Reflective Kiwi %-)
A Tribute to My Father... War Veteran of the Dieppe Raid August 19 1942
August 19th is the Anniversary of the 1942 WW2 Dieppe Raids on the Coast of France... which my Father was involved in. He was amongst the first of the Canadian Army Commandos to land on the beaches... where he was badly wounded. He spent the next year rehabilitating in London and had to leave the Army due to his injuries. He retrained as a radio operator and that's when he joined the Canadian Merchant Marines... which brought him down to NZ... where he consequently met my Mum.. and the rest is history. So in a way, if it wasn't for that cruel twist of fate, I wouldn't be here today.
For some time now I've been wanting to put together a tribute to him in recognition of all that he went through.. and how incredibly proud I am of him. These are a few of his old momentos that Mum still has in his little safety box. Including his war medals, his army knife, his ID cards and also a little newspaper clipping his family kept that was published in their local paper. Also a few old photos of him from the war.
Dad died in 1989.... when I was only 23. I wish I could have talked to him about this, but it was never appropriate. He was always very sensitive and emotional about the war. Didn't like to talk about it. He would just say "You wouldn't understand". I remember the day his medals arrived.... in the post... unexpected! 1983 it was - 40 years after the war! They were sent by the CanadianVeteran Affairs Office. They'd been sitting there all those years. It was an emotional day. I remember him saying to me... "Well there's one for each of you kids". I still get emotional too when I think about it and what he must have gone through. He was right, at the time I didn't understand. It's only been in more recent years that I have learned about what happened in Dieppe and the terrible tragedies inflicted on the Canadian Regiments. I did know that he lost a lot of comrades and was one of the lucky ones to have survived.
So this is for you Dad,
and for all the incredibly brave soldiers who fought so bravely for their country.
You will never be forgotten.... and what you went through will never be forgotten!
www.canadianbattlefieldsfoundation.ca/Route_of_Honour/Tex...
www.junobeach.org/e/2/can-eve-mob-die-e.htm#null
www.culture24.org.uk/history/war/world+war+two/tra13494
A Tribute to My Father... War Veteran of the Dieppe Raid August 19 1942
August 19th is the Anniversary of the 1942 WW2 Dieppe Raids on the Coast of France... which my Father was involved in. He was amongst the first of the Canadian Army Commandos to land on the beaches... where he was badly wounded. He spent the next year rehabilitating in London and had to leave the Army due to his injuries. He retrained as a radio operator and that's when he joined the Canadian Merchant Marines... which brought him down to NZ... where he consequently met my Mum.. and the rest is history. So in a way, if it wasn't for that cruel twist of fate, I wouldn't be here today.
For some time now I've been wanting to put together a tribute to him in recognition of all that he went through.. and how incredibly proud I am of him. These are a few of his old momentos that Mum still has in his little safety box. Including his war medals, his army knife, his ID cards and also a little newspaper clipping his family kept that was published in their local paper. Also a few old photos of him from the war.
Dad died in 1989.... when I was only 23. I wish I could have talked to him about this, but it was never appropriate. He was always very sensitive and emotional about the war. Didn't like to talk about it. He would just say "You wouldn't understand". I remember the day his medals arrived.... in the post... unexpected! 1983 it was - 40 years after the war! They were sent by the CanadianVeteran Affairs Office. They'd been sitting there all those years. It was an emotional day. I remember him saying to me... "Well there's one for each of you kids". I still get emotional too when I think about it and what he must have gone through. He was right, at the time I didn't understand. It's only been in more recent years that I have learned about what happened in Dieppe and the terrible tragedies inflicted on the Canadian Regiments. I did know that he lost a lot of comrades and was one of the lucky ones to have survived.
So this is for you Dad,
and for all the incredibly brave soldiers who fought so bravely for their country.
You will never be forgotten.... and what you went through will never be forgotten!
www.canadianbattlefieldsfoundation.ca/Route_of_Honour/Tex...
www.junobeach.org/e/2/can-eve-mob-die-e.htm#null
www.culture24.org.uk/history/war/world+war+two/tra13494