A Time to be Alone

Heroes Remember

A Time to be Alone

Transcript

The feeling of seeing the fellows that I want to see that may be in the graves in Holland as versus the ones in Bény-sur-Mer or other places that we see them, I want to be alone when I do that. I don’t like to be trying to explain it right beside a tombstone. You gotta be alone to think about the guy and maybe even talk to him, eh? I have to say that the pride is covered up a little bit when I give some deep thought to it about the fact that I am lucky that I’m here and not there. And that’s the pride of recognizing the heroes that are in the ground

Description

Mr. Fowler expresses his emotions during visits to the graves of many of his fellow comrades and the importance of remembering them.

Donald Fowler

Mr. Donald Fowler was born November 7, 1925 in Peterborough, Ontario. At the age of 12, he became a bandsman bugler with the Princess of Wales Own Regiment (MG) and at this time became war-trained at Connaught Rifle Ranges in Ottawa firing Vickers machine-guns and 303 rifles. Still in his teens, Mr. Fowler enlisted in the army as a private soldier with the 1st Battalion Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry Highlanders. Mr. Fowler served during wartime as a drummer yet managed to see a great deal of action and combat up close and personal. Fowler holds great pride for his service and is deeply proud of his Metis heritage. He has had many opportunities to travel back to France and Holland to commemorate significant anniversaries. After the war, Mr. Fowler continued to play in the Queen's University pipe-band and later in other community pipe-bands. Discharged in August 1945, Mr. Fowler went back to school and ended up obtaining an education at Queens University holding under graduate standing in Honours Social Behaviour toward a multi-disciplinary study in Sociopsychobiology. Mr. Fowler held a career with GTE (General Telephones and Electronics Corporation). He is now retired and resides in Brockville, Ontario.

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