Huron Expositor, 2001-11-14, Page 3Susan Hundertmark photo
Grade 6 student David Moore looks over local veteran Charlie Perkins' medals during last Friday's talk
about Remembrance Day at Seaforth Public School. Students from every grade got an opportunity to ask
questions about the Second World War of Seaforth Legionmembers.
Veterans share war experiences
with elementary school students
By Susan Hundertmark
Expositor Staff
Students of Seaforth Public
School were transported back
to the Second World War
battlefields of North Africa
and Italy when local veteran
Charlie Perkins shared some
of his stories during the
school's Remembrance Day
ceremony last Friday.
Along with Perkins, who
signed up with the British
army at age 24, the students
also heard from Seaforth
Legion president Eva Brown,
whose husband served in
both the Second World War
and the Korean War and
member Barbara Scott, who
signed up with the Women's
Auxiliary Territorial Service
in Britain at 17 and a half and
who married a Canadian
soldier and returned to
Seaforth as a war bride.
"How many of you who
are close to 16 can imagine
signing up and going to
war?" librarian Joanne
Flanagan asked the Grades 7
and 8 students assembled in
the school's gym.
Perkins talked about how
he was shipped overseas to
North Africa in 1942 and
after a 10 -day voyage with
7,000 other soldiers, arrived
at the North African shores at
3:15 a.m.
"We were supposed to
have a barrage of gunfire
from the Italian war ships to
be able to get to shore but the
Italians had given up the day
before. When it got Tight, we
headed for the shore but of
the 146 in my company, only
seven were still standing by
morning. I was very fortunate
to be one of them," he said.
Students were interested to
hear how Perkins received a
bullet that is still lodged in
one of his legs. The bullet
came from a machine gun
shot by German soldiers
during his time fighting in
Italy.
"After I was wounded, I
was sent back to a hospital in
Malta. They x-rayed it, stuck her and then served from
a bandage on it and sent me 1950-53 in the Korean War.
back to work to another
beachhead invasion in Italy,"
he said.
Perkins explained how he
received medals such as the
African Star and Italian Star
for fighting in both those
countries, along with a medal
for civil defence in Britain
since he served in a reserved
occupation building furnaces
and firewatching at night for
bombs before becoming a
soldier.
"We used to build furnaces
12 hours a day, seven days a
week and then spend all night
firewatching. It was our duty
to put out fires from the
bombing of England," he
said.
Scott said her mother also
served as a firewatcher, while
her father died as a soldier
fighting in the war exactly
two years after it began.
"It's sad to think of
anyone's dad going to war
and not coming back,"
Flanagan said to the students.
Both Scott and her sister
signed up and her sister
worked with anti-aircraft
guns in England,
shouting,"Fire" to the men
operating the guns when she
and a group of other women
figured out the direction,
speed and height of incoming
German bombers.
"War doesn't just affect
people in the army," said
Perkins. "The British people
suffered every bit as badly as
the army during the bombing
of England. They all had
shelters in their backyards
made of corrogated steel
where they'd sleep at night."
Scott told students that the
Seaforth fire alarm sounds
exactly like the air raid sirens
that used to sound in England
whenever bomber planes
attacked.
Brown said her husband,
who signed up with the army
at age 16, fought in Europe
during the Second World
War, came home and married
Grade 8 student Ashley Coleman and Grade 7 student Laura
Elligsen hosted the Remembrance Day ceremonies at Seaforth
Publk School last Friday.
"He was a dispatch rider in
the Second World War so he
rode a motorcycle around
delivering messages. Many
veterans don't talk much
about their experience in the
war so I never knew much
about what he did but he
always said the Korean War
was much worse than the
Second World War. He said it
was just dreadful," she said.
A student asked Perkins if
he was ever afraid he was
going to die during the war.
"I spent two and a half
years of feeling just that," he
said.
Seaforth woman
charged after
rolling her car
A 34 -year-old Seaforth
woman has been charged
with a drinking and driving
offence after rolling her car in
a McKillop ditch on Oct. 23.
The single car crash
occurred at about 6 p.m. on
North Line in McKillop. A
1991 Oldsmobile was seen by
a witness driving on the
roadway, then leaving the
road and rolling.
The driver was found to
have twice the legal limit of
alcohol in her system to be
allowed to drive. She is
scheduled to attend court in
Goderich on Dec. 3.
THE MINION EXPOSITOR, Novon*r 14, 2001-3
Call
LYNDA VINCENT
at 527-2204
g „ re or toll free
Akietrgiat1-888-269-0377
Your child's ability to
;A communicate is important to
future success at school and
in life
Ane you concerned about the way your child's
speech and language skills are developing.,
For information or a speech assessment call
273-2222 or 1-800-269-3683
visit our website at www.smalltalkinfo,ca
smaiITALK servioas are funded by the Ministry of Health and Lore -Term Care
Support The Seaforth Community Hospital Auxiliary
TREE OF LIGHTS
"A Celebration of Sharing"
Let the spirit of Christmas shine by giving a
"GIFT OF LIGHT"
TREE OF LIGHTS
CELEBRATION
at the
Seaforth Community Hospital
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 25/01
6:30 PM
Lighting Ceremon
7:00 PM
Christmas Entertainment
Hot Mulled Cider
Homemade Cookies
Bring your letters to Santa
and have a visit with him
—TICKET3—
Tickets are available from any
member of the Hospital Auxiliary.
Proceeds to purchase a comput-
erized I.V.Pump.
UPTOWN SEAFORTH'S
Sunday, November 18
12 noon - 5 pm
SPECIAL FEATURES
• Great Savings
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