april 08, 2009 12:39am
August 18, 2008 Start up promo for Hali
Monday August 18, 2008.
Start up promo for Halifax.
I arrived at the Calais Legion in Lower Sackville about 11am after doing a fallow up, interview with Mr. McLean.
After arriving at the Calais Legion I went upstairs and talked to the guy's and made arrangements to park the blue Bomber for a couple of nights, they let me plug in at the spaces that they had for RV's. It was great to be able to call the media from the legion because my cell phone bill is very high. Every time I make a call, Rogers charges me long distance charges from my home in London and long distance back to were ever I am, not cheap. Anyway I stayed for two nights and didn't get a single donation but I got a couple of interviews that were good ones.
I didn't have a computer to do my entries in the log book so I watched the Olympics on CBC sports. I hate having work to do and no way to do it. So I hit the hay.
april 08, 2009 12:36am
August 15, 2008 Rain Rain Rain
Thursday, August 15, 2008.
april 08, 2009 12:36am
August 14, 2008 Rain Rain Rain
Thursday, August 14, 2008.
april 08, 2009 12:36am
August 13, 2008 Rain Rain Rain
Wednesday August 13, 2008.
This morning has started as most of the mornings on this tour...RAIN.
I don't know what is going on with the weather this year but it is getting pretty old. I had been in contact with two friends of mine that I had met in London in May 2006 at a ceremony of remembrance of their fallen Brother James McDonald. I met the two brothers by the name of Lewis and Frances McDonald through my old scout leader named Harold La Pointe, you may recall Harold is the first veterans that I made a video recording of and that he was my old scout leader that was a influence in my young life. I call Lewis and Frances around ten o'clock and made arrangements to come into town and lead me and the Blue Bomber out to their home were I would spend a couple of days before I would take the Ferry to NS. I arranged for a donation from Northumberland Ferry's for the crossing the day before, They were very helpful and the donation will save a lot of the charities sort supply of money.
The brothers arrived at about 11am and Francis got into the Blue Bomber and I started it up, while we waited for the RV to warm up an elderly gentlemen approached the RV, I dismounted the RV and greeted the man. He said “I want shake your hand and tell you that you are doing a great job” I said thank you and asked him his name he said my name is James Ward. So I asked if we could do an interview, he agreed. So then I asked Lewis and Francis if they would mind if I did an interview before we left they said “of course”. So we went inside the #1 BR. of the legion in Charlottetown and set up for an interview. As we went along James told me that he was a photographer in the Navy and that he served on all three of our aircraft carriers. I asked if he would be interested in sharing some of his photo's, he said yes so we set up a time to meet he next day and finish the interview. I picked up and said good bye to everyone at the legion.
Frances got into the RV and Lewis lead the way out to the homestead. When we got the RV parked Lewis and Francis and I set out on a tour of their part of the Island and we had a good lunch on the way to the monument that their two fallen Brothers were enshrined on out front of the legion in ____Bay. After a couple of hours we ended up back at their home for dinner and lots of good conversation. They let me use the phone to call Harold up in London were he is visiting our good friend Nancy. Roberts She is a warm hearted gal from London were Harold spends his time when he is in London. She is a good friend to Harold, the brothers and myself. We had a good conversation with Harold who has, as I'm finding out has lots of stories that I have not heard yet. I must record the spaces in his story soon..I also had a chance to talk to John Bentley, John is a close friend and is a great help to me back in London. He is taking care of my cat Brutus and arranging to get more s-shirt printed for the FOV. I also talked with our VP Harry Watts, Harry is taking care of the funds for our gas through a generous company who appreciate the mission we are on and without the help of Vandyke travel we would have a hard time continuing our mission. I really like talking to Harry, every time I get off the phone with him I feel a new burst of adrenaline to carry on. The brothers and I talked a little more that night and listened to some fiddle music then I turned in for the night.
