{"id":30257,"date":"2021-11-11T13:09:58","date_gmt":"2021-11-11T18:09:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=30257"},"modified":"2021-11-18T17:20:10","modified_gmt":"2021-11-18T22:20:10","slug":"veterans-stress-the-importance-of-service-while-preserving-legacies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/veterans-stress-the-importance-of-service-while-preserving-legacies\/","title":{"rendered":"Veterans stress the importance of service while preserving legacies"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In the midst of COVID-19, Carl Bedal had a bit more time than usual on his hands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When he was seated in the dining room of his Chartwell Hollandview Retirement Residence home one day, a woman from a neighbouring table tapped him on the shoulder and said, \u2018Do you know what we need? A good news newsletter,\u2019\u201d \u2013 and the mental gears began to turn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHey, there\u2019s an idea!\u201d he said, recalling that lightbulb moment. \u201cI have to latch on to that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr. Bedal quickly set to work, preparing an app on his smartphone for the purpose, and joined the publishing game at the age of 97.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The focus of this month\u2019s edition of Good News Only is Remembrance Day and within its pages, Mr. Bedal profiles five of his fellow residents, each of whom served King, Queen and Country. In doing so, he is preserving their legacies as the number of Second World War veterans still able to tell their stories inevitably and sadly declines. As a navy seaman from the Second World War himself, he is ensuring the stories that only he and his colleagues can tell are not forgotten by future generations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI came [to Hollandview] eleven years ago and at the time there were at least 30 veterans here,\u201d he says. \u201cThere are seven of us now, six of whom are mobile and only two of us are from World War Two.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr. Bedal joined the Royal Canadian Navy in 1943 in a move that was maybe a bit rebellious as his parents had lived through the horrors of the First World War and did not want their two sons to be placed in harm\u2019s way. Nevertheless, he and four friends piled a car in their native Belleville bound for Kingston to enlist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy parents were quite surprised I signed up and I have to ask myself why,\u201d he recalls. \u201cThere are several reasons, one of them being when you\u2019re a teen you kind of go with the crowd. Coming from a family farm, it didn\u2019t make any sense at all. There was no model for that. When I was growing up, there were two boys in the family. I was the elder of the two. They were really concerned about what was happening in Europe, but it had no influence on me at the last minute when I joined.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following Mr. Bedal\u2019s time in the Navy, during which he missed seeing active service by mere weeks, he forged a career as an educator. This passion for education has endured into his retirement and not just through Good News Only, but in passionately speaking to students in both elementary and secondary school about the realities of war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI try to encourage students to first think of their health because they are not much use to the Armed Services if they don\u2019t have their health,\u201d he says. \u201cI encourage them not to do stupid things in their youth. I try to emphasize that all these people like ourselves who served, we served to ensure that folks back home, the kids growing up, will be safe and secure. I guess that was also part of the reason why I joined. People have to know what service meant. When we go and speak [to students], they want to know the facts \u2013 how big was the ship? How big a gun did you have? How heavy were the shells? How did the depth charges work? Were you ever scared?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He doesn\u2019t mince words when he answers those questions but in more recent years he says he has noticed many schools emphasizing peace \u2013 a noble effort, to be sure \u2013 above and beyond the concept of service, but he\u2019s far from alone in trying to emphasize this theme to younger generations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA number of years ago, I qualified for my pension as a veteran and they persuaded me to get a licence plate with a poppy,\u201d says Blake Williams, 90, who served with the Canadian Armed Forces between 1949 and 1952 during the Korean war, a neighbour of Mr. Bedal\u2019s. \u201cI thought with this license plate, Remembrance would be consistent every time I see pedestrians and traffic \u2013 and that is the only reason why I got the licence plate. The first day I put it on, I was driving towards Dr. G.W. Williams Secondary School to go to No Frills and you would not believe how many kids recognized the plate, gave me a big whistle and a big wave.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr. Williams believes that more veterans \u2013 particularly younger ones from more recent conflicts \u2013 should participate more in letting the younger generation \u201cknow what we did.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He was once in their shoes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A native of King Township, growing up on a large farm on what is now Bathurst Street, he was inspired into service not only by his elder brother and cousin, but also by fellow local Robert Turp.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe used to ski and do things together,\u201d says Mr. Williams of Turp, the future airman who served in the RCAF in the Second World War. \u201cHe was a spitfire pilot and he and I wrote back and forth until one day he stopped writing. He was shot down and killed. A nicer human being never lived than Robert Turp. It was absolutely senseless that his good life had to be taken from him.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite this sad memory, Mr. Williams nevertheless decided to do his part, following his brother and cousin to Aurora to serve with the Queen\u2019s York Rangers and, from there, the Royal Canadian Horse Artillery where he received paratroop and gunnery training.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Given a discharge upon his father\u2019s death in 1952, his experiences with the Forces and the realities of war are as vivid within him today as ever before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have got to learn from one another, and we have to care about each other, and we\u2019ve got to set an example for kids in doing so \u2013 whether we\u2019re 90, 97, or whatever age. You need to set an example for your children and your cohorts,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adds Mr. Bedal: \u201cWhen my medals arrived from Ottawa, I put them in a drawer and that was it. I never really thought about them until I came here [with other veterans and became involved in speaking to students]. I was a teacher for more than 30 years and there were service people who were also teachers, but never once were we invited on November 11 to do anything but sit in our seats like everyone else. [Now sharing my stories in schools] they want to know what it feels like. They want to know what it is to rattle around on a ship at sea and what it is like to know there are invisible Nazi subs in that water. They want to know more than what is in the textbooks.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Brock Weir<\/strong>
Editor
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter<\/em><\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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