Remembrance Day Reflection

Every November the 11th, as I was growing up, my father took me to the cenotaph in Windsor and there was always a service there. And the Essex Scottish were very much in the forefront and so we would go. Now the cenotaph really wasn’t very far from where we lived. Every time I went past that cenotaph I always was reminded of the people who had given their lives in the First World War. I was reminded of the fact that my father had been overseas. It was a reminder of the fact that he had been wounded overseas. It was a reminder of the fact that my uncle had been in the No. 2 Construction Battalion. It was a reminder of the fact that my cousin who was the same age as my father and uncle had also been in the No. 2 Construction Battalion. I was reminded of the fact that people just did not come back. It was the way in which that war was prosecuted. It was the way in which the generals used troops in those days. They could use them as gun fodder. We shouldn’t have lost as many people as we lost over there. But having said that, the thing was very fresh in people’s minds when I was a young toddler, and in consequence it was something that had a very profound effect on me

Mr. Jacobs shares a personal story on the meaning of Remembrance Day and what he remembers from his childhood.

Kenneth Jacobs

Mr. Kenneth Jacobs was born in 1923 in Windsor, Ontario. He attended public high school until Grade 13 and was involved in sports throughout his school years. He attended the University of Toronto with the aspiration to study medicine, however, after one year changed his career path. In 1943 Mr. Jacobs joined the army. He was posted to Eastern Passage, Nova Scotia with the Royal Canadian Artillery, transferred to the Medical Corp and accepted advanced training in Camp Borden. He then transferred to the Vancouver General Military Hospital working in admissions as a typist, then onto the orderly room as an operating room assistant. In 1945 he discharged from the army, obtained his Bachelor of Arts at Assumption College, attended University of Toronto and earned a Masters Degree in Social Work. Mr. Jacobs worked at the Children’s Aid Society of Toronto, being the first black social worker at this agency. Mr. Jacobs joined the Air Force and worked in British Columbia in his social work field. In 1980, when his father turned ill, Mr. Jacobs returned to Ottawa to look after him, was employed with National Defence and established a social work centre. In 1988 Mr. Jacobs retired after 24 years of service and settled in Ottawa. Mr. Jacobs retired from the forces with the rank of Wing Commander.