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To mark Canada’s sesquicentennial, the Citizen’s Bruce Deachman met and photographed 150 people in the Ottawa area, encouraging them to tell their stories that, combined, painted an intimate portrait of the region and the people who live, work and play here. The series, which was published daily leading up to Canada Day, was called Capital Voices. It continues on a somewhat less rigorously defined schedule.
Ralph Storey: “I was born on November 11, 1937, in Napanee. So my birthday was always on Remembrance Day. There were always parades in Napanee; my brother was a veteran. And I had a brother in Korea.
“So I like uniforms. When I was a youngster, maybe five or six, my mother made me a uniform. She sewed it for me out of a uniform; she made me a little hat, a jacket and a pair of pants, and I was just as proud as a peacock with that.
“I started as a cub scout. And this is back when you bought your cubs uniform at Eaton’s. And I went to scouts, with the big Stetson hat. I got that handed down from my brother. And then in high school I got into army cadets. I went to cadet camp in 1952, at Ipperwash, and then in 1953 I went to cadet camp at Camp Borden.
“I joined the reserves at 16. And that summer I went to camp at Niagara-on-the-Lake as a militia callout. So I thought that was really good. There were about 100 other guys there, all keen and eager to join. So I went for my interview, and they said ‘do you like school?’ And I said ‘no, I hate school.’ And they said ‘no, you don’t like school, and the Soldier Apprentice Program is half a day school and half a day military, every day. Come back when you’re 17 and you can join.’
“So before I turned 17 I went to the PD, the personnel department, in Kingston. They sent me down to the personnel department, 13 Wallace House, in Ottawa. And I signed up on the 22nd of November. I was in Germany for two years, came back when I was 19. Things were pretty terrible there. The cities were all bombed to hell, and there was still a lot of animosity. Most of them didn’t like us one bit, and we didn’t like them. I mean, some of them were really good; it depends where you were.
“I loved the military. I loved the discipline. It doesn’t bother me if somebody says I want you up at 5:30 in the morning, or 2 o’clock in the morning, and you’re going to go out there and do whatever. I can handle that.
“The closest I ever came to combat was in Cyprus, with the UN. Did I want to go to combat? I wasn’t looking forward to it, but you do what you’re told to do. And I went to Australia in the late 1960s on a warfare course, because they were thinking of sending Canadian troops to Vietnam.
Ralph Storey, far right, wearing a uniform his mother made for him. Beside him are siblings Helen and Earl.
“I stayed in the military. I worked my way up the ranks. I was a field engineer. We put in bridges and laid mines and supplied water and built airfields and roads and all that stuff. I also had two NATO tours, back in the ’50s and again in the early ’70s, up near Lahr.
“November 11 was always a parade, and we always had clam chowder. And there was always rum.”
Ed Storey: “I was born in Pembroke on the 28th of April, 1960. I joined the reserves in 1978. I was in high school at the time. I was 18. Before that, I had been in cadets. And I was in cadets in Germany when we were there in the early 1970s. So I was in cadets for about a year, year and a half, at Petawawa, and then I stopped going. But I was in high school and a buddy of mine had joined the reserves, and he was telling me about all the fun they were having out in the field and all this sort of stuff. So he kind of convinced me to join as well. That was the infantry reserves.
“I was always interested in the military. I’m more on the technical side; I love the stuff that’s involved in it, all the things they use. The weaponry, uniforms, the insignia. How was it made? How long has it been in use? I can identify it all and tell you when it was made. I can tell you the difference between a No. 69 grenade and a 36 grenade. I was interested in that aspect of things. Also, I was in high school and then going to college — Algonquin College in Pembroke — so it was a good part-time job. Bring in some bucks and get to play army.
“And I came to Ottawa to continue college, and I joined the Governor General’s Foot Guards. And I was with them for another two years. But in the summer of 1980 I got a chance to be with the Mapping and Charting division, with the reg force. Every summer they hired half a dozen reservists to work in the unit. So they hired me, and I liked it. It was an office job, so I wasn’t out in the field digging slit trenches and living in tents.
