Monday, January 28, 2013

Becoming a Veteran: Served in the Royal Navy 1942 - 1945



In the last years of Dad’s life, Veterans Affairs Canada became a very important benefactor.  They paid for all kinds of services, gear and medications that would have been cash out of pocket to people with civilian status.  They were bureaucratic, difficult to communicate with sometimes and slow but very, very generous.  We often marveled at the quality of life he was able to lead with their support in keeping him in his house.

So it was all because he sweated out the war in the engine room of diesel fuelled landing craft, keeping the vessels going in various ports in North Africa in preparation for the assault on Italy.  They had arrived at Gibraltar in one of those craft, after crossing the Atlantic, from Virginia I think, – 25 of them bouncing around with no military escort.  It was an experiment to see if it was possible, rather than sending the vessels in parts to be assembled.  These men were expendable I guess but lived through it only to be stalled by the King’s ship that had just docked! So the bullets were not coming straight at him, he had a skill that kept him safe, and served him well in later years in the auto industry.

 Military records state that he served as a stoker 1st class motor mechanic and demobilized as a leading stoker with 578 days on the high seas.  He talked about ports with exotic names like Djeli and Bougi and the perils of the British 8th army combined operations.

His brothers Dave, Hank and Bill were all in the army.  He said he wanted to sail over and save them!  There is collection of medals that he was very proud of celebrating that mission.

The ships had great names like “Dinosaur”, “Copra”, “Peregrine”,”Naden” and “Discovery”

When he returned, he entertained his sisters by teaching them the ‘North African Shuffle’, a dance he totally made up.   He also remembers playing pool with brother Bill and exchanging war stories.  Bill was in the trenches in France and the battle at Dieppe – quite a different perspective that seeing it from the ocean!

Peter Neufeld is a Star

Andromeda, also known as M31 in the Messier catalogue of deep sky objects, is the closest galaxy to our own galaxy, the Milky Way. Still, it is 2.3 million light years away. In about five billion years, the Andromeda and Milky Way are expected to collide, but, need I say it, that's not really our concern yet. Here is Space.com’s page on Andromeda. 
In our sky you can find Andromeda by locating it in relation to known visible stars and named constellations. Find the "W" of Cassiopeia and then hold you closed fist in the air under the right hand bottom point of the "W" and the elongated blurry smudge on the other side of your fist, on a clear moonless night, will be Andromeda.

There's an organization known as The International Star Registry. Somehow, in the early 1980s, only a few years after its inception and years before the devil's tool known as the World Wide Web, Dianne found out about the Registry and for Peter's birthday one year, had a star named for him. It can't be seen with the naked eye because it's located in what's known as the halo of Andromeda, which is that blazing spiral ring of stars surrounding the core.

I've borrowed this star chart and using the coordinates I was given by a lovely person named Jane at the Canadian offices of the Star Registry (00 07 05 +33 36) I've located the approximate location of the star names Neufeld. I typed the name and planted the red arrow myself.
Or, as seen in the sky with the boundaries of Andromeda overlaid.
Or, as seen in the sky, or should I say as not see, but with a crosshair locating the coordinates.
Here is a video from NASA that shows beautiful images of Andromeda as seen in three different ultraviolet wave lengths.: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWxBTHVhc3I

As you watch, remember that one of those millions of points of light is named for Peter Neufeld and always will be right up until Andromeda and The Milky Way collide in about five billion years.

~ Dana Still

Thursday, January 24, 2013

Adventures Before War: The Depression & Peter



Going to Vancouver in 1936 – riding the rails, moving horses, making telephone poles, stacking wood for food outside the bakery, sleeping alongside hobos.


1939 returning to Walsh to work in the munitions plant, arranged by his father so he could avoid going overseas to join his brothers.   He belonged to the Home Guard.

He tells a funny story about going to a meeting of the Home Guard and his hat.  He was living with his sister, Sue and her husband, Boulter.  above  the tinsmith’s shop.  He had a uniform and liked to polish the badge on his hat because it was “important”.  To steady it while polishing, he put a table fork underneath it.  One night, he was leaving for his duty and glanced at this reflection in the tinsmith’s darkened window, probably to check his jaunty uniform.  That was when he noticed the fork – still stuck in his hat!

He first told me this story in June 2010 after I told him about going to his bank to pay the bills and realizing later that I had roller in my hair!

So motors and war, they sealed Dad’s fate.   He joined the Navy in 1942, escaping his father’s thoughtful plan to keep him out of trouble.  HMCS Discovery on Deadman’s Island in Vancouver was his place of enrolment.   Then diesel mechanic training back east and then on to the Royal Navy and the adventure with the landing craft industry.
Next came the story of crossing the Atlantic in one of those flat crafts, because they wanted to test the possibility to save time!  Up until then, the parts were shipped and they were assembled closer to the war theatre.   Amazingly, they survived the Atlantic perils.

