Lest We Forget

My big  sister Glenna painted this portrait of our Dad. 

My father was one of the least soldier-like men that I've met but none the less he signed up early with the Royal Canadian Signal Corps and headed overseas. He served with the 5th Canadian Armoured Division in Italy and Holland as a front line linesman, laying and repairing telephone lines under fire amongst other  things. He didn't like to talk about how he earned the citation so I won't share the whole story here but he did share it with me once after I was in uniform myself. It wasn't some instance of dramatic heroism though, more a matter of steadfast, determined duty in difficult, dangerous circumstances when a counter attack broke through and divisional HQ was temporarily over run in Holland, far behind where he and his assistant were doing their job.

Fourteen years to the day since I last saw him alive but,
I remember.

A closer look at his commendation sign by Montgomery.