From an early age Sandra learned the virtue of […]
Settle, Gwen
Gwen Settle was born August 16, 1944 in Halifax, Nova Scotia. She was born into a military family; her father had served aboard a corvette during World War Two, and her mother had been a nurse, and her aunt was a WD. The family relocated several times in early years, but upon completion of high […]
Rohmer, Richard
Richard Rohmer was born January 24, 1924 in Hamilton, Ontario. His parents divorced when he was young, so Richard recalls growing up between the two households and dealing with the consequent difficulties. He attended several schools in southwestern Ontario and by his teen years – coinciding with the start of the war – he was […]
Cassot, Art
Art Cassot hails from New Jersey, where he grew up in the northern part of the Garden State. Art came of age in the Vietnam era, and wondered what his future might hold. He considered the navy or the air force, but had long waiting lists at the time, so Art opted for the army, […]
Fisher, Mervin
Mervin Fisher was born May 7, 1926 in Collingwood, Ontario. He grew up against the backdrop of the Depression in Collingwood, Dixie and Toronto, moving around after his parents’ divorce and some family difficulties. Mervin went into service at the midway point of the war, and trained for the Armoured Corps. He was only 17 […]
Snodgrass, Dagie
Dagie Snodgrass was born February 4, 1934 in Berlin, Germany. That means she grew up during the Nazi era, and she recalls learning from her father – who was a police officer – the importance of keeping secrets. Trust was a rare commodity in that period, and Dagie learned those lessons early in life. Dagie’s […]
Cohn, Frank
Frank Cohn was born August 2, 1925 in Breslau, Germany. Born into a Jewish family, Frank began to understand the realities of Nazism when he was a young boy: an uncle was murdered by stormtroopers, and he saw violence in the streets outside his home. He also compellingly remembers the day his Grade 2 teacher […]
Chandler, Leland
Leland Chandler was born on January 3, 1923 in Table Grove, Illinois. He grew up in a rural area, working the family farm and attending the local schools, swimming at the local river and playing ball when he was able. Leland grew up in the tough times of the 1930s, but he remembers the people […]
Svarc, Emile
Emile Svarc was born in 1936 in Yugoslavia. His young life as he recalls was quite good, but the coming of the war in 1941 changed everything. Yugoslavia was divided, with a puppet state created in Croatia and the rest of the country under Axis occupation. Emile recalls the mounting restrictions of this period; his […]
Kucher, Nicholas
LCdr Nicholas Kucher hails from the Canadian Prairies, where he was born and raised in Edmonton, Alberta. He made the decision to join the Canadian Forces (CAF) coming out of high school and college. He made his way to St-Jean, Quebec for basic training, and as a future naval officer he saw advanced training and […]
Sutherland, Jocelyne
Jocelyne – or Jessie – Sutherland is a member of the Fort Albany First Nation and a survivor of the 60s Scoop and St. Anne’s Residential School. Like so many indigenous children of her generation, her life was disrupted, along with her sense of family. Jessie shared with the students the history and culture of […]
Van Tine, Joshua
Major Joshua Van Tine is a currently serving member of the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF). He hails from Burns Lake, B.C., where he remembers that an outdoors lifestyle where he was a scout and a Sea Cadet led him to the CAF. He has been involved in numerous deployments, including in Afghanistan as part of […]
Atherton, Paul
Paul Atherton was born July 15, 1921 in Hanover, New Hampshire. The family moved around a bit when he was young, navigating the realities of the Great Depression. Paul attended a one-room school for a time, but as his family moved to larger communities he grew accustomed to larger schools and different amenities. Life in […]
Bhullar, Bhag Singh
Bhag Singh Bhullar was born May 14, 1924 in the village of Bhullar, in the Punjab region of India. At least that’s what his official military records say; the reality is that he was born in 1922, and his family had lied about his birthday, hoping that making him two years younger would keep him […]
Morrow, Jack
Jack Morrow was born December 6, 1925 in Butler, Pennsylvania, though he grew up mainly in the nearby community of Kittanning, on the Allegheny River. Jack’s father had worked for Pullman, but he lost that job as the Depression took hold, though he did find work with Metropolitan Life. Jack remembers that the times were […]
Gutierrez, Eugene
Eugene Gutierrez was born September 14, 1921 in Harlingen, Texas. He grew up against the backdrop of the Great Depression, and remembers well the tough times that the family went through. His parents had a grocery store that went out of business since customers rarely had the money to pay for groceries. Eugene graduated high […]
Riesinger, Frank
Frank Riesinger was born August 20, 1926 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He recalls moving around the American Midwest during the Depression years, as the family went where work was available. Still, Frank doesn’t remember being poor; he said everyone was, and that’s what they were all used to. Frank describes his childhood in positive terms, remembering […]
Brody, Josef
Josef Brody was born April 26, 1936 in Slovakia. During the Second World War, Slovakia came under the rule of the fascist Josef Tiso, and was a part of the Axis powers, alongside Nazi Germany. The country’s Jews suffered tremendous hardship because of this arrangement, becoming victims of the Shoah, first through restrictions imposed by […]