It’s about people
Heroes Remember
It’s about people
Transcript
It is important, sure it is. You think of your friends that you
went to school with that are no longer here. I go down to the
pictures, though you probably looked at those pictures, yeah.
And you look at those, and Ken's gone and Roy's gone and...
but you, as you, as you probably... this is an area that, that
is in, probably no tail gunners were. That was very bad, very
vulnerable. They just went out and, oh, jeez, those poor guys.
We have a reunion in Trenton every, every year yet.
Go back there, and they're salvaging, they're doing Halifax
there right now. That was in, was found in the lake in Norway.
It's been there for fifty years, and they just brought her up,
and it's over there. It's in Trenton now and they're redoing it.
It won't fly but it'll be a, it's only, it's one of two remaining
You know, you can be a little bit, you can get
a little bit nostalgic about it. I go back there and the old
hangars there that I worked in, and I can look around and
maybe feel a little bit. I can maybe see faces of people.
There's a few I keep track of yet. Special friends.
But we're all getting, we're eighty years old, and each year
when we go back to our reunion, there's somebody gone,
somebody gone, of course. That's what it was about, people, yep.
We come here and go through procedures and go to the
Cenotaph and come back, and it's usually pretty well attended.
I think they do... I think they go to the schools now, too,
and try to do something there, have some contests with the
school kids. The Legion does a pretty good job here.
There'd be a lot of things not done in Harriston, I'll tell you,
without the Legion helping people, little things. They knew
when I came back from this surgery that I needed a chair
to get up with properly, so one landed at my door.
You know, little things like that,
they're little things, but they're big things.
Description
Mr. MacKenzie offers Remembrance Day reflections about lost friends, past service and the impact of his local Royal Canadian Legion.
Grant MacKenzie
Grant Mackenzie was born in Harriston, Ontario, in 1923. He finished school and went to work at a local auto dealer. He attempted to serve overseas as a pilot or electronics technician, but colour blindness prevented him from doing so. Instead, Mr. Mackenzie joined 6 Repair Depot in Trenton, Ontario, where he was an aero engine mechanic. He was also a member of one of the teams tasked with recovering parts from aircraft which crashed during training exercises. Upon completion of his military service, Mr. Mackenzie rejoined the automotive industry.
Meta Data
- Medium:
- Video
- Owner:
- Veterans Affairs Canada
- Duration:
- 02:47
- Person Interviewed:
- Grant MacKenzie
- War, Conflict or Mission:
- Second World War
- Location/Theatre:
- Canada
- Branch:
- Air Force
- Units/Ship:
- 6 Repair Depot
- Rank:
- Leading Aircraftman
- Occupation:
- Aero Engine Mechanic
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