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LEST WE FORGET —NOVEMBER 11—
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Grandfather found singing in wartime BARBARA FULLER SPECIAL TO KTW
O
ne of my fondest childhood memories has me in the shadows of the backseat of the car as dusk descends. Mom started to sing her favourite song, Whispering Hope. From that, we would move on to others, including my dad’s favourite, In the Garden. Dad was part of a barbershop singing group and music was part of our family, inside and outside of the car. Even while walking in the park with dad, he would sing to me, much to my delight. I have always loved singing, but I never really thought about where my dad’s love of music came from — until recently. My sister-in-law showed me an envelope of photos she and my brother had received from Aunt Audrey, my father’s sister. Among those black and white photos was one that captured my imagination. It’s a photo
Lt. Arthur H. Cooke, as seen in the photograph on page A1. Cooke is the grandfather of Barbara Fuller, who discovered the origin of her father’s love of music.
from the First World War, with five army officers gathered around a piano. Each of them is in full uniform — brass buttons, leather belts and shoulder straps across their chests — with their peaked caps set smartly above their smiling faces. The officer at the piano is
looking up and his cap is pushed back a bit from his mustached face. He is sitting on an old white wicker-style chair, with his left hand on the keyboard and his right hand raised, index finger loosely pointed up. Was he talking and making a point or was he counting them into the start of a song? “One and two and three…” Before him is a sheaf of somewhat tattered music pages. Was this a quartet practising for a concert? I can imagine their voices — lead, bass, tenor, baritone, tuning up and then breaking into a catchy First World War song: It’s a Long Way to Tipperary or Over There or For Me and My Gal. The officer on the far left, leaning on a cane in his right hand, is my grandfather, Lt. Arthur H. Cooke of the 19th Canadian Battalion. Grandpa was British, but he had immigrated to Canada before the war and then signed up with the Canadian Army. In the photo, he is wearing a glove on his left
hand and holding a cigarette. In fact, it appears they are all holding cigarettes — yes, even the pianist. One hand of the youngestlooking man on the far right is not visible in the photo, but in his left hand, he, too, is gripping a cane. I don’t know what his injury was, but I know my grandpa had a bullet through his upper leg. That’s the sum total of what I know about his experience in the Great War. But this picture reveals more to me than the meagre facts I have collected. While there are vestiges of suffering in the canes, I also begin to see how these young men coped with the horror and trauma of war. Cigarettes were precious commodities in wartime, in both world wars. While their long-term effects impacted generations beyond their own with habits and health issues, no doubt at that time they were a great form of stress relief. I love this photo, almost Rockwellian in nature, and in it I
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see two other precious commodities: camaraderie and music. The smiles on the soldiers’ faces indicate the pleasure they are finding in friendship and songs. In the envelope along with the photo was a photocopied list of songs — some of them First World War tunes — that grandpa kept in a small notebook for singing at home. It occurs to me that part of the heritage of this grandfather I knew so little about is the music that has resounded from one generation to the next. As grandpa must have sung to and with his family, so I remember my father singing to me as a child and our family singing together. They were songs of love, faith, reassurance, joy and fun that helped to lift the spirit in the face of whatever ills and sorrows life may bring. This photo of grandpa and his pals singing in the darkness of war reminds me that we can all carry on as we embrace those things that help us get through — like friendship and music.
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KAMLOOPS VETERAN’S SERVICE TOOK HIM ALL OVER SEAN BRADY STAFF REPORTER sbrady@kamloopsthisweek.com
T
ed Maskell joined the air force at age 16. His parents had just split up and he was feeling lost. What he found was a military career that took him all over the world — including Kamloops. Today, at age 95, the veteran considers himself very fortunate. Maskell was born in Ocean Falls, a remote and now all-butabandoned central coast company town. But his military career didn't start in Canada. He was living in Wales when he decided to join the Royal Air Force (RAF). "They couldn't care less who you were, where you were, as long as you could stand up, that was it," Maskell told KTW. Maskell spent much of the Second World War training at RAF Halton, becoming a flight engineer. He said he recalls seeing aircraft come back "all shot to hell." "It made me realize what it was all about then," he said.
