Happy Memory From 1940

1940 was a time when most of Europe and the British Empire were waging war. I was four years old and unaware that terrible things were happening in Europe. My mother was nervous every time she listened to the radio broadcasts as many of her family were involved in the war effort. The news from the war were not good and many people were receiving stories of the death of family and friends. My Mom did a great job in shielding us from the worst of it. My father volunteered to go with the other men from Cape Breton even thought he was older and had a family of six.

The good news was that Dad had to return home as he had an injury to his knee and in the army you had to be perfectly fit. He came home and we were all happy to see him free from the possibility of having to go overseas. It took Dad a while to get over the shock but he settled down and worked the rest of the war in the coal mine.

My memory was a happy one as we had our Dad back and he was a busy person. Being able bodied and handy he was in great demand in the community doing odd jobs as well as mining underground. Some of the fondest times I remember was just following Dad around and in trying to help probably got in the way as any four year old would. Dad had a knack of being able to do almost anything. He took a section of a tree and carved the body of a rocking horse. He carved the head and covered the wood with a fur coat. It looked almost real.

For rockers Dad took sections of the cart wheel and made a perfect smooth rockers for our horse. I called him pony but we all had a name for this beautiful toy. Jean and I had the most fun but the neighbours kids had turns as well. I remember this event as I had a birthday at that time and can recall just how happy I was way back in 1940