april 08, 2009 12:35am
August 12, 2008 CBC interview
Tuesday August 12, 2008
CBC interview
It was a great day for the F.O.V. Today. I spent the day at the Charlottetown CBC office recording a radio interview and a spot on the six o'clock news. Everyone was a great help to me. You see my Sony Cam corder when south on me just when I needed to let the CBC use some of my footage. The radio producer, Pat got the phone number out of his files of a man named Bill who may be able to help with my Cam corder problem. Bob lives outside of town about 5 km's. So I headed back to the Blue Bomber to change into my rain suit because its raining, again. When I got to Bill's place I met a man in his eighties answered the door, who was a navigator on a Mosquito aircraft during WW2. I asked him for an interview but then I realized that my cam corder was not working. So we went down to the basement and low a behold Bill had an entire editing suite in his house, Keep in mind that we are in the middle of the country on the island of PEI and I meet a guy with what seems like a TV studio in his basement. It turns out that Bill has been in the business for some time..If anyone can help me, Bill is the man. After a while we came to the conclusion that I may have to buy a new camera, but the problem is that We have no money for a new camera. Well you can Imagen the thoughts going through my head. What to do, what to do? Then the phone rang, it was the CBC they needed me at the studio for some additional shots of my bike before the evening news at six, this was 4:00. We tried the camera one more time with the help of a friend of bills that came over to help, To my great releaf the camera started to work so I quickly packed up and burned rubber to the CBC studio. When I got there I went straight to Pat's deck and started the cam corder and guess what, the camera was doing the same thing as before. We could not use my videos for the broadcast.. So I headed to to lobby to see if I could clean my camera and salvage all the work I have do to date. I cannot express the feelings I was having, have I let everyone down form Harry to our sponsor , Van Dyke Travel who gave us our gas money. I was cleaning the camera after taking the required shots with the CBC camera man for the news, when another CBC employee came up to me and gave me some advice on the proper cleaning of the heads on my camera. So I took his advice and cleaned the heads individually with a long q- tip and 99% pure alcohol, To my great relief the exercise worked and I was able to record my 6 minute segment on the CBC Maritime News. The interview was a good one with the commentator asking good questions. When I prepare for a an interview of this magnitude, I do not write down my answers ahead of time because I find that I can be a better subject if I play it by ear, off the cuff as it were, I am more entertain g and more apt to be asked to to another interview at another time
While on the island I met a couple of guy's in the movie business that may be interested in the documentary that I have in mind about the gathering of the video testimonials of our veterans, the “National Video-A-Veteran Contest” and the Trip to Holland and Belgium for the winners of the contest. There seem like a good bunch with some great idea's for funding, we'll see what comes from our meeting. I hope it works out because the message is so important.
I received a copy of the radio broadcast from the CBC for my records and I video ed my segment on the news. I have been told by a number of people that they had seen me on the news and others heard the radio broadcast. The coverage by all the media outlets in the tour so far have been very positive.
april 08, 2009 12:33am
August 11, 2008 Joe Foley
Monday August 11, 2008
Joe Foley.
april 08, 2009 12:33am
August 10, 2008 Moncton Times interview
Sunday August 10, 2008
Moncton Times interview
april 08, 2009 12:32am
August 9, 2008 Sniper view
Sat. August 9, 2008.
Sniper view
april 08, 2009 12:32am
August 8, 2008 It's got to get Better
Fri. August 8, 2008.
It's got to get Better...and does.
Today started with plugging in the donated computer and trying it out on the Internet and to check my email's. I still can't get over the generosity of the Pioneers, what a great group. I got cleaned up and set out across the street to the Veterans Heath Centre here in Moncton. I was met at the front door by the entertainment director for the centre named Andre Duguay. During our meeting yesterday Andre and I made arrangements to have the veterans that I was to interview, sign consent forms. This is standard procedure with most government installations.
Andre led the way down the halls in the centre to Bill Hubley room. Bill is a veteran of WW2. He served in a recon unit with the Duke of York Hussars, signing up in Moncton in 1943. Bill is an energetic man with a good sense of humor. We hit it off straight away. I got set up right away because Bill started telling me stories as soon as I got into the room. Andre made sure that Bill had his coffee heated up and we got started. Bill told me that the fun stared as soon as he got overseas. As the troop ship he was on entered the harbor in Scotland, all the men on board ran to one side of the ship because there was two Scottish ladies walking on the dock. After the ships captain pleaded for the men to level the load of the ship by not gathering on one side because the ship was listing badly. Bill is a big practical joker, as he told me and he thought that was funny, he laughed as he told me of the ship almost turning over in the harbor.
He told me of digging his slip trench in the dark one night and then realizing in the morning that he had
lots of leg room. After investigating further he found that he had dug his trench in a grave yard and as he put it, he had unexpected company.
