Patrick Doucette was nine years old when his brothers, Melvin and Alfred, both soldiers in the Calgary Highlanders, were home on leave during the Second World War. Melvin Doucette was 16 years old in 1942 when he forged his father’s signature to join the army. He and his oldest brother, Alfred, then 22, headed into action in the Second World War.
The brothers returned to Prince Edward Island on leave a few times. Patrick remembers their big loud boots, how tall they were and how they seemed just a little out of place in the family’s Miminegash kitchen.
In July of 1944, the family received word that Alfred was seriously injured in the Battle of Normandy and was in a British field hospital. Soon after, another telegram arrived with the news that Melvin had been killed. He was 19. When Alfred heard about his brother’s death, he passed. To commemorate his sons, Edmond planted two rose bushes near their home in Miminegash. Friends and neighbours said the roses would never grow in the sandy soil, but rose after rose bloomed.
To remember his brothers' sacrifices and that of his family, Patrick, a prolific artist, painted Lone Soldier on November 5, 2020. A soldier in silhouette looks over a cross on a hilltop and poppies dot the shadowed field. The painting hung in the entry to Wedgewood Manor, the place he and his wife Jean called home for many years. In January of 2022, the painting was removed from the manor and given to a family member.