“Anyway, I was eventually asked if I wanted to join the unit, which was rare because they didn’t normally take reservists. So I said sure. So in the fall of 1982 I join the regular force, in Mapping and Charting. And I stayed with them until 2008 when I retired from the regular force and took a reserve job.
“I was posted to Yugoslavia in 1993, for a year. My son was three weeks old when I left, and I didn’t see him until eight months later. His name is Charles, and he’s in the navy now.
“It was a great career. I tell anybody, if you’re thinking of a career in the military, go for it; you can make a lot out of it. And the harder you work … Look at my father; he went from a sapper to chief warrant officer.
“So dad is turning 80 and he’s never paraded in Ottawa. We attended once, just to watch, and it rained like a bastard.”
Ralph: “My wife and I always go to the ceremony in Petawawa.”
Ed: “I usually attend the ceremony at the National War Memorial in Ottawa. And then I do volunteer work at the Canadian War Museum. But this year, because it’s dad’s 80th birthday, I wanted to do something different. And I knew dad and I had never paraded up here in Ottawa.
“I have a new outlook on Remembrance Day. When I was working at Star Top Road, originally for the Canadian Expeditionary Force Command — they oversaw the missions outside of Canada — and then Canadian Joint Operations Command when they changed their name, my job in 2010 and 2011 was to repatriate the memorials to the fallen in Afghanistan. There is one at Kandahar airfield, and another at Camp Mirage in Dubai. My job was to bring those back. So November 11 took on a new meaning for me, having done that job. I got to see, first hand, the mementos that were left on the memorials. There were three sea containers of things brought back, that people had sent over. You got to see what it meant to other people. It became more personal.”
Ralph: “For me, the older you got, you’d see the numbers who died. That’s what shakes you up. Ten-thousand guys killed in one day sort of thing. You think about it. That’s what I think about.”
Ed: “And for me it’s an honour to parade with my dad. To get together and be at the cenotaph and not only march on his birthday, but to do it on November 11 and think back to my two uncles that served overseas and everybody that’s in the military and all those who paid the price.”
— Ralph and Ed Storey, Arnprior, Nov. 4, 2017.
bdeachman@postmedia.com
查看原文...
Ralph Storey: “I was born on November 11, 1937, in Napanee. So my birthday was always on Remembrance Day. There were always parades in Napanee; my brother was a veteran. And I had a brother in Korea.
“So I like uniforms. When I was a youngster, maybe five or six, my mother made me a uniform. She sewed it for me out of a uniform; she made me a little hat, a jacket and a pair of pants, and I was just as proud as a peacock with that.
“I started as a cub scout. And this is back when you bought your cubs uniform at Eaton’s. And I went to scouts, with the big Stetson hat. I got that handed down from my brother. And then in high school I got into army cadets. I went to cadet camp in 1952, at Ipperwash, and then in 1953 I went to cadet camp at Camp Borden.
“I joined the reserves at 16. And that summer I went to camp at Niagara-on-the-Lake as a militia callout. So I thought that was really good. There were about 100 other guys there, all keen and eager to join. So I went for my interview, and they said ‘do you like school?’ And I said ‘no, I hate school.’ And they said ‘no, you don’t like school, and the Soldier Apprentice Program is half a day school and half a day military, every day. Come back when you’re 17 and you can join.’
“So before I turned 17 I went to the PD, the personnel department, in Kingston. They sent me down to the personnel department, 13 Wallace House, in Ottawa. And I signed up on the 22nd of November. I was in Germany for two years, came back when I was 19. Things were pretty terrible there. The cities were all bombed to hell, and there was still a lot of animosity. Most of them didn’t like us one bit, and we didn’t like them. I mean, some of them were really good; it depends where you were.
“I loved the military. I loved the discipline. It doesn’t bother me if somebody says I want you up at 5:30 in the morning, or 2 o’clock in the morning, and you’re going to go out there and do whatever. I can handle that.