On a more serious note Bill told me of a friendly fire incident that almost cost him his life. He was on a re con mission in France after landing on D+10. When a RAF Spitfire strafed their potion. He told me something that I didn't know, he said that they had a yellow banner with them that was a signal to the pilot of the plane, to tell them that they were friendly. We talked about how many times that our troops were involved in friendly fire accidents, he called them Boo-Boo's.
He signed up for the occupation army after Germany surrendered. He married a Dutch girl but it didn't work out. Bill worked as a bus driver for 37 years and had a good life, so far. We met later that day and had a beer together and I took some stills.
My second interview of the day was a man named Ivan Killam. Ivan was very open and we started talking about his service and when we started he told me that he was in Canada until 1944 and he thought that he didn't have much to tell me, boy was he wrong. Ivan was an infantry replacement, that ended up with he North Shore Regiment. For those of you who don't know, the North Shore Regiment was a tough bunch or fighters who where one the first regiments to land at Juno beach.
Ivan joined them later and he told me of being close to the place that the infamous Kurt Myer was being held. Ivan had some good stories about his time during the occupation. He was ordered to run the post office for his area. The post office was a very important thing to our army. In those day's a letter or especially a package from home was a special thing to the troops.
After our interview Ivan and I walked to the dinning room together and I think I made his day. We later that day took a couple of stills and said good-bye.
I would like to let everyone know out there that people like Andre and people like him make the last years of the lives of our veterans meaningful. Good show Andre.
I made the walk back across the street to the Blue Bomber to start the task of replacing all of the entries of my log from July 27 to August 8th because when my old computer gave up the ghost I lost everything from my log to a record of my e-mails for the last two years. This is a lesson learned, back up everything.
april 08, 2009 12:31am
August 7, 2008 Is there karma?
Thursday. August 7, 2008.
Is there karma?
Another day of rain today and I'm stuck in this RV. No interviews lined up so I decided to call every media outlet in town a call and give them the low down. I called the talk radio station in Moncton. The reporter took my statement. I didn't know that she was recording our conversation until she asked me at the end of our talk if she could use it on the air. I agreed. The night before I met Mr. Al Johnston, he was sitting and listening to me tell a veteran, who I was sitting with, about my computer problems. Johnston gave me the name of a charity group of retirees that recondition computers for schools. He said if anyone could help me, they would. These volunteers call themselves the Pioneers. I was told that they only work twice a week and that Thursday was the only time that I could get in to see them, Anyway I waited until 6pm to go to the shop that Johnston gave me directions to the day before. If you have been following my log you know that if I can get lost, I will. So I found the place after a lovely trip around greater Moncton. I walked through a shop toward the sound of voices in a back room. Now all of you people out there that haven't seen my picture on our web site, I am a 6 foot 2 inch, 280 pound, bald, bearded biker looking fellow. So you can Imagen what was going through their minds of the senior citizen volunteers working away in a place where someone that looks like me shouldn't know about.
I said I'm looking for Bob and a smaller statued man piped up in a confidant voice and says “I'm in trouble now” so I told them what the situation was. Right away they started trying to fix my sick computer. It had turned out one of the guys had seen my picture in the paper and everything was cool. One of the other guys had been in the CF until he retired. They surprised the heck out of me when they told me my computer was done. They blew me away when they donated a better lap top than the one I had for the cause. Every time, on this tour when something goes wrong there is someone there to help. I'm convinced that our mission is meant to be because we have had some difficulties on this tour but we always find the light at the end of the tunnel. Oh, I got lost on my way back to the Legion were the RV is parked.
april 08, 2009 12:30am
August 6, 2008 Brothers
Wednesday August 6, 2008.
Brothers.....
I wake up early and went downstairs for breakfast, we had a good meal of ham and eggs. Then Bob and I started his interview. We started with his time in the war. The topic of being with his brother in the war was a touchy area and I changed the subject to what he has done since he got back from overseas.. After we were done I thanked his wife and him for their hospitality and I set out for Sussex NB for the home of Gorden Bickerton, Gord was a driver in the 8th Hussar's. He was trained as a tank gunner but as it so often happens in the army the job you were trained for wasn't the job that you got. Gord was a Driver for a Brigadier General for the war and he got to stay in pretty posh digs. He never seen action but he got to see the better side of the war. He had some interesting stories.
