Paying tribute to the father I never knew
My father, along with over one million Canadians during the course of the Second World War, joined the Canadian effort against the Nazis. He enlisted in the Army in 1942, this after serving in the Reserve Forces from 19401942.
I was born the following year, in April of 1943, and was only in my fourth month when he left Canada, on Aug. 27, 1943, never to return. A year later, on Aug. 7, 1944, he was killed, most likely by friendly fire from Allied bombers, this during Operation Totalize, the effort to take Falaise. He was one of 44,000 Canadians killed in the various services and in many theatres during this conflict.
The notice of his death came just as it is shown in the movies, via the telegram delivery boy cycling through the city delivering news of death, injury or capture to devastated families. Among those impacted by the war, surely the telegram boy, knowing he was as welcome as an apparition on any doorstep, must be counted among the victims.
The truth, in cold facts-only manner, was starkly laid out telegram style. One can only imagine the reaction of wives, parents and siblings throughout the country as this story repeated itself daily in community after community.
Growing up in the 1940s and ’50s, it was unimaginable that I would ever get to visit the gravesite indicated on follow-up notes sent to my mother. Transatlantic travel was out of reach of most people, certainly to me as I progressed through school.
Eventually, I did visit the Canadian War Cemetery in Bretteville-Sur-Laize. My first visit was in the mid1980s, and I returned a few times thereafter.
My son, who had been there individually, and daughter, who had not, had long wanted to accompany me to pay respects to the grandfather and father neither they nor I had known. Last year, we were finally able to arrange this, and on a rainy, cold Nov. 11, we breakfasted in Caen and made our way to the Canadian War Cemetery. Two generations, 73 years later, returned to pay respects, express appreciation and at the same time awe at the enormous size of the cemetery. There, 2,793 Canadian soldiers repose, along with 79 RCAF casualties.
To finish the day, we spent several hours at the magnificent Caen Memorial, an impressive museum and commemoration of the Allied and Resistance efforts. The following day, on our way to Paris for the return flight, we took time to walk the landing beaches of Juno and visit the Juno Beach Centre, a Canadian Second World War museum.
Caen, once devastated, has been rebuilt. The bombed fields and muddy tank tracks are repurposed to once again support agriculture and development. Sometimes, we dwell too much on the negative to remember that we are now celebrating almost 75 years of peace between major powers.