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My name is Pierre Gauthier. I live in Chamblis. I was a soldier during the Second World War. I was in the Régiment de la Chaudière, which a French Canadian regiment from Quebec, which is just south of Quebec City. I joined that regiment early in the war, trained in Canada, and then I went overseas.

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My name is Harry Urwin. I joined the Royal Canadian Navy in November of 1941 in Regina, Saskatchewan. I was very fortunate, I came back. I was at sea on convoy duty for 32 months. We took the largest convoy of the war in May of ‘44. The largest convoy was a 158 ships sailed out of New York Harbor. It took a day and a half to form. And we escorted them to off the Azores. And then another group took the convoy from Azores to Londonderry, Ireland and we headed back to St. John’s Newfoundland.

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My name is… it was Una Sinclair at that time, before my marriage. I joined up in Brandon, Manitoba, in October 1944, and then I went to Winnipeg for my medicals. From Winnipeg, I went to Kitchener, where I did my six weeks basic training in Kitchener. Then I was transferred to Quebec City in December of ‘44, when I worked with the Royal Canadian Ordnance Corps as a Storewoman – I guess that’s what they called us in those days. I was stationed in Quebec City from December of ‘44 until August of ‘45, and I was transferred to Ottawa, to Glebe Barracks, and I worked with 26th C.O.D. – Central Depot – there in Ottawa, in the stores. I was there until September of ‘46, when they disbanded.

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My name is Cy Carney. I live in a small community near Minto, New Brunswick. I served twenty-five years in the Canadian Armed Forces, Army Section. I served also with NATO forces in Europe - a tour of duty in Cyprus, the UN Forces there. And I’m a Veteran of the Korean War. I was there April, 1952, to May, 1953.

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My uncle, Leo Clarke – he was one of the VCs on Valour Road, of which there are three, and it has never been known anywhere in the world where there were three VCs on one street or within one block.

He was born in Waterdown, Ontario. When the war broke out, my grandfather told the boys – Leo and Charlie, my dad – “Before you join up, you have to come home first,” because Leo had gone with a survey crew in northern Alberta, and dad was working in Regina. Dad arrived home first and joined up with the 2nd Battalion here in Winnipeg, and then Leo, when he joined up, he joined up with a different group. Then, when he got over to France, he asked for a transfer to get in with his brother, which ultimately he wrangled one way or another. Then they both ended up in the 2nd Battalion, in a group called… what they referred to as “The Bombers.” They very seldom carried any rifles –
they carried grenades – and they’d be sent in ahead of the normal advance to, as dad used to put it, “soften them up.”

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