I then made a stop at the Sussex Veterans Unit called the Kiwanis Nursing home to talk to Joseph Walsh, Joe was a tank gunner with Canadian Grenadier Guard. He got into the war late in 1944. He went though a couple of large tank battle on the way to Germany He was at the Hawkwald gap. He still talks favorably about his commanding officer named Ned Amy. He told me of a time during the battle when he noticed out of the corner of his eye a officer walking down the road as proud as you please as the battle was going on. It was Amy, “is this tank operational” he asked they said yes sir and Amy made the tank the command tank. He carried on as if nothing was wrong. Joe found out later that Amy's tank was damaged so he had to bail out and find another ride, so he did. Joe told me that , although he was not involved, his group was the group that killed a German tank commander named Vitman. Vitman was an ace with 143 kills and some time at the Russian front. Joe was proud to be a part or the regiment that killed that guy.
Joe was also at the battle of Whinnathal. Where his regiment crossed the Rhine on a boat bridge. A boat bridge was just as it sounds a bridge made of specially designed boats that could be lined up side by side and by placing planks over the bridge you could move heavy equipment across it one at a time.
Joe was married and had 5 kids and is a happy man. The conditions at the hospital are good put when you watch his video you mite hear a man snoring in the next bed. I give a free t-shirt or a copy of Harry's book “the Dispatch Rider: to all the veterans that I interview for free but Joe insisted that he make a donation of $50., I said no but he insisted. Every little bit counts.
I bid farewell to Joe and thanked him for his donation and set out for Moncton.
I arrived in Moncton at about 4:30 and went into the Legion. I talked to Gloria and she said it was OK the plug the Blue Bomber into the back wall, so I did. I unloaded the Harley and set out for a look around.
I tried to plug in my computer upon my return and it made a strange sound, something like a tape tightening up and then it quit. This is a major problem because all of my contact information is on my computer. My log book entries. Email records, everything. Not a good situation. So I went into the Legion to see if anyone knew of a computer guy that would work cheap because we are at the end of our money in the charities bank account. I sat down with a couple of people in the Legion. I had met a veteran earlier so I sat with him. The other people at the table I had not yet met. One of those people was Al Johnston, Al works as a volunteer with a group called ”The Pioneers”. He gave me a name and a location with directions and told me to see them maybe they could help. So I went back to the RV and packed it in for the night.
april 08, 2009 12:30am
August 5, 2008 A few good men
Tuesday. August 5, 2008.
A few good men.
Today was the day that I was to be on CBC. But we had our spot pulled because they didn't have the tape transferring capabilities at their Saint John radio station and the story was still hot about the head. So I had the opportunity to address a group of local Seniors who where meeting at the Legion that morning. I didn't know it at the time but after the meeting I would have the chance to meet a great veteran. His name is Bob Jones.
I went out to the Blue Bomber and packed her up and got ready for the trip to Moncton. I went back inside when the meeting was breaking up and a couple of veterans approached me, one of which was named Bob Jones. Bob invited me to his home for an interview. I thought the stop would be short and sweat but when I got there I would find out that this tour stop would be very meaningful. I said my good-byes to the staff at the legion and I was on my way. Wayne Carlton, #69's manager led me out of town. I got to Hampton NB about five o'clock and found Bob' house. I wasn't in the house five minutes when he offered me dinner and a bed for the night. I had another appointment in Sussex with a tank gunner that day but it was getting late so I decided to stay the night in Hampton. Bob and I went to the Hampton Veterans cenotaph. Bob and his wife raised the money for the cenotaph by sending letters out to people they know in the area, As we walked toward the cenotaph Bob was explaining the history of the veterans in the area. We stood in front, for a minute without taking, the day was sunny , for a change we have been having an unusually wet summer. Bob told me of the artist that came up with the design of the open cross but it wasn't tall enough so bob came up with the idea of a larger pedestal to make the overall hight at ten feet. This cenotaph is very unique and worth a stop if you are close to Hampton. Bob and his wife took me out to dinner that evening at the local restaurant. We went back to the house and met with a teacher that lives across the street, His class wrote a book on the First world war called Hampton Remembers. This book was written by students and is very well done. I had a good conversation with the history teacher of the class.
