Lost Stories

When I was a young kid I picked up a photo in my grandparents’ room and asked, “who is this?”

It was my grandpa - but I didn’t believe my grandma when she first told me. I said, “no way Grandma, that’s not what Grandpa looks like!”

When I knew him he was a big balding man who wore velcro shoes and plaid shirts. He liked hunting and fishing and made the best cookies and peanut brittle I’d ever eaten. He loved ice cream and his Lazy Boy chair. 

The man in the photo was a boy. He was thin and had a serious look on his face. Oh, and he had hair! He was in uniform. It was a photo when my grandpa was in the army. But I didn’t realize what it meant until he died in 1998.

My grandparents lived in a small town in the Interlake of Manitoba called Steep Rock. It was a beautiful place to live and you could walk to lake Manitoba from their house in less than a minute. The population deteriorated in the late 90’s and when my grandpa died my grandma decided to move to Winnipeg because she didn’t want to live alone. 

I remember going through all the things in the garage (there was a lot) and finding my grandpa's old army things. That's when it became real to me.

Seeing my dad become emotional over finding my grandpa's army things made me realize that not only was my grandpa in the army but he fought for our freedom.

I asked my dad to tell me stories about my grandpa's time in the army but he said he didn't know any. I was confused as to how that could happen but he explained that my grandpa didn't like to talk about it. Yes, he was proud that he fought for freedom but I think the experiences he had weren't positive ones and he didn't want to share. 

Another thing I found out was that he didn't join the army voluntarily like it is now. He was the right age at the right time and I wouldn't say he was forced to join but it was something he didn't have much of a choice about.

My grandma told me she worried all the time - which made me think that he was probably on the battlefield. I just wish I knew more about his history. 

Soon there won't be any WW2 veterans left to tell their stories which is such an important thing. My grandpa's stories are lost, but we need to find the ones that are left and tell them - if they are willing. 

That's what is important about Remembrance Day. It's to honour why we live in a free country. Soldiers. It's so sad that a lot of them have traumatic experiences and don't want to share them because their stories are Canadian history. Let's make sure that we don't lose our history.