Across the Nation
Reports from the Regions
BC Banter
Manitoba Moments
Ontario Offerings
Quebec Quotes
Maritime Memories
BC Banter ….
- Linda Stewart
2007 Remembrance Day services were well attended
by HKVCA members throughout the province. Three wreaths were laid by HK
vets and 7 wreaths by HKVCA members in different communities from
Kelowna to West Vancouver and Hagensborg to Victoria.
The HKVCA was invited and Murray Doull attended a Remembrance Day Memorial Service at the Chinese Christian Centre in Burnaby. Various groups were in attendance including the Korean veterans, WWII Chinese Canadian veterans, aboriginal veterans, Air Force veterans and others. The mayor was present as well as the area MLA. A reception followed and it proved to be a good time to network with other groups. HKVCA pamphlets and Memorial Wall brochures were left for the attendees. An invitation was extended for a personal tour of the Chinese Canadian Military Museum and gardens in Vancouver by the museum curator.
The cloudy skies are beginning to disappear and we occasionally have seen some sunny days here in Victoria. That can only mean one thing -- that we will soon be attending our traditional Spring Luncheons. The date set for our luncheon and gathering in Victoria is Saturday, June 7th, 2008. The location is the Traveller's Inn, 1961 Douglas St. The entrance is off Discovery Street. Please RSVP by June 1, by phoning Linda Stewart at 250-294-6747 or e-mail at lindaontheisland@shaw.ca. Start time is noon.
The luncheon and get together in Vancouver will be held on Saturday, June 21st, 2008. The location is in the Collingwood Room at the Ramada Hotel and Suites Metrotown which is located at 3484 Kingsway in Vancouver. Arrive anytime after 11:30AM. Please RSVP by June 15 by phoning Murray Doull at 604-465-0579 or e-mail at mdoull@shaw.ca.
I was in Winnipeg visiting my two sons and family and was tickled pink to be there on December 13th to meet my first grand-child, Miss Ayla Jean Stewart. Of course, she’s the most beautiful baby ever. Mother and daughter are doing fine. By the time you read this, she’ll already be three months old. How time flies.
While I was in Winnipeg, I visited with Larry and Anne Stebbe in their new home on Saturday, December 15th, 2007. We had a nice visit over a couple of cups of coffee. Then their daughter Colleen came to pick up Anne to go to the Ladies Tea over at the St. James Legion. So I followed them in their car and got to visit with the ladies, too.
Vince and Stan Lopata were visiting their sister in Victoria and on Saturday, December 22nd I invited them over to my place and we had a few games of pool and talked about the Winnipeg Grenadiers.
We held a small gathering on Sunday, December 23, 2007 at the Cenotaph at the Legislative grounds in Victoria. Our HK veteran in attendance was Gerry Gerrard. He was there with many of his immediate family. Gerry laid the wreath in remembrance of his comrades. One of his grand-daughters travelled all the way from Prince George to be present. Stan and Vince Lopata from Winnipeg attended and Anne and Jim Trick were there as well. The late Dr. Anderson was well represented by his sons David and Malcolm Anderson and daughter Fiona Hyslop. Including myself, there were over a dozen people present – all “HK family members”.
The following day, on December 24th, I visited with Ida Speller in her home. I showed her the pictures I had of Larry and Anne in their new home in Winnipeg and some from the Cenotaph in Victoria the day before. We had some tea and had a really nice visit together.
Our Spring Luncheon in Vancouver will not be the same this year. We will miss Frank singing “The Galloping Grenadiers”. Frank Brown (WG) passed away peacefully on January 18, 2008 in Chilliwack BC at Heritage Village surrounded by family and friends. A private memorial gathering took place on February 10 which was very well attended by family and friends. The family has made a donation to the Memorial Wall in Frank’s memory. Four new family members joined the HKVCA after the Service.
During the last week of February, Ralph Maclean was visiting in Victoria. Gwen Day was a wonderful tour guide and the two of them went to lunch together in the harbor and drove along the ocean with spectacular views. Gerry and Ev and Gwen and I were invited to lunch with Ralph on Saturday, March 1st but unfortunately, he came down with a cold and made the decision to return to Calgary and “home” earlier than planned. He phoned me to apologize and, of course, I told him not to worry a bit about it. We all understood. He said that he loved his visit to Victoria and will be coming back again. We look forward to seeing you then, Ralph.
In my last report to you I spoke about attending the play “Padre” on August 28th. It was a one man play presented by Jeff Forst based on his great-grandfather Honorary Captain Uriah Laite’s writings during four years in Hong Kong POW camps. I neglected to tell you this part of that story and I’d really like to tell you now.
There was a display of photo albums with old pictures from that time and four khaki-colored notebooks that were hand-written by Uriah Laite. In the notebook he used to write his sermons, I noticed a short poem that he had written at the front. In my mind, it was no doubt how this Chaplain for the Winnipeg Grenadiers had lived his life. It went like this:
“I expect to pass through this world but once. Any
good therefore that I can do, or any kindness that I can show to any fellow
creature, let me do it now. Let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not pass
this way again.”
Good words to live by. God bless you and keep you, until we meet again.
Manitoba Moments ….