Bob and I hit it off right away, he asked me if I drank wine, I said yes, he said red or white and I said red or white he said yes anyway we had a glass of white wine and started to talk about his accomplishments in life. He is a interesting man, he told me that he had a grade 8 education. He has been the head of different labor organizations and the head man at the workers comp board. Since his retirement he has helped veterans and there widows get the benefits that they rightfully deserve. We talked about his time in the army as a stretcher barrier, We didn't get into the nitty gritty put he did tell me some good stories, some a can't repeat. Around 12 o'clock he showed me his pride and joy, his fishing room. Bob is a avid fishermen with a big collection of reels and rods both old and new. Bob and his wife gave me the first real bed to sleep in that I had seen in 45 days. It didn't take me long to fall asleep.
april 08, 2009 12:29am
August 4, 2008 Long weekend blues
Mon. August 4,2008.
Long weekend blues.
Met with two war brides today. The first was a Scoots lady named Helen McKelvie-Cook. The second Gal is named Gwendoline Beaiteay she is from England. What a great pare of interviews on this cloudy
Monday, I spent the first Interview at Helen's house. She is a typical Scottish land with a great sense of humor. She had some great stories about England and mostly of Scotland. I love the Scottish accent, I find myself talking with a Scottish accent after I hang around for a while. Anyway I met her son when he came in from boating. She had lost he veteran husband some time before, you could tell she missed him. I said good bye a little latter after a cup of tea of course.
I headed over to my next appointment with Gwen. She was glad to see me and I was glad to be there. He story was quite unique, She had met her husband in England when he was stationed over there. He has a touch of Alzheimer today and was resting. Her and I talked for a couple of hours and we hit it off. She was an entertainer during the war and me being a ham we got along great. She has been though a bunch of stuff in her life and I was glad to take down her story on video.
There are many stories of war brides coming to Canada. I have managed to get only a few so far, I am looking forward to hearing more.
april 08, 2009 12:29am
August 3, 2008 Recreation day.
Sun. August 3, 2008.
Recreation day.
I met with a couple of bikers today for a BBQ. I needed the day off. I did my laundry this morning crossed the toll bridge and hooked up my Internet and it worked for a change. After returning to the RV I made a call to the people I met over the last couple of days. Rabbit and his lady had invited me to a BBQ the day before. At the time I didn't know if I could attend. I am glad I did. The time away from everything was great. I do not drink and drive so I headed home shortly after dinner. I have met some good people in saint John. I may look at buying a house here in the future.
april 08, 2009 12:27am
August 2, 2008 Navy Man
Sat. August 2, 2008
Navy Man
The fallow up with Merrill Rumson.
Merrill and I hit it off pretty good in our last interview. Merrill gave me another interview on the inner workings of the Canadian Navy. This interviews lasted for about an hour and a half and we went over all kinds of Navy traditions and procedures. At the end of our last meeting we were looking at some pictures from back in the day, and I noticed a glass of liquid sitting on the table in front of Merrill at a function of some kind. So I said to him in a joking manner ”Hey what this, a little good time juice” he said “no that is Scotch” then he said “do you like Scotch. Keep in mind that this is 10:00 in the morning. He had the look on his face that if I didn't have a drink of Scotch with him he would be offended. So Merrill and I retired to the kitchen for a drink that day. He went to the cupboard and got a bottle of Johnny Walker Black, for those of you who don't know about Johnny Walker Black... well its the good stuff..We had a drink of this fine Scotch and I see him out of the corner of my eye watching me take a sip of scotch. That is the way I drink Scotch. He had a look of approval in his face, I said”what” he said ”you know how to drink good Scotch” He said that some of the people he has in just take it and down it. I said “Ya it's like giving steak to a dog, it mide as well be hamburger” he laughed and we finished or drink that day and went to the Lunch crew luncheon. On this day we had another drink of Scotch together and he let me have a shower at his place. For just meeting someone he was a very gracious man. It was an honor to meet him and to do an interview with him.
april 08, 2009 12:27am
August 1, 2008 CBC Canceled
Friday. August 1,2008.
CBC Canceled
“When It bleeds it leads“ You can't get ahead on a bus.
I got the word today that our story would be put off for a while on the CBC. The producer called me and said “I don't know if you heard about this story put a guy got his head cut off on a Greyhound bus”. I knew right then that our story would be bumped. Well that's the way the head rolls. This set us back a bit because I was looking forward to talking to a national audience about our National Video-A-Veteran Contest”. We will get together for another shot at our story when I get to Toronto, I hope.
