Chapter 3: Reconnecting & Finding Hidden Treasures

I'm back in Vancouver after a great visit with family and friends in Winnipeg & Belair.  It was really nice to re-connect and catch up with everyone.  Vancouver may be where my life is now, but I think Winnipeg will always be home.

Toasting Dad with Tara, Aunty Ellie, and Aunty Hedy at the 8th tee - 2014 Al Niemar Memorial Golf Tournament, Grand Pines Golf Course

On the fairway at Grand Pines with Tara & Derek

With Mum & Tara at The Forks in Winnipeg

Sharing some laughs with Tara and my beautiful niece, Holly, in Winnipeg

While we were out at the cabin in Belair, Tara and I had a chance to sort through some papers in an old chest of drawers of Dad's that we hadn't really looked at yet.  We like to do this together, and since I'm typically only in Winnipeg once a year, it's taken some time to sort through it all...Dad liked his stuff.

One thing that really struck me as we were looking through everything was how many photos and keepsakes (cards, invitations etc.) that Dad had kept.  I think it's a real testament to how important his friends and family were to him.  Looking through all of those old photos was also good for a laugh...there was a lot of big hair in the 80's!

There were also some real treasures tucked away in those drawers...

• I found a photo of my Oma's father, Karl.  I still don't have information on the birth dates & places of either of her parents, and I think this will be the next piece of the puzzle that I try to figure out.
  
• A copy of the Neimor family tree that was put together for the 1992 family reunion.  I'm sure I had my own copy of this at some point, but I'm guessing that my 14 year-old self didn't really see the value in hanging on to it.
• Several documents relating to Opa Charlie's service in WWII, including:
• His St. John's Ambulance Certificate from the Canadian Army along with his Identity Certificate from the Field Ambulance unit of the RCAMC.
• His Canadian Army Soldier's Service Book.  The service book was a part of his Army identification, and had to be carried with him at all times.  There is some interesting information in here that's given me a bit of insight into his time in the war.  There's a very long list of all the "protective inoculations" he received (mainly for typhus & diphtheria); so many, in fact, that an extra page had to be stapled into the book.  There's also a section in the book for information about bank accounts and personal effects.  There are many abbreviations in this section that I don't understand, but I can make out some of the service medals Opa Charlie earned during the war, including a badge for good conduct, 5 red service chevrons, his Italy Star, France Star, and Germany Star.  
• Receipts - one from the Dept. of Veterans Affairs in 1948 in the amount of $728.69 for "household equipment" purchased the house at 772 Talbot Ave. in Winnipeg (that works out to about $7,600.00 in 2014).  The second is from the Dept. of National Defence, and is a "Statement of War Service Gratuity" which was paid out to Opa upon discharge (his discharge date was Nov. 13, 1946...my birthday is Nov. 13...kinda cool!).  According to the statement, Opa served 1772 days in the army, of which 1579 were overseas.  For all of this, he received $485.20 (about $5,800.00 today...according to the Canadian Inflation Calculator).
  

Thanks again for reading, my plan of attack, for now, is to try and find out more about Oma's parents.
Christine