Sara Berkshire

Ms. Sara Berkshire was born August 5, 1964 in Comox, British Columbia. Growing up in a military family, Sara was very interested in serving her country, wanting to make it her number one goal in life! To begin her military career, Sara briefly joined Cadets. Later on, she enlisted with the Army as a Communication Researcher (Communicator Research Operator) holding rank of Corporal. As well as serving In Canada, Sara served on missions to Kabul, Afghanistan. After being medically discharged in 2008, Sara left the Canadian Forces after 17 years service. Sara now resides in Kingston, Ontario.

Training a Bit Daunting!

Fear of the Unknown

Calling Out for my Life!

After Effects of Military Service

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Marshall Chow

Marshall Chow in Kingston, Ontario

This North Battleford, Saskatchewan native volunteered for service in Europe where he served for 4 years as a wireless operator.

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Mary Laura Wong

Mary Laura Wong (Mah) enlisted with the CWAC (Canadian Women's Army Corps) in Vancouver, British Columbia where she was employed as a teletype keyboard operator. « View Transcript

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Heros Remembered - James Gratto - When the Belgian People Left

When the Belgian people were taken, fled out of the country, it was just like walking into a villa. Which is a villa, but it's a house like in Bay Ridge but they call them villas right? You walk into a house and the clothes are still hanging in the closet, a jacket might be still on the back of a chair because all they took was their money or valuables and left. If not, they would have been hacked to death. Link

Canadian Forces in Congo

Collection of interviews with veterans of the Canadian Forces recount their experience of military service in Congo. The veterans of this video are: Bob Terry, Fred LeBlanc, Ed Dubinsky, Ron Knapton, Bert Diamond and James Gratto. Link

Heros Remembered - Ron Knapton - First Impressions of the Congo

Mr. Knapton describes the sights when first arriving in the Congo. Link

Heros Remembered - Fred Leblanc

Fred LeBlanc was born on September 5, 1935 in Moncton, New Brunswick. Having trouble finding a job, he decided to join the Royal Canadian Signal Corps. He remembers convincing his mother to sign the permission slip because he was only 17and a half. After three months of training Mr. LeBlanc had to leave for brain surgery. He believes he was lucky it happened while he was in training because he probably would not have survived if it had happened during civilian life. In 1953 he went to Kingston,Ontario his first time away from home. Mr. LeBlanc was trained as a as a teletype operator and eventually became a cryptographer. With young children and a wife back home Mr. LeBlanc was posted to Congo for a seven month tour.

1. History of the Congo
2. What the Congo was
3. Victims of a Congolese Attack

Heroes Remembered, Carl McVicar

Carl McVicar was born in Glace Bay, Nova Scotia, on August 23, 1925. His father was a coal miner, who developed tuberculosis during the 1930s, so times were tough. Mr. McVicar left Glace Bay in 1941, at the age of 16. He learned how to work as a wireless operator at a young age. His father was friends with a gentleman who was in charge of Marconi Towers in Glace Bay and Mr. McVicar learned how to work in the radio room during their frequent visits to Marconi Towers. At the young age of 16, Mr. McVicar enlisted with the Merchant Marine and was taken right away, because they were in need of Wirless Operators. He trained with the Royal Canadian Corps of Signals and was sent to Labrador to build stations. After receiving an overseas medal, Mr. McVicar was shipped to Victoria, B.C., for specialized wireless training, then he was sent to Australia and New Guinea, where he witnessed such amazing things as the Enola Gay taking off to drop the first atomic bomb on Japan. He remained in the South Pacific until coming home to Canada after the War was declared over. After returning to Canada, he lived and worked in Toronto, until he returned to the East Coast after one year.

1: Atomic Bomb
2: Japanese Prisoners of War
3: Canadian Prisoners of War
4: No surrender

Heroes Remembered, John Nystad

John Nystad, was born in 1941 in Holland. He never knew his mother as he was separated from her at a very young age during the Second World War and his father, a member of the Dutch Army, ended up being taken as a prisoner of war. As a result Mr. Nystad lived in an orphanage with several other children where they were served one meal a day and shared a bed with five or six others. After the end of the Second World War he was reunited with his father and in 1953 they immigrated to Canada. Mr. Nystad lived in southwestern Ontario until he joined the army and became a member of the Royal Canadian Signals. During his 12 year career in the army he served overseas in Egypt, Gaza and Cyprus and had many jobs ranging from a truck driver to being an electrician.

1: “The Green Line”
2: Heading to Gaza
3: Airborne Jump Training

Heroes Remembered, John Grand

Mr. Grand was born in 1909 in, as he described it, “a small hamlet in the wilderness of southern Manitoba.” His father homesteaded in Manitoba and then Saskatchewan. John Grand described his growing up during the Depression as poor and tough.

Mr. Grand was very interested in electronics as a teenager and held an amateur radio licence. He tried to join the Signal Corps in the 1930's, but was rejected for being “too flat-chested”. He remembers being so poor that he often joined the soup line to get something to eat. His first job was on the assembly line at Canadian Marconi for eleven cents an hour.

