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| A gun salute at a Remembrance Day in Medicine Hat in 2008. |
Ellis was a short-hand hand typist for the British Army during the Second World War. I met her in November of 1997 at the Army, Navy & Air Force Veterans club located on Broad Street in Regina, Sask.
I was putting together a Remembrance Day story for the features class I was taking at the University of Regina’s School of Journalism and Communications. The first meeting ended up being a very impromptu social one.
I got to see her one other time about a year later at that same veterans club, when I was working on another war related story. Once again, a great social encounter ensued.
It is quite obvious that those meetings were very enjoyable from my end, because I still remember Ellis all these years later.
Having been born and raised in England, she came over to Canada as a war bride of a Canadian military man to go along with the fact she was a military veteran. Ellis eventually ended up relocating to Regina with her husband, Jack.
I remember she told me during that first meeting that Jack had passed away a few years back.
At the time we first met, I was 21-years-old and she was in great shape at age 75. Ellis was 17-years-old when the Second World War started and had turned 23-years-old when it ended.
Even as young as I was back then, I always believed you should treat veterans of the First World War and the Second World War with the utmost respect. I viewed them as the greatest generation that had to make sacrifices even people at the time I met Ellis in 1997 and to the current day wouldn’t be able to do.
When I met Ellis, I saw veterans as being stoic and principled.
It didn’t occur to me they could be sociable and fun loving in a relaxed social setting like most everyone else in society.
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| Veterans march at Remembrance Day in Medicine Hat in 2008. |
Over a couple of alcoholic drinks, we talked about all sorts of old stories. The veterans also teased me the a little bit, which created a number of laughs too. I knew it was all in fun.
The discussion drifted a little bit to what happened in war time. Ellis talked about what it was like to live through the Battle of Britain in 1940, when the Royal Air Force and the Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Navy defended the United Kingdom against large scale attacks by Nazi Germany’s air force.
She mentioned she got to transmit the order to start the Allied invasion of Normandy, which is often referred to as D-Day, in June of 1944.
The vast majority of talk revolved around life after the war including the joy of watching children grow up, fun trips that were taken to various travel destinations, recollections from working world life and memories of various social functions over the years.
From the crew Ellis hung out with, you got a sense that life was well lived and enjoyed after the Second World War came to an end.
It might sound weird, but during that visit, I didn’t see those veterans as being that different from the young university crowd I was part of at that time.
When I got into a more serious reflective alone time back then, it did hit me that those veterans were all around the same age as me in 1997 when they were fighting the Second World War. Due to when I was born, I was fortunate enough that I didn’t have to go through that.
Hearing the social time stories from those veterans, it actually made me see similarities in my young generation to their generation, and it did hit you in new way that it was crazy in what they had to deal with.
Overall, the visit with Ellis and her crew was fun, and I made a note in my mind to take part in those social gatherings in the future. I figured it was always wise to take advantage of any opportunity to hang out with a Second World War veteran, when those opportunities presented themselves.
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| Standing at attention at Remembrance Day in Medicine Hat in 2008. |
Due to how busy life could get, Remembrance Day allowed them that one day each year they could all get together and see each other.
As years went on, I tried to ensure I made Remembrance Day services, and at least twice during the 10 years I lived in Medicine Hat, Alta., I made it to social gatherings that were held after the services.
When I was at one of those gatherings in 2008 in Medicine Hat, I was hanging with two younger military veterans that day, and they were telling me the veterans from the Second World War were starting to pass away in bigger numbers due to old age.
One year earlier in the summer of 2007, I visited with my uncle Sid and auntie Joanna Sargent in Penticton, B.C. Sid was a veteran of the Second World War.
My auntie Marie Corrigal arrived for that family get together, and I remember Sid talking about the social gatherings that happened in Canada before going overseas for war during the era of the Second World War.
I had never heard those stories before, but I got a chuckle out of them.
As the Second World War veterans pass on, you worry that some of these stories might get lost over time.
Today, I decided to Google search Peggy Ellis’s name. I found her obituary that ran in the Regina Leader-Post.
Margaret “Peggy” Ellis passed away on May 1, 2018 at age 95 and a few months shy of her 96th birthday in August of that year. I saw a note in the obituary that she was predeceased by Jack in 1989.
The piece said she was involved with the Army, Navy & Air Force Veterans Association for 41 years and was honoured for her dedication and commitment.
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| A moment of silence at Remembrance Day in Medicine Hat in 2008. |
I was happy I got to take part in those two social gatherings at the Army, Navy, & Air Force Veterans club with her and her crew. I got to see things in a way I had never seen before.
If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.
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