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The Memory Project: Stories of the Second World War strikes a personal chord with me. My grandfather, Private Paul-Émile Givogue enlisted in the Royal Canadian Army on January 11, 1943 and was active in the Second World War until he was discharged in 1946. My grandfather kept brief notes of his daily routine in a journal, and as a youth I interviewed him for a school project; I listened and recorded his war stories as he recounted his experiences using his notebook as reference.

The one story told most often in my family is the one when my grandfather met his two older brothers, Ubald and Armand Givogue, on V-E Day in Trafalgar Square in London, England, after not seeing each other for four years. Armand was on leave from the front, and knowing that Ubald was based in England decided to visit him there, but he did not know that my grandfather was also there. The three brothers met up, and joined the Londoners in their celebrations, recalling that they could hardly walk given the crowds on the streets. The brothers would return home to Cornwall, Ontario a year later in 1946, when the family celebrated their homecoming.

In 2007, my grandfather passed away, my family members will never forget his stories; my father has all of my grandfather’s war memorabilia, including his notebook. I will always regret not having a chance to interview and record all my grandfather’s stories as part of our project, but listening to other veterans’ stories helps me to better understand what my grandfather saw and experienced in the war.