September 10, 1939: It was a scorching Saskatchewan afternoon, and Dad was swinging his scythe, cutting brush along a road allowance. He watched his neighbour’s truck approaching, a trail of dust rising behind like smoke from a train’s smokestack.
“Canada declared war!” the man shouted, leaning out the window. “I’m going to Regina to join up.”
“Take me with you!” Dad declared, throwing his scythe into the back of the pickup truck, and jumping in beside him. Off they drove, two young men sick to death of the deprivations of the “Dirty Thirties.”
Meanwhile, Mum was at home with the two little girls, canning saskatoons and baking bread in the hot kitchen. When she put supper on the table, Dad still hadn’t returned. Even if he’d had a spare nickel to call from a pay phone, they had no phone. Day turned to dusk and though she searched the horizon, there was no sign of him. She washed the supper dishes and tucked the girls into bed. She lit the coal oil lamp and sat darning socks.
Her eyes were wet, maybe because the lamplight was dim, maybe not, when Dad finally pushed open the door and stepped into the light of the kitchen, his faced flushed with excitement despite his weariness. Mum ran to throw her arms around him. “I was worried sick,” she cried. “Where were you?”
When he announced the news, she broke down. “What about us? What are we going to do when they send you overseas?”
Holding her close, he said, “You’ll be taken care of. They send our paycheques to our wives.”
“Not that!” she insisted. “I mean what about us if you get shot? You didn’t have to do this, Bill. We need you.”
“Don’t worry, Doll. Their bullets won’t get me. Look, I’m so skinny, if I stand sideways, I disappear. Those bullets will whizz right past me.”
Dad was at training camp when Mum received an envelope in the mail. So much money! She wrote to Dad, who responded, “That’s just for the first week, Doll! The next cheque will be twice that!”
The Depression was over - no more constant searching for work and trying to make do. The War was a worldwide tragedy, but for this young couple it began as a time of change, excitement, and abundance. They had no idea what misery lay ahead.
Amber Harvey