Lest We Forget

During his time in the military, Corporal Ron Smith knew every army song.

Born in 1934 in Toronto, ON, Ron joined the military when he was 23 years old. By the time he joined in 1947, WWII was over. However, there was always work to do.

Ron served primarily in the kitchens as a cook. He also worked in the transportation sector. He enjoyed his time in service, and stayed with the military for 25 years.

Ron spent most of his time in the military in Canada; however, he did spend a year on a peacekeeping mission in Palestine and the Middle East. He enjoyed the experience.

While in service, Ron met his wife. She was a server at a local restaurant in Barrie, ON. The couple were happily married for 47 years. After he retired from the military, Ron became a custodian for the school board in Barrie. He continued to love singing and was part of a tri band in Orillia for several years.

Today, Ron continues to sing and enjoy life at Owen Hill Care Community in Barrie, ON.

Born in England in 1919, John Beswick celebrated his seventh birthday at sea.

Anti-aircraft ammunition streaked by them, missing them by inches — until it didn’t.

During WWII, George Gonsalvez helped guard the Suez Canal against invasion. He was a certified craftsman. Before joining the war, he’d studied for four years to earn his degree as a mechanical and electrical engineer, and he worked on machinery during his 10-year career in the military.

Alfredo Cannataro was born in 1922 in south Italy. His parents rented and worked a farm, filled with livestock. Cows, sheep, and dogs were constant companions in his childhood, as were his four younger siblings.

As a mechanic in the Canadian Air Force, Carl Jory could usually be found working on a passenger or training plane. But every two or three months he’d be called to go on a test flight for a plane that another mechanic had worked on.

According to the medics, Don McNeil had no business being anywhere near combat. But here he was, picking up armed bombs that had failed to go off near the frontlines of the Korean War.

In 1943 WWII was in full swing, and 18-year-old Andy Ambrosi was looking for an adventure.

The sirens sounded. The bomb dropped. The fire blazed — and Joan hit the road.

At 19, Frank Hildebrant shipped out with the rest of the Winnipeg Rifles for Holland. It was 1943, the middle of WWII.

“The moonlight was almost romantic.”

Survivors of the Holocaust, Nancy and Howard Kleinberg’s life motto is that “you just have to be happy.”

Autobiography by John Gruszka, a veteran of WWII and a resident at Traditions of Durham Retirement Residence in Oshawa, ON.