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Sign in to My VAC AccountCorporal (Ret’d) Kate MacEachern was not your average Antigonish, Nova Scotia teenage girl. She and her friend Nikola were already contemplating joining the army in high school. “As a little child, I wanted to join. If you go back 35 or 40 years, it was really not traditional for a girl to want to join the army”.
In 1990, when she was just 18, Hélène Le Scelleur became a reservist in the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF). Her parents had their doubts about her being in it for the long haul. She surprised them by quickly climbing the military ranks, going from non-commissioned officer to officer, reaching the rank of captain in 2007.
When asked whether she enjoyed her long military career, Francine Beaudry answers without hesitation: “For me, the Army was a big family.” Having been a Veteran for a little over 25 years, she remains highly engaged in the military community in the Quebec City area.
He would eventually enlist and go on to enjoy a 38‑year career punctuated by a stint in the Middle East as the Canadian Naval Task Group Commander aboard HMCS Athabaskan during the Gulf War. In addition he became the Allied Combat Logistics Commander overseeing the activities of some 60 Allied Warships.
It was an incredibly volatile time.
For a kid growing up in Lethbridge, Alberta, envisioning a future at sea might seem like a stretch. After all, the Pacific Ocean is 1200 km away to the west, and to the east it’s almost four times as far to reach the Atlantic.
And yet, David Joseph Bodie found a way to make his naval aspirations come true.
Lieutenant-Colonel (Ret’d) Charles Cormier discovered an interest in military operations in high school. After a classroom presentation of the Canadian Armed Forces Officer Training Plan, he enlisted in the Reserves at the age of 16. At 18, he transferred to the Regular Force and began his studies at the Royal Military College St-Jean. “I didn’t want to put financial stress on my parents.”
When asked why he joined he simply said, “There was a war on and I wanted to be a part of it.” From 1942-1945, he served with the Royal Canadian Air Force as a fighter-reconnaissance pilot.
“There was a war on and I wanted to be a part of it.”
At the age of 17, Kelly enlisted in the Canadian Armed Forces, where she was provided an opportunity to represent Canada in a different way. Her mother encouraged her to enlist, as she thought the military was something Kelly would excel at. “Being a professional athlete, you get to wear a maple leaf on your back. So if I couldn’t get through, maybe the military was the right choice.”
Sergeant Ghislain Cotton was born on 9 February 1970 in Loretteville, Quebec. His father, Jean‑Charles Cotton is Scottish/Irish and his mother, Micheline Bond, is First Nations of Atikamekw/Wendat ancestry. His family lived across Canada and in Europe. His father enlisted in 1964 and served first as an infantryman with the Royal 22e Régiment. He took a brief break from the military to help his family as a fisherman in Rivière‑au‑Renard. In the early 1970s, he rejoined the forces to pursue his passion as an Intelligence Operator.
"I arrived at Pier 21, in the darkness of night under the cloak of secrecy, boarded a ship, the Ile de France. We were kept in the dark for six days before arriving in Scotland," recalled George Couture. This is just part of a story Couture shared at an event in Halifax to commemorate the 75th anniversary of D-Day and the Battle of Normandy this past June.
