About 185 people from across the district packed the Chapple Community Centre in Barwick last Friday evening for the annual Chapple Heritage fall supper.
The dinner has been a regular fixture in the community for many years, but this time it was different.
Traditionally held in October as a fundraiser for the Chapple Museum, the heritage committee wanted to try something different this year.
“One of our members suggested we tie it in with Remembrance Day this year,” recalled committee chair Rilla Race. “We were not as concerned with fundraising as we were with having a tribute to Chapple veterans.”
Race said the township has a long history of sending citizens to war, going back nearly a century and that tradition is still alive today.
She noted Chapple sent 83 citizens to World War One (1914-18) and more than 200 to the Second World War (1939-45).
In addition to Race, who emceed the event, and Thunder Bay-Rainy River MP Ken Boshcoff, there were six other speakers—all Chapple residents or with roots there—who stood up and told their own personal stories of war and sacrifice.
“These are stories of sacrifices made by citizens of Chapple,” Race announced before turning over the microphone.
The first speaker was Marlin Carr, a member of the U.S. Army Reserve who actually had to leave the dinner early in order to report to his reserve unit in Minneapolis for his monthly commitment.
Carr described his nine-month tour of duty in Iraq last year and how it confirmed his belief in duty—not just to his country (Carr is still an American citizen) but also to the international community at large.
“To have children come up to me and say, ‘Thank you. We love you,’ really made me feel good as a soldier,” he remarked.
Carr also said he is on stand-by status for another tour of duty in Iraq, which could happen at any time over the next few months. In fact, as Race pointed out during her introduction, “Marlin tells me he sleeps with his bag packed all the time now.”
The next speaker was Mervin Ahrens, whose uncle and namesake was killed in action Sept. 21, 1944 in the Italian campaign.
Ahrens explained how the uncle he never met was a constant presence in his life as he was growing up and how he always wanted to find out exactly what happened to him.
Through a chance encounter with a man from Germany, he was able to trace his uncle’s final days and bring about a sense of closure.
The next speaker was Gladys McLean, who served as a wartime nurse in England. She described—with some humour—the almost nightly ritual of air raids by the German Luftwaffe and the toll it took, not only on the civilian population but on medical personnel, as well.
She said the hospital in which she worked was hit twice. The first time, the culprit was an unexploded anti-aircraft round that fell onto the building and exploded.
She said the noise was deafening and the whole building shook, but it held up.
On the second occasion, German bombs hit the hospital, resulting in the loss of the head nurse and others.
Dave Clink of Kenora grew up in Chapple and when the war started, he was a conscientious objector. A devout Christian, Clink found himself conflicted by his morals, but eventually signed up.
“When the news started coming back about the atrocities, I volunteered,” he said.
Clink was stationed in the north Pacific, where he found being a Christian gave him the strength to cope with the stresses of war. But so did his sense of humour, which came through in his address.
“I was stationed with 30,000 Americans. There were also 5,000 Canadians, which made us about even,” he quipped.
Clink said the experience of war solidified his beliefs and confirmed his faith. “I came to the conclusion the only thing that mattered was eternity,” he remarked.
The next speaker had a unique perspective on the Second World War.
Peter van Heyst was 10 years old when the Germans invaded his country (Holland) and saw the war as an effort to liberate his country. He described how his family—at great personal risk—hid refugees and Allied pilots who had been shot down.
At times, he said, there were as many as 15 people sharing the meagre wartime rations at his family’s table, but for a young boy, the most vivid memories were of the air raids.
“The intensity of the war was felt most when the planes were in the sky at night,” he recalled.
Van Heyst said he was so impressed by the conduct of the liberating forces (mostly Canadian), that it inspired him to emigrate to Canada when he grew up. He has been living in Chapple ever since.
The last speaker was Lloyd Wheatley, who spent most of the war as a PoW in Germany after the Halifax bomber in which he was a tail gunner was shot down.
Many of his crew did not survive and the experience reminded him of just what was at stake and why he was fighting.
“It was a deadly game,” Wheatley said.
The evening concluded with an introduction of all the veterans present, a recitation of the poem, “In Flanders Fields,” and a playing of “The Last Post” by Mark Loney on the bugle.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
