A story of love overseas
When we think of war, we think of darkness. When we think of war, we think of horror and loss. But as the saying goes, there is a bright side to every story, even in the most desperate of situations. Debby Neville, who was born in Sherbrooke, has many stories regarding her family and the Second World War. Her father and mother were both sent overseas. But among her many stories, Neville has one that we don’t hear about often when we talk of war; a story of love.
Neville’s father, Edward James Sayer, was born in 1925 and was a Sherbrooke local. He was sent overseas around 1941 with the Canadian army. “He was in the Canadian army and he was in a tank, then he was a foot soldier, and then he was in a jeep.”
He was one of the thousands of brave Canadian soldiers who went to Europe to fight off Nazi German occupation. “He fought in France. My father was also involved in the liberation of the Netherlands, that’s for sure.” She also remembers her father telling her that despite French Quebecers not wanting to go to war, they were quite the soldiers. “My father told me they didn’t want to go to war but they were damn good soldiers when they got there.”
Neville’s mother, Margaret Janet Mcneil, was born in 1923 and she was from Glace Bay, Nova Scotia. She was sent overseas with the Canadian Women’s Army Corps around the same time. “She was a communications officer and she worked six stories underground in London. That’s a story that she told me. She would have been there when London was bombed.”
The love story begins when Neville’s father Edward was on R&R, rest and relaxation as they called it, in London after being on the front line for quite some time. “You only go to the front lines for so long. You go in and out whether due to injury or exhaustion.”
“My mother’s brother (Tommy) was in the tank with my father in France,” Neville explained, “Tommy said ‘you should meet my sister’”.
While on R&R in London, Tommy introduced Edward and Margaret.
They quickly fell in love and before they were back in Canada they knew they were going to get married. “They already decided before they got back that they would marry. They got engaged while overseas.”
They didn’t speak much of their time together while serving overseas, but they did tell Neville that they went to some events together. “There were some events overseas where they went dancing.”
While the war kept them apart for quite some time, they eventually reunited in Quebec. “She took a ship back to Halifax Harbour from England around 1945 but my father was driving a general around in England after the war so he stayed overseas longer.”
When Edward returned to Canada, they finally married. “They married at the St-patrick’s Church in Sherbrooke. It was the only English Catholic Church in Sherbrooke at the time.” They decided to settle on Bowen Street, where Neville’s grandparents lived.
While her mother thought she would go back to work after the war, she and Edward instead started a family. “She always thought she would go back to work after the war but of course she got to Quebec and didn’t speak French. Then, she started her family and didn’t go back to work. She was always involved in the Legion wherever she lived. The legion meant a lot to her and she was very involved. I think she felt supported by the Legion.”
After coming back from war, her father picked up a full-time job working with Bell. “My father went to work for
Bell Canada for 30 years and then he retired.”
While sharing her parents’ love story, Neville also emphasized that the war took a serious toll on both of her parents. “There was Post-traumatic Stress Disorder, they were traumatized and they just had to get on with it. It was tough. They paid a heavy price for the trauma of the war, definitely.”