BRITISH COLUMBIA ARCHIVES PHOTO An Avro Lancaster Mk. 10 taking off at RCAF Station Comox, just one of many locations where Kamloops veteran Ted Maskell served after joining the Royal Air Force at age 16. The now-95-year-old veteran flight engineer often found himself in planes such as the Lancaster and Sunderland Flying Boat.
His time in London was an even more stark reminder of the dangers of war time, when he had an encounter with a "buzz bomb,"
otherwise known as a German V-1 rocket. "I was going through London at one time, and kids were play-
ing in the street. All of the sudden, something was coming along and you heard the engine quit. Those kids disappeared like rabbits. And
so did I. It didn't come close, but it came down, not too far away," he said. See POST-WAR, B4
In Remembrance & Gratitude November 11
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Middle East, Africa among places where Maskell flew From B3
After the war, Maskell said the RAF didn't quite know what to do with him. In 1947, he was off to Palestine, then to Khartoum in Sudan. In 1948, he was part of the Berlin airlift, carrying supplies, including food and
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coal, to West Berlin after Soviet Union forces blockaded the divided city and post-war state. Throughout his early military career, Maskell served as a flight engineer on renowned aircraft such as the Lancaster heavy bomber and Sunderland Flying Boat. "None of this is mentioned much these days," he said. He left the Royal Air Force in 1956, returning to Canada in 1958 and joining the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF). "They sent me to basic training, which was a real gas after 10 years in the RAF," Maskell said. But, as it so happened, Maskell made the best of his time back in basic and, at its conclusion, became an instructor himself. He later found himself at RCAF Station Comox on Vancouver Island where he retrained to become a refrigeration technician. That change in career is what brought Maskell to Kamloops or, more specifically, to the Mount Lolo Radar Station, just north of the city. A medical issue eventually led to
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Maskell's discharge from the service, with him taking up work at Royal Inland Hospital in the 1960s. That's when things changed again for him — and his good fortune continued. "I met the perfect wife and that was it," Maskell said. He's been in Kamloops ever since, enjoying 50 years of marriage before his wife passed. Looking back, it's not only his wife he remembers fondly. "All my crew members and people I know have passed on now. I'm waiting to go soon. I can say, I've really enjoyed my life."
Maskell was the recipient of the Legion’s first veteran’s poppy in October (above). The 95-year-old veteran served as a flight engineer on a variety of aircraft, including the Lancaster bomber and the Sunderland Flying Boat (top).
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Canada Remembers
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Thank You, Veterans.
On Remembrance Day, we’d like to share our admiration and appreciation for the dedicated women and men in uniform whose service and actions have protected our freedom and our way of life through the generations.
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Ewart Clapperton
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Thank You Veterans On Remembrance Day, we salute our nation’s fallen
and the families who carry on without them.
Their heroic spirit and sacrifice will never be forgotten.
We will always
remember
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Douglas Haig Macleod
George Edward Davis
Alexander J. Gabinet
Norman Jolicoeur
The District of Logan Lake is proud to honour those who have and continue to serve our country.
We invite you to join our ceremony on Friday, November 11th at 10:40am at the Lakeview Amphitheatre. Wilfrid Jolicoeur
Fernand Jolicoeur
Trixie and Tony Bellos
Jullian Henri Malbeuf
Hugh McLachlan
Edward T. Foley
Joseph Allan McKinnon
Yvette Jolicoeur
Edna Wismer (Gordon)
Frank Brauner
Albert Fisher
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ll i W We lways A ember Rem We shall never forget the sacrifices Canadian soldiers made for us and our country. They fought for the freedom that we take for granted today. We deeply appreciate the bravery of these men and women.
With sincere gratitude we will always remember you.
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