Wednesday, June 4, 2014

quiet courage

He seems to be gazing straight out of the photo.
My handsome father.
I wish you could see his hair but the army barber got to him first.
He had such dark, thick curly hair.
Doesn't he look brave?
He wasn't even twenty yet.
He volunteered.
He was trained at Esquimalt, on Vancouver Island.
My mother thought he might stay there. Might be stationed there on the coast.
Might ride out the war...
and then she received a letter from my father.
It was on Active Duty stationary.
He had volunteered for the Defense of Britian.
He was heading overseas.
A train ride all the way across Canada to Halifax.
Then the Queen Mary to England.
Anti-aircraft guns.
And then, the Liberation of Holland.
He was gone for weeks, and months and years.
My young father.
And then home at last to Canada.
He volunteered for the Pacific too but the war ended while he was home on leave.
There is something about this photo that I cherish.
My young father.
His eyes.
HIs level gaze.
His quiet courage.

7 comments:

  1. It is a miracle he survived! Your father must have been very brave to volunteer again. I can't imagine what it must have been like being gone for years--and for the family back home. My husband-to-be was in Vietnam for a year and a day--that was too long to be gone, not knowing if you'll ever see them again. Did your parents marry before he left or after he got home? Do you have a photo of him before they cut his hair. He looks handsome in this photo. With his dark, curly hair, he must have looked like an adonis! ☺

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  2. I just looked at your story about your Dad again and found the answer to my question about he your parents married. They must have had a very interesting life!

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  3. thanks cathy. Our parents young lives were very shaped by the war and you are right that we really can't grasp it. My father was handsome and I will post a 'hairier' version of him soon, just for you.

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  4. Thanks, Glenda. I received your e-mail and responded to it. I'm going to check the box at the bottom of this form to have any comments made sent to me. I don't know if I have to do this each post, or whether I'll get comments for all your posts. We'll see.

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  5. How clever you are! I’ve never noticed that there is something to check. Mind you, half the time I sit before the computer without my reading glasses because I don’t need to see to type but of course I DO need to see to read………..

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  6. Just wanted to let you know I received both my comment and your response to it. ☺

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  7. Hooray! We conquered technology.

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