Articles

Calm day turned into brutal snowstorm

By Michael Bartolf – Oxbow, Sask. Recent weather events in the news has my memory drift back to a big storm we had in March 1947 at Oxbow, Sask. It started on a beautiful, warm [more…]

Hauling mail led to lucrative side business

By Harold Thom – Nakusp, B.C. We were living at Candle Lake, Sask., north of Prince Albert, during the cold winter of 1946-47. Deep snowdrifts blocked the road between the lake and Meath Park, the nearest town. [more…]

Her first time away from home was tough

By Gladys McCarthy – Tisdale, Sask. I’ve always loved to hear the words “home for Christmas,” whether in a song or even an advertisement. I remember so well the first Christmas I couldn’t be home [more…]

Not all her Christmases were happy

By Maisie Burton – Kipling, Sask. Christmas always brings back memories of when I was a child growing up on the farm with my mother, dad, and several brothers and sisters. Preparation for Christmas always [more…]

Most special evening was January 6th

By Naden Hewko – Macklin, Sask. We knew Christmas was coming when the teacher at our Paynton, Sask., school started to prepare us for the annual concert. The brick school had four classrooms, two on the [more…]

Train crew caught in massive snowstorm

By George Rose – Calgary, Alta. Six months after joining the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) at Medicine Hat as a wiper cleaning train engines, I was a student fireman travelling from there to Swift Current, [more…]

Looking back in time!

Harvesttime in the early 1950s. (Top) Ernest Oddan is pictured on the binder and Leonard Oddan is on the homemade tractor. Raymond Oddan did most of the work building it, while brothers, Lawrence, Edward, Ernest, and [more…]

Doll was not meant to be cuddled

By Gusty Chartrand – Regina, Sask. I had an Eaton’s beauty doll. Mine was tall, about 12 or 14-inches. All her joints were movable: hips, knees, elbows, and hands. If you placed her legs just so, [more…]

‘I observed enemy aircraft in the area’

By Robert Hislop – Shellbrook, Sask. I joined the army, light infantry, in Saskatoon on Nov. 18, 1941. I was Private L3017. I took basic training in Saskatoon and Jolliette, Quebec. I celebrated my 21st birthday [more…]

Excerpts from a soldier’s correspondence

By Ethel (Spillett) Anderson – Calgary, Alta. The following are excerpts from letters and diaries written by my father, Sgt. E.J. Spillett, 46th Canadian Infantry Battalion (South Saskatchewan) during WWI. The memoirs were written while on [more…]

Spent most of his war service aboard destroyers

By Tom Newcomb – Kamloops, B.C. As a boy growing up on a farm in the Ridgedale, Sask. area, I’d planned on making the navy my lifetime career. I joined at age 17. As a boy [more…]

Bombed hotels had not windows or doors

By William Ruf – Prairie View, Sask. I was 21 years old when called to the army on April 17, 1941. I reported in Regina to the Regina Rifle Regiment and then went to Calgary [more…]

Fourth off landing craft ramp at Juno Beach

By Garth Combs – Airdrie, Alta. I was born on Sept. 10, 1922 at Deloraine, Man., and joined the Royal Winnipeg Rifles Regiment on Jan. 6, 1942. I was a rifleman in 7th Platoon of ‘A’ [more…]

Young men volunteered for war service

By Lorraine (DeBruyne) Weise – Gibbons, Alta. Private Thomas Ernest Hone (1896-1917) was killed in action during WWI. Thomas Hone was an uncle of my late husband, Allan Weise. Thomas was the brother of Allan’s [more…]

Mom couldn’t keep track of so many of us

By Grace (Huckabay) Haugen – Sundre, Alta. On the homestead at Meadow Lake, Sask., where my parents lived for 20 years, in the Dunfield school district, we had horses, cows, pigs, a dog, and cat. [more…]

Army pay sent home to mother

By Dorothy McLeod – Saskatoon, Sask. My husband, Keith, was the third eldest in a family of 13 children, two of whom died in infancy. At a very early age, he went to work and [more…]

Strong bonds of friendship were made

By Lorna (Rogers) Finstad – Armstrong, B.C. Harry Milan Finstad served active duty from July 1941 to Feb. 11, 1946 in England, Burma, and India. During WWII, hundreds of young women and men left their families and [more…]

He lied about age to enlist in army

By Yvette Desnoyers Hayes – Fruitvale, B.C. My father, Eugene Desnoyers, was born Sept. 2, 1898. He lied about his age so he could get into the Canadian army. At 17, he could easily pass as [more…]

Canadian escort group accepts U-Boat surrenders

By Leo Grudinski – Lethbridge, Alta. WWII ended in Europe May 8, 1945 and was commonly known as VE (Victory in Europe) Day. At that time, I was serving in the Canadian Navy aboard a [more…]

Photo stirred many powerful memories

By Jacqueline Price – Black Diamond, Alta. When I saw the photo of the old building at Domremy, Sask. in the February 2012 issue, I immediately began to think of my childhood years spent in [more…]