When I made it to the Veterans wing at the Ridge wood Hospital all the staff knew what our mission was all about. The head nurse took me to a room off to the side of the front deck to do the interviews. I interviewed three people at the residence. All three were good interviews, I was done in about an hour. I headed back to the Legion to get ready for the nights activities. I was invited to a dance as the guest of honor. We had a great time but I was sleepy and I made an early night of It.
april 08, 2009 12:26am
July 31, 2008 Ex Service Members Lunch
Thursday. July 31, 2008.
Maxwell Walker and Merrill Rumson and lunch with the Ex Service Members Lunch Crew.
This day started with a call from CBC Toronto. The producer had heard about our tour and wanted to do a story on our tour, I thought that would be great. We Talked on the phone for an hour. I think she will put the Friends of Veterans. Canada , on air, we will see.
The story came out today in the Chronicle Herald. The reporter did a great job. He had a good picture and a well written article. The story was out and all the people seen it at the Legion, a good ice breaker in a new target city. We target larger cities because they are usually the media centres of the area.
I had an appointment with a 95 year old navy man named Merrill Rumson. Merrill was in the navy most of his life including WW2. When I sat down with him he was all dressed up, I was flattered that he would get cleaned up for me. He set me straight when I complemented the way he looked and he said, in a matter a fact way, “ I always dress like this” I felt like an idiot. Not the first time and more that likely not the last.
The interview was two hours long but he kept asking me to turn of the camera. You see, this is a proud man and if he had to go around a petty officer to get a job done in 1943, he didn't want it to come out know and besmirch his spotless record. I ended up with about eight minutes of tape in a two hour video. But I learned a lot about the Canadian Navy. It was getting close to lunch time and the Veterans Luncheon. It turned out that Merrill is a member. So we headed down to the Pub for lunch. There was a bunch of veterans there and I lined up some interviews.
When the luncheon was over we met back at the legion. I talked to Maxwell Walker and Will Sonners about sitting down with me for an interview. Maxwell was in the army in WW 2 and Will was in Korea. Max's interview was very good , he has great recall. We talk about his long career in the army, you see after the war he made a career out of the army. He started in 1942 and ended his military career in 1968, from Naples to Holland in WW2 to working on the Alaska Highway, Max has been around in the Canadian Army.
Will Sonners is quite a man, he signed up in July of 1948. He was in the 1st battalion in the PPCLI. He went to Pouson Korea in March of 1952. He seen lots of action and he talked about all the battles he was in. He talked about Hill 355 he said that the Korean army would blow bugles and scream as they charged. I asked him if he was intimidated by that, he said “of course I was” he looked at me as if I should have known that. He told me that he had been wounded in the left arm and the left forearm after a battle that lasted from 11 PM the night to before 6am the next morning. He woke up on the hood of a jeep on a stretcher. I talked about being in the Special forces and training in the U,S, with the Rangers. He told me that the Canadians made a great account of themselves during the training. While training with the Yanks he told me that they were surprised about how good shape the Canadians were. Will has a great sense of humor and seems like a good family man.
After the interviews were over the manager of the Legion named Wayne Carlton took me on a tour of Saint John. We drove around for a couple of hours checking out the city. He showed me the Veterans unit at the hospital called Ridge wood, that I had set up three interviews for the next day. By the time the tour was over I was ready to head back to the RV to make my log entries and turn in.
april 08, 2009 12:25am
July 30, 2008 Good-bye Fredericton, hell
Wednesday. July 30, 2008.
Good-bye Fredericton, hello Saint John.
This day started with the drive to Saint John. I stopped at Gagetown for a look see. I drove around the base taking pictures and getting some strange looks. But nobody said anything so I kept taking pictures. As usual I took a wrong turn and as I was leaving the base and drove the wrong way for about five Km's. I got back on the highway for the trip to Saint John. As I was driving I had a little tape left over so I decided to make a little segment on the trip so far. I found that enjoyable. But I must polish my on camera skills.
When I arrived in Saint John I started looking for my first Legion stop. I found out that in Saint John they have a toll bridge, my first. I paid the toll and set out across to downtown Saint John. I had a little trouble finding the Legion, but eventually I found it and it was closed for good. I called command and apparently the branch was closed because of a mismanagement issue. As I was going to the next Legion on my list I pasted the Saint John Chronicle Herald office. So I stooped in and asked to talk to someone in the newsroom. A young enthusiastic reporter came out to talk to me He turned out to be a bike enthusiast who also owns a very rare Norton, called a Highboy. We talked about his bike and some other bike stuff. He took down all of my information and gave me some contact names in the area.
