"Just Me and Thee"

Heroes Remember

"Just Me and Thee"

Something happened last week... When we went to George Merrits funeral which was about two weeks ago, I didn't know any of the rest of his family, but I talked to George quite a lot on the telephone. I haven't been driving the car for 10 years myself so we didn't get to see one another that often but we'd do a lot of talking on the phone. And my sister, my last sister died, when my second last sister died, my last sister said to me, "Well John, there is only me and thee." So I said something to her, "Sis, I'll be here longer then you are." Whatever. She was older than I was. Well I was talking to George Merrit shortly after that, this was about 1994-95 and I said to George that my sister died, the last one and she said to me, "John there is me and thee." I'm the only one that's thee of, it's me now. He says, "John, I'll bet you that, a bottle of scotch, that I'll be here, that me will be here longer than thee". And it's been a joke with us kind of all the time since. When I went to his funeral, didn't know a soul, not a soul. But I went around and talked to a few people, I wanted to talk to his daughter if I could find her. And I stopped one fella, he said, "Well I'm his nephew." So I sat and talked with him and I just said to him, in the course of our conversation, I said, "You know George and I had a bet with me and I don't know how the hell I'm going to collect it. We bet a bottle of scotch that I'd be here longer than he would or bet me." Well the guy laughed, chuckled and so forth. Last Sunday, the doorbell rang, I was home by myself. I answer the door and a man was standing there with a parcel in his hand and a letter and he hands me the letter. He said, "I'm Fred Merrit, and I'm just paying off a debt." Interviewer: Wow. And the letter, I mean it's something special. He had known about this and he was the executor and was repaying, bought me the bottle of scotch. Interviewer: That's a nice story. Yeah. Interviewer: Very nice ending.

Mr. McGee tells an amazing story where his last sister and he made a bet of who would live longer. After she passed on, Mr. McGee spoke to a friend in ‘95 and made the same bet with George Merritt...

John McGee

Mr. John McGee was born in Saskatchewan, on May 3, 1923, and comes from a family of two brothers and three sisters. He now resides in Edmonton, Alberta, with his wife and family. Mr. McGee joined the army and left for wartime service with a group of thirteen men. Although very excited to be going overseas, he recalls the sight of seeing young men jumping overboard when the ship began to sail; the fear of the unknown was causing many to turn back and stay at home! Mr. McGee was determined to go and serve his country. Mr. McGee shares with us his personal experience of being captured as a Hong Kong prisoner of war (POW) and hardships he endured at the camp. He considers himself very fortunate to be alive today, as many of his friends were left behind. After six years of serving in the army, Mr. McGee returned home to be what he terms an "Entrepreneur" buying a few hotels and later on getting into the sales business. Civilian life was a very positive outcome for a soldier who had endured such hard times and poor health during his time in the prisoner of war camps.