h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

My father, now 89 years old served in the Canadian army for over three years during WWII. He quit his job in a hard rock mine in central British Columbia to join the army because as he said. "A lot of the men were doing it" and he felt it was his duty to England. An odd feeling for someone born in Canada and whose parents and grandparents were also born in Canada. But his father had served with the British army during the Indian Rebellion around the turn of the century and I suppose the loyalty bled through to him. His job was to drive vehicles of various kinds ending with him in Europe after the invasion driving one of those half truck half tanks called appropriately enough a "half-track". And although he got close to action at times and was even shot at once he was lucky and survived unscathed. He talks about the war only on occasion but his medals (and my grandfathers) are displayed on the wall and a souvenir ashtray/lighter made by a fellow soldier from howitzer and machine gun shells is on the coffee table (he never smoked) When he does talk he fails to mention things that were unpleasant, I heard from my mother that at one time he was forced by circumstance to drive over corpses on the road, a story that he has never told me and something that of course deeply bothered him. Instead he tells more amusing tales of practicing knocking over trees in England with a tank, and taking a snooty officer for a wild off-road ride down a hillside in the moors when he was directed to get to the bottom as quickly as possible.
He spent time in Germany during the period of occupation and told me of the day when a german teenager decided to booby trap one of the Canadian tanks with a grenade costing a Canadian soldier his arm. The comanding officer gathered the townspeople in the village square and told them that the town would be demolished one house at a time until the culprit was brought to them. Dad has pictures of the tanks knocking down brick houses. It did not take long until the mayor walked the young offender forward.
He stayed on with the army in England after the normal period of de-mobilization since he had married and had a child in Edinburough. My oldest brother. He returned to his hometown (and mine) with my mother following shortly after, babe in arms, in a ship filled with war brides and babies. Back to the same small town he was born in and lives in today. He didn't travel out of the country again until he was 72 and went on a bicycle trip through Austrailia and New Zealand, but that's another story.

A couple of years ago Dad wrote a history of his wartime service. I just dug around and found it. I was going to type it up and never got around to it but this is a good reason to get on it. Give me a couple of days and I will post it all. By the way he was in the service for five years not three.

Well I managed to type out the entire document but it is too large to post here. I will link to it so anyone who might be interested can read my father's story, in his own word. Not a thrilling story really, he was just your average soldier. He was still a hero in my mind as all those who left their home and family, risking their lives in a land far away were heros to my me.
http://www.members.shaw.ca/gmwilander/Dad's%20war%20story.doc