Poultry Talk Ontario (pto.ca)

Shake a soldiers hand ----
Remember the past & the now .

We often think of older veterans like my husbands late father (pilot WW2) but now there are so many young veterans too, often suffering form PTSD and other injuries.

I think most of us at one time has become very uneasy during hunting season when a bunch of guys are just clearly out to shoot guns and don't care how close to people or houses they are. I always think.... what must it be like to be in a situation where the bullets are actually meant for you, that someone is shooting AT YOU! To kill you! I'm glad that I never had to be in that situation and I have total respect and admiration for the people who are there so that I am safe.

They announced yesterday that they are going to build a housing complex for homeless veterans, I think that is awesome and long overdue actually. Many are on the streets because they are suffering, they stood up for us, now it's our turn to give back to them.

A big thank you to all past, present and future soldiers. Proud to be a Canadian!

I had uncles on both sides of WW2. My uncle Paul was a scout on horseback for the Germans on the Russian front. When the war ended, and Russian soldiers were combing the countryside looking for soldiers (to send to Siberia) he walked into a barn, hid his uniform and started mucking out stalls (he was 15 or 16). Soldiers asked the farmer who the kid was. The farmer said he's just a stable boy. That night Paul asked the farmer to look after his horse, he was a good friend. He walked all night and hid all day for four days to get home. Also worth noting, any person deemed "an enemy of the state" was sent to a concentration camp, including the Catholic priest from my father's village as he spoke out against the Nazi's. The villagers sent food to him which he shared with others in the camp.

My uncles Roland and Raymond fought for the Canadian side. Raymond was wounded and in a hospital in Paris when it was bombed. A doctor carried him out on his back.

Carla's grandfather was part of the Dutch resistance and they hid some Jewish people, and were involved in food distribution. The allies would drop in food by parachute abd they had 8 minutes to move it before the Germans would arrive.

These are some of the stories I've heard.

my father in law was born in Poland during the war, his mother was Polish and his father was a German SS Soldier. he had many other brothers and sisters, when the Germans found out about his family they came to execute them. he lost his father and all his siblings, his mother was somehow able to escape with him as a baby and flee the country. she ended up in Canada, and then started a new life a free woman.

I may have some of that story a little mixed up but its pretty close, talk about a crazy history.

My father fought in Italy during WWII. He joined the army when he was under age at 17. He passed away in the retirement home at the age of 87, 4 years ago. My dad has a story printed in Barry Broadfoot's book 'Six War Years' 1939-1945. It is in the humorous section called 'Twin Brothers'. My dad and his identical twin switched places in the war. My Uncle was one of those soldiers who landed on the beaches of Normandy. 'Lest we forget'.

Hubbys father got out of Poland with their aircraft because the Officers were being executed. His friends wife walked across Europe to get out. His father would never talk about the war and we heard from Mr Paluszcinski that it was because when they bombed Dresden they had to fly back over the city and they could see what they'd done. It was orders but some of the pilots committed suicide over it and a lot (including my late FIL) had mental health problems always.

Thank you to all that have served and are still serving to keep our country "proud and free".

Great Uncle fought in France in WW2 where he lost his life and is buried there, and my Aunt one of the few women in the RCAF at the time who served during the Cold War. Here she was yesterday dropping the puck at the Remembrance Day game of the Kitchener Ranger VS Owen Sound game, so proud!!

My grandpa fought in ww2....was taken prisoner. Presumed dead. Didnt walk out until after the war was over...didnt know the war was over. He had escaped from a concentration camp and walked basically to france. They took him up to england he had ptsd so bad he couldnt remember his name or homeland and had no id...nothing. he apparently fell in love in england and had 3 more kids and then was formally identified and came to canada where his "real" family from before the war was....they had buried him years before. He was never the same....i only have 1 memory of my grandpa....we lost him in the early 70s. Way too young.