Following in family footsteps
Frank Pond didn’t live to see it, but his military contribution inspired his family to be just like him
He survived the First World War but his exposure to mustard gas was to affect him for ever after. eventually cutting short his life.
Frank Pond was a farmer in Erskine, Alta., who enlisted on March 3, 1916 at the age of 26, Recliff’s Fred Hauck says of his great-grandfather.
Part of the 151 Battalion, Hauck’s discharge papers indicate in was in France for some of his service, being discharged Sept. 27, 1918.
“In consequence of being medically unfit for further service,” the document states.
“He basically wound up in the Veterans Sunnyside Hospital in Calgary. He basically wasn’t fit for anything else,” said Hauck.
While at Sunnyside, Pond fell in love with a member of staff by the name of Emma Jane Crowe who had come to Canada from Belfast, Ireland. They married and had two children, a son Bert and daughter Frances who was born after her father’s death on Christmas Day 1923.
Those children were to follow in their father’s footsteps in service to this country.
Frances served in the Royal Canadian Ordinance Corps in Canada during the Second World War. Hauck is uncertain of her specific duties but believes it may have included packing parachutes. She experienced significant health issues having had a stroke at the young age of 39. She would have two more strokes later on.
Pond’s son Bert, who was just a young lad when his father died, went on to serve in the Royal Canadian Airforce, said Hauck. He too died fairly young.
Hauck’s grandfather Earl Duxbury also served in the Second World War with the Rocky Mountain Rangers initially and then the Calgary Highlanders. He was a stretcher bearer in England, Belgium, France and Germany, said Hauck.
“He was the only survivor of his group,” said Hauck, who believes he was wounded with shrapnel in his chest but it was not life-threatening.
One of Hauck’s favourite memories is hearing about him talk of capturing Germans as prisoners of war. Duxbury lived into his 80s in Calgary where he had worked for Kleen Ltd as a salesman selling janitorial supplies after the war, said Hauck.