Happy Father's Day🫡

My ❤️grandfather🪶 was the only father I had. When we made father's day stuff in elementary school, I made stuff for my grandfather which the other kids thought was weird. It was different from what they knew so they made fun of me, but I didn’t care. It didn't bother me as we were very close & I was proud of him for all he did for his family, friends & even strangers. He died May 10, 1990 & I still think of him often.

My grandfather was born December 21, 1909. He joined the army in 1925 when he was 15 years old. He had to lie about his age to join as you were supposed to be 16. I remember my grandmother had a picture of my grandfather on her dresser of him wearing his army uniform after he joined. I remember thinking how young he looked. She had another photo of him on her dresser with all of his bandmates/comrades from when he was in the Irish Guard Band. He played bassoon & later became the band conductor.

My grandfather was deployed on many missions in many countries. He served in WWII, Korea & was also deployed on the very first UN Peacekeeping Mission in Palestine—though he didn't agree with what they were tasked to do on that mission. He said it was not right & it was not fair to the Jews—especially after WWII & the Holocaust. It upset him to talk about that mission a lot—more so than any other military operations he was involved in.

He eventually was stationed in Canada & ended up in Kingston, Ontario. He served in the Royal Canadian Corps of Signals which was a combat support corps that provided communications & information systems support. Eventually he got stationed on the west coast of Canada. He initially lived in Belmont Park in Colwood, British Columbia with my grandmother & their 6 kids.

After he "retired" from the military, he worked as a commissionaire & parking enforcement officer. Later he worked as a custodian/janitor at the Bay Street Armoury in Victoria, British Columbia. I passed by a building here in Brooklyn, New York that reminded me of that building, so I took a photo & included it in this reel. One of his jobs at the Armoury was to raise the flag everyday. He took great pride in that & in all his work.🫡

#FathersDay2024 ⭐️

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C8Q3aujttIA/?igsh=MWdzam1qZDdkd2hobQ==