- Juliet Lafortune
On
October 27th we held a successful HKVA Reunion Dinner with good food,
music and a wonderful silent auction, thanks to our members. We were
honoured to have these HK veterans and their families in attendance –
L-R Grant Shepherd, Art Lousier, George Peterson, Larry Stebbe, John
Maruschak and Ferd Poitras.
We
were also pleased to have the following widows and their families attend – L-R -
Florence Wiebe, Helen Prieston, Joan Watson, Angie Bourbonniere, Pat Maltman,
Mary Sellers, Alexandra Slovinsky, and Ladena Mabley. Everyone had a great time
and it is nice to see the grandchildren attend.
In November, we are grateful to several of our members, throughout the
province, who laid wreaths in their communities to honour the members of 'C'
Force. We also participated at the service held at the Convention Centre in
Winnipeg.
We connect with our membership through our monthly luncheons, held on the 2nd
Thursday of the month, which have been been well attended despite the cold
weather. We also have a Communications person, Bonnie Wiebe, who phones our
senior members to ensure all is well with them. Four times a year, we hold a
Ladies Tea & Tidbits, the next one will be March 15th and hopefully we will have
many ladies join us. Everyone has a good time reminiscing and it is great for
the ladies to share their lives and stories.
We are currently in the election process and waiting for the results which will be reported in the next issue of the newsletter.
Birthday wishes are extended to George Peterson, HK MB President, who
celebrated his 87th on February 8 and to his wife, Margaret, on the 9th . Bob
Lytle received his 60-year service medal from the Royal Canadian Legion,
Charleswood Branch and his wife Myrtle received her 60-year service medal from
the Charleswood Ladies Auxiliary. This is certainly a wonderful accomplishment.
Here
is Nada and Bill Bell, WG, celebrating their 62nd wedding anniversary –
Congratulations and many more.
We send our best wishes to
Pat Maltman, Bob Lytle, Helen Prieston and all those who are facing health
challenges – our prayers are with you. To all our members who have celebrated
special days, we wish you the best of health, luck and happiness. Please share
these special times with us as you are important and we like to hear from you.
Happy Easter and May God Bless you all.
Ontario Offerings….
See the articles: "Apple for the Teacher" and "Hong Kong Veterans Remembered".
Quebec Quotes ….
- Lucette Mailloux Muir
Greetings one and all.
Since our last National Newsletter we were quite busy starting with the November 11th wreath laying ceremonies etc to commemorate our fallen Heroes.
In December our edition of “The Torch” went out to all our members. We then relaxed with family and friends during the Holiday Season.
Where did the year go? Quebec was busy with it’s activities, there was a great Convention and then the ‘C’ Force Memorial Wall project, a very full year!
To date, 2008 is promising to also be a very busy year.
QC Reunion 2008
We are pleased to report that, yes, there will be a 2008 Reunion. It will take place in Granby, at the Castel Hotel & Spa August 14-17, 2008. The invitation Kits will be mailed early April. An extended invitation is made to all our friends of the Hong Kong Family, if you would like to attend our Reunion, just send a note to QC Region and we will send you a Kit. It would be a pleasure to have you join us in Granby.
Last Post
We recently lost two more of our HK Vets, Robert Olscamp,
Bob enjoyed life and loved to attend Reunions and Conventions to see his
“friends”.
Hector Hunt at the age of 96, the last of the six Hunt Boys who joined the Army.
Three of them were POWs in HK.
WE WILL REMEMBER THEM!
More deaths will be reported later in this edition.
Membership
We are no exception, we work on keeping our membership number and encourage all our paying members to check their cards as we are well in the new year. To date we are pleased to welcome three new members to our Hong Kong family.
Quebec Region wishes All of you a very Happy Easter.
That will be all for this time. Take care and stay healthy.
Maritime Memories…
-Neil Darragh
The Atlantic region met in October of 2007 in Florenceville, NB. A good crowd and a good time were had by all. This year there were 3 HKVets that attended the reunion. This was Bernard LeBlanc's first reunion. It was nice to see a member from Cape Breton attend and take on the position of Treasurer for the Atlantic Region. Verna Pearson, due to family commitments, passed the torch to Bernard. Special thanks go out to Verna for her years of devotion and dedication as both treasurer and membership.
There were very large turnouts at all Remembrance Day ceremonies province-wide. Thousands of people were at the Grand Parade site in Halifax despite the very cold and windy conditions. Wreaths in honour of our Hong Kong Vets were laid in Dartmouth, Halifax and Arichat. Helen Wedge placed the wreath in Dartmouth. Her son Ian Bilek, Bernard LeBlanc (new treasurer) and his son Robert, laid the wreath in Halifax. Many dignitaries were present for this service, giving good exposure to our Association with a great feeling to be part of such an event.
The article written by Murray Doull was sent to several newspapers in NS but, disappointingly, it didn't appear in any of them. Must try and convince them to publish next year. Local cable TV in Arichat did put in a community announcement which was a part of the article. A beginning of something I hope!
The mayor of Campbellton NB, Mark Ramsay, will be planting a tree in memory of the Hong Kong Vets and will also be installing a historical plaque with a brief description of the Battle of Hong Kong.