I headed across the bridge and paid another toll. I asked the girl in the booth where the legion was, she gave me good directions and I found it. It was closed for the afternoon, so I headed for the next one. I pulled up in the parking lot and talked to the bartender. He said it was OK with him if I set up the blue bomber in the upper parking lot. After setting up, I went back into the Legion. I asked if I could join the table of people sitting in front of the bar. I latter found out that this table was called the B--- S--- table. I sat down and it felt like home.
I met a guy how was a vet of the peace time army named Jim Irving and a guy who was spent a number of years in the navy and then became a Montreal cop. The first guy invited me to a weekly meeting with a bunch of veterans that get together every Thursday at noon for lunch called “Ex Service Members Lunch Crew” In Saint John. He asked me if I was ever in the military, I said no and he said he would not hold that against me because in order to attend this luncheon you must have served in the military. But because of the mission that we are on, he said that I could attend.
Saint John is a great city. I met lots of great people on my first day in town.
When I latter went up the hill to the RV I found that I could not get on the Internet. The Rogers remote Internet does not work in small towns. But Saint John is not a small town so I must be in a dead zone. I will try again tomorrow.
It's time to hit the hay aHHHHHH. Good night.
april 08, 2009 12:24am
July 29, 2008 CBC at Chalmers Veterans M
Tuesday. July 29, 2008.
CBC at Chalmers Veterans Memorial.
Carl Patrick, Angus Fraser, Otto Eurt.
I contacted the CBC to let them know that the interview was a go and that we could go in there at 11am. I had met with an official at the hospital earlier that morning and got the approval that was required. As I pulled up to the veterans wing I noticed that the camera crew was waiting. They also had brought the Radio host for a local broadcast, which was no problem. The more coverage we get the better for the charity. After a quick production meeting we went inside and set up in the courtyard for the interview for the news both TV and radio. The young lady doing the interview was very professional and no dummy. It takes a little time to set up the camera so we had a chance to talk, the interviewer was just starting in the business, so we talked about her young career and about our tour of all the legions. After the sound check we started the interview. These interviews take about half an hour but they use two minutes of the interview. That is the nature of TV news, as my cab driver buddy, Cory Spring said, “get'em in get'em out get another one” that their attitude. .
When we were finished with the overview potion of the interview we made our way to my first veteran interview of the day. The man's name is Carl Patrick, Carl served in the coastal watch. At that time there was German sub sitings all along the east coast. Carl's job was as a wireless radio operator out of eastern command in Dartmouth. Carl was one of five brothers that were in WW2. His oldest brother was named Wes Patrick, he was a squadron leader in the Air force. His second oldest brother was name Edmond Patrick, he was shot down over Italy and was captured, then escaped, then walked out of Italy. The walk took 28 days. Carl's third brother was named Ken Patrick, he was in the Canadian Army Engineers. Then the forth brother living in Kitchener today is named Keith Patrick who was a radio gunner that had seen lots of combat in WW2. Carl seemed to think that his contribution was not as important as the ones made by his brothers. He seemed a little ashamed. I said to him that maybe the Canadian military did not want all five brothers overseas at the same time. Maybe the higher ups made the decision not to send him over, because if they all got killed who would take care of his parents. He thought about it for a minute and said ”I never thought of it like that ”. I think that made his day.
The CBC crew asked me to come outside to do some finishing shots of me getting off my bike and walking into the hospital for the evening news. So we did about ten minutes of different angles of me walking into the residence. We said our good-byes and I went in to finish up with Carl.
Next was Angus Fraser, Angus was in the army out of NB. His job was that of a Bren Gunner. He said “ I carried that thing all over Europe” he said it with a smile on his face.. He contracted TB and was sent over to England to a hospital there. After he recovered he was sent back to Caen after D-Day with another Regiment. It was hard to understand him but he had seen a lot of combat.
