Little rocking horse linked veteran to both world wars
Alexander Kufta was two years old in 1918 when he contracted the Spanish flu from First World War soldiers returning home to Verdun from the battlefields of Europe. The Spanish flu infected 500 million people worldwide, from 1918 to 1920, killing between three and five per cent of the world’s population. Kufta’s parents were told their son would die and to make him as comfortable as possible. So his father built him a diminutive wooden rocking horse and tucked him into it. “He couldn’t hold up his head. He would just rock and rock,” said David, Kufta’s son. “He was touched by World War One. He was almost a casualty of World War One. But miraculously, he survived.” Alexander Kufta grew up to serve as first officer and navigator on a Handley Page Halifax bomber with Bomber Command, based at the Royal Air Force Station East Moor, England, during the Second World War. According to Airforce Magazine, there were 125,000 members of the Bomber Command during the war. Of those, 55,573 were killed in action, 8,403 were wounded and 9,838 were captured by the enemy. The chance of surviving a tour with Bomber Command was 16 per cent. Kufta died on Sept. 20. He was 102 years old. David Kufta had the rocking horse close at hand while talking to a reporter about his late father, last week. He was waiting for a private remembrance service to begin at Ste. Anne Hospital in Ste-Annede-Bellevue. The service, attended by family members and veterans, honoured the 61 veterans who died over the last six months. These private services have been held every six months for more than 20 years. Kufta senior was not wounded during action but, like so many veterans, he would not talk about his experience after returning home. “We did not push,” Kufta said. “We grew up surrounded by war memorabilia but when we were kids, it didn’t mean anything.” Along with the rocking horse, Kufta brought his father’s RCAF cap and a row of medals mounted in a shadow box with him to the remembrance service. Kufta, his two brothers and one sister also have their father’s flight log book and treasured photos, including one of their father receiving his wings from Princess Juliana of the Netherlands. Alexander Kufta came to Ste. Anne Hospital in 2003 — when it was still a federal veterans’ health facility — after slipping into dementia. David Kufta, who lives in Kirkland, visited his father six days a week. “Staff would say to me, ‘you’re such a good son,’ but I would say, ‘no, he was a good father,’” Kufta said. Together, he and his father added to the family’s rocking herd by building two more rocking horses. The senior Kufta and his late wife of 72 years, Lena, had nine grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren. The original rocking horse has been painted a number of times over the years, resulting in its transformation from rocking horse to rocking cow. And it is still being used. David Kufta and his brother Rick, who lives in Beaconsfield, made a point of attending the Remembrance Day service at the hospital every year their father was at the facility. “This is the first year he’s not here with us,” Kufta said. “He was touched by World War One and fought in World War Two.”