Honouring a father’s legacy
In April 1942, David Douglas Feltham, 23, of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario was conscripted into the Canadian army as a member of the Canadian Infantry Corps, Royal Regiment of Canada.
Though the conscription was for home defence, he soon after volunteered for overseas duty and served in England, Belgium, and the Netherlands, playing a direct role as a member of the army’s intelligence section in the liberation of the latter two countries from German occupation.
After the Second World War ended in 1945, he shipped back to Canada and was discharged in January 1946.
Earlier this year, the serviceman’s second-oldest son, Bob Feltham, 72, paid tribute to his father’s war service by taking part in a 75th anniversary D-Day tour that included visits to Amsterdam and Brussels.
Toward the end of tour, Bob Feltham made an unscheduled side-trip to the village of Adegem, Belgium, where he delivered his father’s collection of war medals to the Canada Poland War Museum.
In transporting the medals to the museum, Feltham was satisfying a commitment he and his seven siblings had made following their father’s death in 2010 at age 91. About 30 years earlier, their father had donated his uniform to the museum after reading an ad in a local newspaper. The siblings agreed that it made sense “that the medals should be with the uniform,” said Feltham.
“So I took it upon myself to say I’d like to take them over there in person,” he continued. “Just mailing them didn’t seem appropriate.”
Bob Feltham was born in 1947, the second of eight children, just one year after his father’s army discharge. He recalls having a “complicated” relationship with his father over the years.
“It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t the best,” he said.
That, combined with his father’s reluctance to talk about his time in uniform, had left Feltham with little understanding of his father’s experiences as a soldier. He said that the whole idea of the war always seemed like ancient history, and hadn’t given much thought to how his father was affected.
So, he was surprised when, after telling people his plans to cross the Atlantic to donate his father’s war medals, people “would usually have an emotional reaction.”
Similarly, he said, after he shared his goal with his fellow tour-goers, “A number of people came to me later and said that it really hit them.”
To this point, explained Feltham, he had been so focused on the practical considerations of his trip that he hadn’t yet stepped back to reflect on the deeper meaning of what he was doing. However, on a visit to the Imperial War Museum in London, he gazed upon a photo of a soldier along with a brief biography, and he started to understand.
“People don’t know who my father is, so they’re not reacting to him. Rather, he’s a symbol representing every man. He didn’t do anything extra special or beyond the call of duty. But he did answer the call—just like so many other men and women answered the call—and therefore, he’s someone they connect with.”
A few days later, with support from EF Go Ahead Tours, Feltham broke away from the main tour group and, medals in tow, journeyed to the Canada Poland War Museum. Before long, he found himself standing in front of a mannequin that was dressed in the very army uniform his father had worn almost 75 years ago during the war.
“It was an emotional moment for me when I pinned his decorations on the uniform,” said Feltham.
David Douglas Feltham earned five medals for his military service, including the Canadian Volunteer Service Medal for serving in World War II voluntarily and the France and Germany Star, awarded to those troops who served in France, Belgium, Holland, or Germany following D-Day (June 6, 1944).
Bob Feltham is now working on a biography of his father to contribute to a new display that will showcase his father’s uniform, medals, and other memorabilia.
“It’s about Dad’s legacy. I appreciate now what his participation in the war means to people, and I want to preserve his story, and that of his military service, for the benefit of future generations,” Feltham said.
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