Widow of Veteran-Harry Semotiuk, Olga Reveals Memories of War

Widow of Veteran-Harry Semotiuk, Olga Reveals Memories of War

Rosanne Fortier News Correspondent

Olga Semotiuk is the widow of World War II veteran-Harry Semotiuk who was born on February 20, 1921 and passed away on March 7, 2012.

Olga said Harry was very proud to have served in World War II from 1942-1946 with the Canadian Military in Canada, England, Africa, Sicily, Italy Belgium, Holland and Germany.

Harry was a tank operator. He drove the big tanks. Olga recalled Harry only telling her a few of his memories from his time serving in the war. One time they had to hide in a farm yard because the Germans were close by. They ran into the saw pile and tripped over a dead person’s body. As well, they were always hungry because the soldiers had bullied beef and other foods that were terrible to eat. So, they had to catch chickens and find their own food to eat.

Olga believes another world war should be avoided because wars do not accomplish anything and a lot of human beings suffer from war. ‘Sometimes I think the people who are supposed to be higher than we are, they think they know it all and they just make things worse,’ Olga said.

Olga didn’t know Harry while he was serving in the war. Olga said during the war, she was at her girlfriend’s place and her girlfriend’s sister was married to Harry’s brother. She sent a picture to them and when they were socializing Olga saw the picture of Harry and she said, ‘Oh what a handsome man, I am going to marry him.’ The end of the story is Olga met Harry after the war and they got married, had a wonderful life together, and farmed for 50 years and then they retired.