Wait for Me, Daddy statue unveiled in New Westminster

Boy from the famous wartime photograph attends ceremony

The little boy in the famous wartime photograph, Whitey Bernard, showed up as a nearly 80-year-old man Saturday in front of 2,000 people in New Westminster.

No longer the young lad with blond hair in the picture Wait For Me, Daddy taken in 1940, Whitey has become a senior citizen, slightly bent and bald. But despite the grizzled appearance, the crowd reached out to him as if time had stood still for the past 74 years.

“I want to see how you’ve changed,” one woman said.

“Yeah, here and here,” Whitey said with a laugh, pointing at his head and waist.

Whitey was pictured in the photograph escaping the hand of his mother Bernice and racing to his father Jack, a rifleman who was leaving for war with the B.C. Regiment (Duke of Connaught’s Own Rifles). The image was captured by Province photographer Claude Dettloff and on Saturday was brought to life again.

A $2 Canadian coin has been minted, a postage stamp produced and a bronze statue unveiled at Hyack Square, near the original scene.

Autograph seekers sought him out and dozens just wanted to be near for a few minutes.

Whitey, whose picture will be in every Canadian’s pocket on the $2 coin, made the crowd of well-wishers feel like he had all the time in the world.

“Dad’s more than capable of rowing it in,” said daughter

Whitey (Bernard) is a symbol of Canadian dedication, integrity and strength.

CHRIS LYPCHUK NEW WESTMINSTER RESIDENT

Karen Bernard, watching the smiles and handshakes. “It’s a huge, amazing day for our family. My kids may bring their greatgrandchildren here someday.”

New West resident Chris Lypchuk spent the past week watching the statue being assembled.

“Whitey is a symbol of Canadian dedication, integrity and strength,” he said.

“It gets me here ( in the heart).”

Whitey said he is exhausted from telling his story so often in the past few weeks.

“I barely made it through my speech,” he said.

Make way for the new generation. Five-year-old granddaughter Sophie Bernard, who sports the same flowing blond locks her grandfather once had, joined him in front of the statue.

“Wait for me, granddad,” she joked.

Whitey said the sense of doing his duty has never left him.

“The 80-year-old boy is still in service,” he said.

JENELLE SCHNEIDER/PNG Warren ‘Whitey’ Bernard and his granddaughter Sophie, 5, attend the unveiling of the Wait For Me, Daddy statue on Saturday. Bernard is the boy depicted in the famous photo, and now, the statue.

A commemorative stamp shows the original photograph taken by Claude Dettloff on Oct. 1, 1940.