“The closest I ever came to combat was in Cyprus, with the UN. Did I want to go to combat? I wasn’t looking forward to it, but you do what you’re told to do. And I went to Australia in the late 1960s on a warfare course, because they were thinking of sending Canadian troops to Vietnam.
Ralph Storey, far right, wearing a uniform his mother made for him. Beside him are siblings Helen and Earl.
“I stayed in the military. I worked my way up the ranks. I was a field engineer. We put in bridges and laid mines and supplied water and built airfields and roads and all that stuff. I also had two NATO tours, back in the ’50s and again in the early ’70s, up near Lahr.
“November 11 was always a parade, and we always had clam chowder. And there was always rum.”
Ed Storey: “I was born in Pembroke on the 28th of April, 1960. I joined the reserves in 1978. I was in high school at the time. I was 18. Before that, I had been in cadets. And I was in cadets in Germany when we were there in the early 1970s. So I was in cadets for about a year, year and a half, at Petawawa, and then I stopped going. But I was in high school and a buddy of mine had joined the reserves, and he was telling me about all the fun they were having out in the field and all this sort of stuff. So he kind of convinced me to join as well. That was the infantry reserves.
“I was always interested in the military. I’m more on the technical side; I love the stuff that’s involved in it, all the things they use. The weaponry, uniforms, the insignia. How was it made? How long has it been in use? I can identify it all and tell you when it was made. I can tell you the difference between a No. 69 grenade and a 36 grenade. I was interested in that aspect of things. Also, I was in high school and then going to college — Algonquin College in Pembroke — so it was a good part-time job. Bring in some bucks and get to play army.
“And I came to Ottawa to continue college, and I joined the Governor General’s Foot Guards. And I was with them for another two years. But in the summer of 1980 I got a chance to be with the Mapping and Charting division, with the reg force. Every summer they hired half a dozen reservists to work in the unit. So they hired me, and I liked it. It was an office job, so I wasn’t out in the field digging slit trenches and living in tents.
“Anyway, I was eventually asked if I wanted to join the unit, which was rare because they didn’t normally take reservists. So I said sure. So in the fall of 1982 I join the regular force, in Mapping and Charting. And I stayed with them until 2008 when I retired from the regular force and took a reserve job.
“I was posted to Yugoslavia in 1993, for a year. My son was three weeks old when I left, and I didn’t see him until eight months later. His name is Charles, and he’s in the navy now.
“It was a great career. I tell anybody, if you’re thinking of a career in the military, go for it; you can make a lot out of it. And the harder you work … Look at my father; he went from a sapper to chief warrant officer.
“So dad is turning 80 and he’s never paraded in Ottawa. We attended once, just to watch, and it rained like a bastard.”
Ralph: “My wife and I always go to the ceremony in Petawawa.”
Ed: “I usually attend the ceremony at the National War Memorial in Ottawa. And then I do volunteer work at the Canadian War Museum. But this year, because it’s dad’s 80th birthday, I wanted to do something different. And I knew dad and I had never paraded up here in Ottawa.
“I have a new outlook on Remembrance Day. When I was working at Star Top Road, originally for the Canadian Expeditionary Force Command — they oversaw the missions outside of Canada — and then Canadian Joint Operations Command when they changed their name, my job in 2010 and 2011 was to repatriate the memorials to the fallen in Afghanistan. There is one at Kandahar airfield, and another at Camp Mirage in Dubai. My job was to bring those back. So November 11 took on a new meaning for me, having done that job. I got to see, first hand, the mementos that were left on the memorials. There were three sea containers of things brought back, that people had sent over. You got to see what it meant to other people. It became more personal.”
Ralph: “For me, the older you got, you’d see the numbers who died. That’s what shakes you up. Ten-thousand guys killed in one day sort of thing. You think about it. That’s what I think about.”
Ed: “And for me it’s an honour to parade with my dad. To get together and be at the cenotaph and not only march on his birthday, but to do it on November 11 and think back to my two uncles that served overseas and everybody that’s in the military and all those who paid the price.”
— Ralph and Ed Storey, Arnprior, Nov. 4, 2017.
bdeachman@postmedia.com
查看原文...
