BORN TO SERVE
Family has served in the Armed Forces for more than a century
Military roots run four generations deep — back to Vimy Ridge — for Ottawa family,
For the Blondins, serving in the Armed Forces is a family tradition. Four generations of the Ottawa-area clan have now worn a Canadian uniform, stretching back over 100 years. Lee-Ann Blondin says there’s a reason her family members keep enlisting: patriotism. “When they sign up, they’re putting their life on the line for our country, and it makes me proud that both of my sons did that,” she said. “Like my grandfather, and my father, now my two boys.”
Lofty beginnings
In 1910, at around age 17, Seaman Walter “Lofty” Williams sailed on the HMCS Niobe, one of the fledgling Canadian Navy’s first two ships. When the First World War broke out he enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Force, and fought at Vimy Ridge and the second battle of Ypres, where he was gassed. He lived until 1983 but rarely spoke about fighting in the war, according to his granddaughter Lee-Ann Blondin. “He talked about the living conditions, how they were so terrible,” she said.
Carrying the torch
Léo Beaulieu, Lee-Ann’s father, joined the Air Branch of the Royal Canadian Navy in 1945, just after the Second World War. He served as an electronics technician and was posted at CFB Shearwater in Dartmouth, N.S. Although he left the service after five years, make contributions to the military as a civilian. While working for Fairey Aviation, he was part of the team that invented the “bear trap” system that allows helicopters to land safely on ship decks during rough seas.
Watching the home front
Lee-Ann Blondin calls herself the “lighthouse” of her family. When her husband and two sons are serving in the Armed Forces hundreds of kilometres away, she keeps a beacon shining for them at home. In 2010 she volunteered to work at the Tim Hortons at Kandahar Air Field, where she met up with her son Yvan at a ramp ceremony for a soldier who had been killed. “I was full of emotion . . . it was quite a little reunion,” she recalled.
‘The old urge’
Lt.-Cmdr. Alain Blondin joined the navy in 1982, and served on Cold War-era submarines as an engineering mechanic. He reluctantly quit in 1985 after his two boys were born, but in 2001 he went to a recruitment centre to help his son Yvan join the army, and decided to re-enlist himself. “I felt the old urge,” he said. “That whole sense of patriot love.” He now works for the navy in public affairs , and six years ago served a 10-month tour in Afghanistan.
War-zone reunion
Master Cpl. Yvan Blondin joined the army in 2001 at the age of 17. Days later terrorists attacked the World Trade Center, and he knew he might have to go to war. He was sent to Afghanistan in 2009 as a support technician for an electronic warfare regiment, and in his final week there, his mother Lee-Ann came to work at the Tim Hortons at Kandahar Air Field. “I don’t think many other (soldiers) can say they were in Afghanistan with their mom,” he joked.
At sea again
When Petty Officer 2nd Class Ryan Blondin decided to join the Armed Forces, he picked the navy because it would allow him to see the world, but also because he didn’t want to go into the army like his brother Yvan. “There is a bit of friendly rivalry between us,” he said. Currently a boatswain on the HMCS Montreal, Ryan said he’s “honoured” to continue the family tradition of serving in the armed forces. “Looking back at all (our family’s) contributions . . . makes me extremely proud to be a part of it all.”