He joined the Royal Canadian Corps of Signals when war was declared in 1939. He was first assigned as a radio operator, but when his superiors saw his mechanical skills he was quickly re-assigned as a radio technician. His overseas service included landing at Dieppe, participating in the Normandy Campaign and in the liberation of Holland.

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1: Road to Portsmouth and Dieppe
2: Given Their Orders
3: English Channel Voyage to Dieppe
4: Carnage and Courage
5: Homing Pigeons Carry Message of Losses
6: Back In France - D-Day plus 2
7: A Return To Dieppe
8: War Nears End...in Germany
9: The War Is Over!
10: Cigarettes for a Fine Camera
11: Words to Young Canadians
12: A Plea for Understanding the Cost

Heroes Remembered, Ronald John Routledge

Mr. Routledge was born September 1, 1920. His father, a decorator by trade, was a member of the Regina Rifles and served in the First World War. Mr. Routledge came from a family of four children. He had three sisters, one older and two younger. His father encouraged him to join the Regina Rifles Regiment cadet program when he was 14. After completing high school, shortly before Canada declared war on Germany, he enlisted with the Regina Rifles. He enlisted with the artillery but soon switched to the Canadian Corps of Signals and trained as a wireless operator. In October, 1941, he and 32 other members of the Signals Corp were told they were headed overseas. They boarded a vessel in Vancouver, not knowing until they were near the Philippines that they were heading for Hong Kong. They eventually arrived in Hong Kong and were assigned to barracks at Shamshuipo. Mr. Routledge was wounded when the Japanese made their first attack on Shamshuipo in December, 1942. After spending time in hospital, he returned to continue his service as a wireless operator. He was taken POW on Boxing Day after the commanding officer of the troops on the Stanley Peninsula surrendered to the Japanese. Following his release at the end of the war, he was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal (DCM), the second highest award for bravery in the British Empire. Mr. Routledge remained in the army as a career soldier

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1: The Japanese Attack Shamshuipo
2: Hong Kong Falls
3: The Nightmare Begins
4: Tough Japanese Guards
5: Life At Shamshuipo
6: Caught And Tortured
7: The Torture Continued
8: Moved To Stanley Prison
9: Charges of Espionage - Court Martial Pending
10: Hell At Stanley Prison
11: Canton Prison - Worse
12: Little Food Results in Rapid, Large Weight Loss
13: It’s Finally Over!
14: The Return To Allied Care
15: Reunion With The Family
16: Dealing With The Experience
17: His Thoughts About The People Of Japan
18: His Thoughts About The Government of Canada That Sent Them

Heros Remembered, David Loyd Hart

David Lloyd Hart was born in Montréal, Quebec, on July 7, 1917. One of seven boys, Mr. Hart worked as an accountant while he was a student. He spent his spare time with the army reserves and high school cadets. He served with the Fourth Divisional Signals from 1937 and entered active service in September 1939.

With the Royal Canadian Corps Second Divisional Signals, Mr. Hart went to the Dieppe Raid as a sergeant. He was responsible for briefing the men on a ship that they had never been trained on. The ship suffered many bombings and those aboard were expecting to be taken prisoner. However, they were towed from the Dieppe shore by the Navy as the last Allied ship to return. At the end of the war, Mr. Hart had earned the title of Lieutenant Colonel.

When Mr. Hart returned to Canada, he earned his degree in accounting and became a chartered accountant. He joined the Reserve Army 4th Division Signals in 1945. In 1961, he commanded the unit for five years under its new name, 11th Signals Regiment. In 1976, he was made the Honorary Lieutenant Colonel of that same unit, now called 712 Communications Squadron. Mr. Hart is currently living in Saint-Laurent, Quebec, and this will be his fifth trip back to Dieppe.

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Heroes Remembered, Fred Pollak

Mr. Pollak was born May 20, 1919, in Vrezno, Czechoslovakia, a small town in the German part of Bohemia. In September of 1938, his family was expelled from Vrezno and had to go inland to Prague. They arrived in Canada as refugees in August of 1939 and lived in Prescott, Ontario. Mr. Pollak eventually joined the Canadian Army, enlisting as a typist. At the end of the war, Mr. Pollak monitored radio transmissions for German traffic and was also employed as an interrogator of war criminals in Belsen.

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1: Decoding German Signals
2: Differentiation of Signals (Part 1 of 2)
3: Differentiation of Signals (Part 2 of 2)
4: 21 Panzer Division
5: Crossing the Rhine
6: Werewolf Operation

Heroes Remembered - Thomas Spear

Thomas Spear was born on October 22, 1896 in Alberta. His father was Reverend David Spear, a pioneer missionary in the Northwest Territories. As a youngster, Thomas often accompanied his father travelling in winter by horse and sleigh. When the First World War started, Mr. Spear was living in Emerson, Manitoba working for the Canadian Pacific Railroad as a telegraph operator. In January 1916 he enlisted in the Canadian Signal Corps and in April of that year sailed aboard The Baltic to England. Before heading to the battlefields of France, Mr. Spear was given additional training. One of the things he had to learn was the Continental Code or semaphore, which had a number of different characters from Morse Code. Mr. Spear was one of the first to learn wireless communication and eventually manned a wireless truck near the front.

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1: Division Transfer Request
2: German Surrender
3: RCAF Duty
4: Message to Youth