Next I had an unexpected interview with a man named Otto Eurt. As I was leaving, I ran into Otto heading out the front door to a dialysis appointment. So I asked him if he was a veteran, he said yes. So I asked him if he would sit down with me for an interview, Just like that I set up my camera and got started. We talked about his job as a mechanist close to the front lines. Otto job was to build a part out of steel to replace anything that was needed. Say a tank needed a part, if they didn't have it in stock he would make it from scratch.. Today we live in a throw away culture, but in the time of WW2 we fixed things. As I was doing the interview a lady came out of the residence and made us stop the interview because I didn't have permission to interview Otto. But she asked him if he could sign a release when he returned from his appointment and he said yes, so we finished up and I was on my way back to the Legion. When I arrived the local newspaper reporter and his photographer were waiting to do an story on the tour. I called Vaughan Boyne. I had asked Vaughan if he could come down and fill in the planks of the interview we had done a couple of days before and passably be in the article. I called him and he came down right away. The reporter asked him some questions and took some pictures. Vaughan seemed to be in his element, he handled the reporter like a pro. After the reporter asked me some questions he left. Vaughan and I started our interview with his time going ashore at D-Day. When I do a interview with a few veterans in a row sometimes we can't get into the story as much as I would like. That is why I thought it would be good to have Vaughan in again, boy was I right. Vaughan had seen a lot of action in Europe. He told me about an experience when he was in a field. One day he had seen a nun walking in the mist he ran up to her and asked if she needed help, she said she was alright. She told him to be careful that night, so he didn't sleep where he had planned. On that night the house that he was going to sleep in was bombed and destroyed. He asked his buddy latter about the nun and his buddy said that he was with him that hole day and he didn't see any nun. Vaughan said that he didn't know if that nun was there or not but it made him think. He had lots of great battle stories. For those of you who don't know some veterans will not talk about their time in battle so I considered my time with Vaughan Boyne very special. Vaughan and I finished our interview and parted ways. After interviewing Vaughan I remember why I am on this mission.
I went into the other room where a bunch of guy's where sitting around a table shooting the breeze, I joined them. It always happens just as I am scheduled to leave a town three or four people have all kinds of veterans that they want me to visit. I wish I had talked to them before hand but I took the names down just in case.
I went back to the RV and made my log entries for the day and turned in.
april 08, 2009 12:23am
July 27, 2008 Fredericton is a great tow
Sun. July 27, 2008
Fredericton is a great town.
I had a good night at the dance last night at the legion, Saturday night. I made a couple of appointments for interviews and met some good people. Today started with more rain. There is something about rainy days, I usually like the rain but when you have as much rain as we have had lately it is kind of depressing. But I am a glass is half full guy and I always make the best of things, after I stop bitch'in about it.
After I did my fallow up interview with Chub Howard at Mary's Bake Shop in Perth-Andover, I called a like minded friend that I had met at the legion a couple nights before, Lou Sullivan. We hit it off, right off the bat when we met. He rides an American motorcycle as I do. We had a good conversation about bikes, work and his son who lives in the London. It was good to met a fellow bike enthusiast to talk about some good times.
I stopped in to see Lou and we had a look at my bike. My bike never leaks oil, but that day I was having a leaking problem. Lou had a look at it and he figured out that when I did an oil change I must have put a little to much oil in her. He took the breather apart and cleaned it up and reinstalled the breather hose and put it back together. He showed me his bike. It is a bored out Iron Head Sporty that he uses for burnout competitions. He started it up and it sounded pretty beefy. We said our good-byes and he invited me to a Labor Day BBQ at his place, I will try to make it. I headed back to the RV Fredericton.
I turned in latter than usual that night..
Mon..July 28, 2008.
Set up the spot with CBC
I have been in contact with the CBC to arrange a video segment for the local news at the Chalmers Veterans Unit. People always ask me how I get the news stations to cover our tour, I tell them that our mission is important to the kids of the future and that they remember what our veterans did for their freedom. I call the newspapers, radio stations and the TV news groups, they know a good cause when they see it. The CBC is a community news group and they are interested in our veterans. I stopped at the CBC office in Fredericton and the security guard said that the producer was in a production meeting and could not be disturbed, so I wrote her a little note on the back of one of my business cards. I told him that I would wait outside for a couple of minutes just in case she wanted to talk to me about our tour. Within one minute he was motioning to me to come inside and talk with her. I talked to the producer of the broadcast and made arrangement to met at the resistance. She wanted to film my interview with a veteran while he gave his testimonial. I agreed that we could do the interview as long as the hospital didn't have a problem with them filming in the residence. I called the residence and they said as long as the veteran approved. they would not have a problem. After finishing up at the CBC I headed back to the Blue Bomber for supper and an early night.
