| MY FAMILY, 1946 |
| August 10th, 1945:V-J Day and the final end to the war which had raged for six years. There had been alot of celebration then. Everyone had been overjoyed to hear that finally the guns had been put down. However, as 1946 approached, Canada and the world realized the terrible destruction that had occurred. My family, just like every other family during that time, had had to pay a heavy price to ensure peace in the world and to end the war that had torn their lives apart. |
| Robert MacDonald(Uncle)- Uncle Robert joined No.242 Squadron in the RCAF in 1939 as soon as war was declared. He saw action in the Battle of Britain and was killed on September 9th 1940 at the age of 23,when a German plane attacked him. During his service, Uncle Robert flew Hurricanes and immediately developed a strong liking to flying. At first, he was assigned to defend factories and military airstrips, but as the Nazis began the Blitz , he began defending Southern British cities, where he witnessed the killing of hundreds of innocent civilians. However, these attacks only made him a stronger and more determined pilot. His body was buried along with many of his comrades at Duxford, England. In the summer of 1946, his family travelled there to wish their final farewells to their hero. |
| David MacDonald(Uncle)- Uncle David and Uncle Robert had been good friends and cousins for all of their lives. However, Uncle David had not at all been pleased to here about the declaration of war as Uncle Robert had. Still, in 1944 when there had been a severe need for volunteer recruits, Uncle David had enlisted in the army. Soon after V-E day, he had been assigned to Auschwitz-Birkenau as a Liberator. Here, he witnessed the horrible scenes of what has come to be known as the Holocaust.Everyday, he had to round up German soldiers, feed the survivors and carry away the dead. Living in horrendous conditions with disease-stricken survivors, who often slept amongst the dead, he did not keep very well. He kept a regular journal about his experiences at Auschwitz and the disturbing scenes he witnessed. After Auschwitz had been liberated, he continued to liberate another 2 camps. He did not return to Toronto until just before the New Year(1946). On his return, Uncle David had a difficult time understanding the full extent of what he had seen at Auschwitz and it took him a few months to completely recuperate. Still, he never fully recovered from his experience and had regular nightmares. However in 1946, once he had returned, he took over the family textile business and began contributing money to Jewish refugees who had fled to Canada during and after the war. |
| Larry MacDonald(Father)- My father volunteered to join the war effort in 1943 as a medic. When he had left Toronto, he had been in his final year of medicine at the University of Toronto. His first major experience during the war was during the landings at Normandy on June 6th 1944, where he provided medical service to the injured and dying soldiers on Juno Beach.This one event which was the major reason behind the Allied success, greatly influenced my father. He later described it to be one of the most horrific experiences anyone could ever go through. Since he had never worked in such horrendous conditions ever before, he found it difficult to actually function in the midst of constant fire. Also, he could not easily accept that not everyone could be saved and it became torturous for him to choose which soldiers were worth saving and which were not. However, he gave it his all , and shortly after V-E day returned to Toronto. On his return, he proposed to Mary Ross( my mother) and on February 12th, 1946 they got married.However, not everything else went too smoothly. After the war, my father found that he did not want to continue with medicine, and so returned to university to become an engineer while holding a job at a factory. |
| Ben Ross(Uncle)- Uncle Ross had remained in Buffalo,U.S.A. when his family moved to Toronto, as he had been in the U.S. Navy. He had deeply enjoyed his time in the Navy but once the war had begun, he decided that he would join his family in Toronto after the war. Unfortunately for Uncle Ben, his ship was one among many others who had been stationed at Pearl Harbour the day of the Japanese surprise attack. Uncle Ben remembered hearing a loud explosion in the distance and within seconds he had heard the roar of Japanese fighter planes rushing above them. With confusion everywhere due to the surprise, Uncle Ben and his comrades had hurriedly tried to find a way to protect themselves. The few which had tried to be brave by shooting at the planes, had just ended up killing themselves. After the attack, Uncle Ben emerged to luckily find only minor damage to their destroyer, which had miraculously been spared the destruction aorund them. Most of the damage had been caused by remains of nearby ships. After the attack, Uncle Ben served in the war in the Pacific for a while before returning to America. Here, like he had promised, he resigned from his position in the Navy and went across the border. Here, he got himself a job in a bank and within a few years established himself as the CEO. |