And the on again, off again romance with Clare Borth, who by now was working by day in the Department of Defence in Ottawa,  and dancing  at night with the prairie boys  who were getting ready to go over seas.  She wrote letters.   She expected some back.  That didn’t happen.   But I found some poems written by Dad.   I don’t think he wants me to put them out in public but he was clearly smitten and determined.

~ Dianne

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Early Training





Peter's Parents; Early Life



While re reading Dad’s book of stories, randomly recorded during the last 4 years whenever I could get him going, it is clear that his most colourful early memories are about his father and his jobs, and how the former often influenced the latter.

To set the context, David Neufeld was born in Russia in 1875, came to Canada when he was approximately 18 years old, spoke 7 languages. The family had been in Russia for three generations but along with many other Mennonites, had been kicked out of many countries since their origin in Holland.   He was literate, wrote many letters and owned an encyclopedia.   He insisted they all go to church even though the Mennonite church had not been established yet in Alberta.   He taught his kids carols in German and made them perform for guests.   Most of the kids refused to speak German back to him because they were suffering from “DP” discrimination at school.  David Neufeld senior retired from working at the grain elevator in Walsh, Alberta in 1938 and died suddenly in the potatoe garden behind the Grand Café (the venue of many adventures and events in Walsh)

So Peter was the youngest boy.  There were two more sons after him, Abraham and Robert but they died in infancy.  Dad lamented the position of being the youngest son and having to sit in the last place on the bench.  “I wanted to get out of there and get my own bench!”, he said.   He says he suffered the usual younger brother abuse from Dave, Bill and Hank.   Dad was usually in some kind of hot water for mischief. (school class picture good here). 

How Dad’s Dad connects to early jobs is a testament to Pete’s independence and determination to prove he was worthy and different than the expectations created for him. The boys were supposed to pull the weeds around the grain elevator but not get paid.  Pete broke ranks and went to work for Mr. Reinhardt who paid him a dollar to pull his weeds.   Pete loved annoying his father in small and big ways “because he was harsh”.

The blacksmith seems to be an early influence.  Dad started going there to replenish the alcohol needed to run a toy engine that he had.  He started going there every day to turn the forge (?) for Mr. Murray.   We found a page of newspaper from 1928 when he would have been still a boy and the only thing on it that makes any connection is all of the car ads.   He loved the idea of motors.

Dianne

Saturday, January 12, 2013

Peter Remembered by Daughter Dianne


Peter Warren Neufeld
1917 – 2013

A committed husband, father, grandfather and uncle, Dad spent his whole life working hard and helping anyone who needed a break and some respect.  He finished his career as an executive in the automobile industry working for Dueck on Broadway.   This fact alone is a testament to his grit, starting as a prairie boy, born in Warmen, Saskatechewan.

Growing up in Medicine Hat Alberta, his family did not intend for him to go to war or succeed in business.  He had other ideas, avoiding his father’s careful arrangements to have him work in a munitions factory and not join his brothers overseas. He had already tasted poverty and idleness during the Depression, riding the rails and trying all kinds of short term work.   When the love of his life, Clare Borth , moved to Ottawa to help the war effort and her own fortunes by working for the Department of Defense, he went to Vancouver and signed on to the Navy.  Passing a swimming test was the tricky part but he managed to avoid that pitfall by volunteering to take his diesel mechanic skills to the Royal Navy.   Every one of their personnel ships had a Canadian aboard to maintain the landing craft.  Getting them across the Atlantic was another story altogether that we will tell later on.

So in this capacity, he managed to avoid the bullets, working off the coast of North Africa, ending up in Malta, being rescued to Scotland where he got sorted out just in time for the end of war.  However, his lack of attention to letter writing had already earned him a ‘dear john’ letter from Clare so he came home expecting nothing, only to be tricked into seeing Clare again (she was tricked by her sister as well) and the love affair was off again. They moved to Vancouver, set up house with Pete’s sister Sue and her husband Boulter in a big old house on the east side near 28 and Main street.   Dianne Lynn (that’s me) was born a year later and  Peter slowly moved from the mechanic’s bench to the sales floor to the executive offices as she grew.    It was impressive and in later years, he expressed his own amazement as well.

The Boom years took them to North Vancouver, into an interest in politics, golf and Hawaiian and Cariboo vacations.   By this time he was an expert card player, beer maker, dancer and all round bon vivant.  A very likable guy who always wanted to make a joke . He deferred to Clare in matters of entertainment and real estate both of which became her forte and the projects that he supported.

After Clare’s passing in 2008, Peter continued his popularity, this time with all of the caregivers who frequented his house ensuring his wish to be there until he left “feet first”.

96 years is a long time and he was sadly predeceased by all of his siblings: Robert, Abraham, Margaret, William, Henry, Bertha, Jacob, Susan, Agnes, Mary, David, Katherine and Elizabeth.  His parents were David Neufeld and Katherine (Shellenberg). 

Peter/ Pete is survived by his daughter, Dianne Neufeld and his grand daughter, Ashlee Conery.  They were near him most of the last week of his life and are sure they teased a smile out of him a few times.

He is missed.