Remembrance Blurb — Gabrielle

My Opa was an extremely personable man, but very mysterious about his war exploits, which were numerous and intriguing. Born in Yugoslavia to a prosperous family in the import-export business, he became fluent in more than five languages at a very young age, and was able to receive a university education (in civil engineering!). Soon after the war broke out, my grandfather, made a soldier despite his aversion to violence, landed in the first of a series of war camps. There, he always made himself useful by writing love letters for illiterate inmates and acting as a translator. Somehow, my grandfather always managed to escape these camps and return to his family home – before being recaptured and taken to a new camp. His final, most adventurous capture happened after the single-engine plane he was flying to safety was shot down over Italy, where he remained in a camp until liberation. After the war, Yugoslavia was made a communist state, and my grandfather came to Canada not knowing he would never see his homeland again. One of the languages he did not know well was English and he had to learn quickly; his language skills were soon in demand once again as he worked at numerous jobs with people from all over Europe who had come to Canada after the war. My grandfather received a lucky break when he was hired by a Montreal company looking for welders. As a young man, my grandpa learned welding from his uncle, a metal-work artist, and was able to get a job building those staircases you see on the outsides of houses in Montreal. Eventually, he ended up as a welder on the Trans-Canada Pipeline, a job which took him to places in Canada you’ve probably never heard of.  Many of the details about my grandfather’s life during and following the war won’t ever be known, a fact I think is unfortunate because it is obviously a story worthy of fiction. I do think it’s important to remember that the people affected by wars are the young and the hopeful; the university students. Perhaps the next time you’re in Montreal and you see an ornate staircase, you will think about my awesome grandpa who is part of the living history of that awesome city.