Family Involvement in Wartime

You indicated that your father was a Veteran of World War Two. Yeah. Did he ever speak to you about his experiences? Not that much. I had a hard time, yeah he didn't say too much. If he had a few beer he'd start talking or some of his buddies would come over that served with him because mainly he served with the Saskatchewan Light Infantry here. That was a machine gun battalion and some of the guys that were on the reserve, quite a few of them actually from the reserve in the Duck Lake area [inaudible] reserve and they couldn't go in the bar so Dad would buy a couple packs and bring them to the house and they'd have, have a beer and they'd start talking about their times, especially Sicily and you know Italy, going through Italy. They were one of the first ones through it so that's why I, I know that now, but what he was talking about didn't fizz on me at the time. Were there other members of your family that were also Veterans of either the First World War or the Second World War? Oh yeah. We even went, we go back to the, the rebellion. My great, my Dad's great, great uncle was one of the first ones killed there. His name was Lefabois, a Métis with, the other two people were killed, were Gabriel Dumont's brother and I can't recall the other guy's name right now. But that's why it actually started. It was done by the Duck Lake Area between Duck Lake and [inaudible]. They were more or less ambushed there and shot, then Riel, actually they started, that's where the first shots were fired. And then I had in my Dad's side, and my grandfather was in the First World War. My uncle... Actually I just went to, I went to France and I phoned him from Ottawa. His first time he ever told me, and what happened, he was with the Regina Rifles and he told me that they only had 16 men left when they got to Caen out of 100. So it's the first time he ever told me this and then my other uncle, Murray, he's deceased now. He got killed in a car accident, but he was in Korea and he was just old enough for the second, the end of the Second World War, the tail end of it and my aunt was in the, in the army also. And on my Mom's side there was my uncle, her uncle, her grandfather got killed in the First World War over in Ypres and I think that was about all I, I, I can remember that served, but they all... Out of the community of Duck Lake, 49% of the people that were involved in the Armed Forces, Second World War and First World War in our side of the family, so I'm not trying to brag, but there were 2 MMs won, Military Crosses, couple mentioned in dispatches so... The community, no well not now, but they were all aware of the Armed Forces people so... So in my family, and my brother of course was in Korea with me, came in a little later but, and he's older than I am so.

Mr. Petit, a veteran of the Korean War, explains the involvement of various members of his family who served in wartime, dating back to the Riel Rebellion.

Claude Petit

Claude Petit was born on October 31, 1935, in Duck Lake, Saskatchewan. He had one brother and a sister who passed away shortly after her birth. Mr. Petit's family has a long history of military service; his father fought in the Second World War and many other members of his family participated in conflicts dating back to the Riel Rebellion. Mr. Petit enlisted in the Korean War at the age of 16 and served with the 1st Battalion of the Princess Patricia Canadian Light Infantry.