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' • ' , - ■■ ' ■ : : :• - : ' ' . ■' . . . . . )[ , . S|SIS ht f 1 f WbmS wi »fei j ;ï.' '■ ■ H,•• "St:'iV; '"?■' ; ■ 'i.\:.' utyourhealtt te§|p "800*387*5559 eoSisSisiii pjgBBppBBB rit'f :4 g*§|| yS'r'S'S'^: ' :; v ; v ■ -'v Wwiww®;: MV S '-, >, v '<V.Vs%7 ■ « » ^wiaMwi , . ,1 ,* >, ?•; .,.1 ISsM «PP1 2*egjg HHUBBI KÜ <iW; ><> Mi,- % 6 ttSSfett ^PMitfaiamwggagK sstassil - ' : . .' 1 ; ■pusii 8 • Orono Weekly Times Wednesday, June 7, 2006 WAR NO MORE! June 6th - Any Year by Leo DeBniyn, Newcastle On June 6th, we honour the thousands of soldiers who risked their lives to help restore peace throughout the world. We are proud of them and will always remember them. However, there are also thousands of untold stories of ordinary people who suffered through the war, lost family members and today still live with the memories of the pain and atrocities which happened during the war. Here is a true story of such a family--my own. Like many thousands of innocent people suffering from war experiences and . deaths, we seek no medals nor praise but we would like to share with you how war affects us all and how lucky we are to live in a country today that seems to be relatively relatively free from any war involvement, domestically and universally. I was born in Antwerp, Belgium on July the first, 1933. My story covers the period of 1944 to 1945. I'll try to paint you a picture picture of what war is all about and how civilians like us tried . to cope with the situation. Unlike what you may have seen on television or sometimes sometimes the movie theatre, war is not just, bombing, shooting, killing, destruction of property and individuals, it is more.... it's a time of great suffering, of hunger and starvation. It's a time of fear, of unbelievable bravery by some.... It's a time we cannot and should not ever forget. We just hope that we , and especially you, the younger generation, may never have to experience it again. During the Second World War, when my country was occupied by the German army, I was seven years old. The war ended when I was nearly 12. As I remember it, it was pure misery. Most of the time during the . first couple of years, we lived in fear and with veiy little food to sustain us. We often had to stand in line to obtain rations of bread and some vegetables. The bread was available sometimes only two or three times a week and was often stale. It was tough to cut and even tougher to chew. We had no butter or margarine, no jam and we had never even heard of peanut butter. On many occasions, while standing in line to get bread, we would separate. My mother mother would be behind me andpny ■ sister would be a couple of rows ahead of me. In doing so we hoped to receive three loaves of bread. Sometimes this worked, sometimes it didn't- didn't- but when we managed to get three loaves, we would keep one and trade the other two for onions or beets and sometimes a few potatoes. Onions were the basis of our menu. We boiled them, we mashed them with beets, Mom would make an onion gravy in which we used to dip our stale bread to make it softer and give it a bit of flavour. I remember having not more than a dozen eggs over a period of several months. My mother used to travel on a bicycle for nearly 20 km to trade white yarn and sometimes sometimes valuable items such as silverware for a small portion of pork fat, some vegetables and if lucky 10 or 15 potatoes and occasionally a couple of eggs. When my mother came back from such a trip, she would prepare a small part of the traded goodies and it was almost like a feast to us having something to eat other than onions and beets. • My father was in Germany,,, as a forced labourer in a camp near a submarine ship yard. We seldom heard from him. If lucky, we received a letter handed to a worker who was sent home because of a sickness sickness and thus we were able to find out about our father's situation. situation. While my father was in Germany, my sister and I lived with our mother who was bom in the • United States and because of this, we were often followed and shadowed by the Gestapo who allegedly believed that we were communicating communicating secretly with the British or Americans. Nothing could be further from the truth. We lived day by day, trying to get by, to find food and clothing to support ourselves. Food was scarce We never had treats like a chocolate bar, fruit or candies unless they were traded or bought on the black market. The black market was run by ùnscmpulous individuals who seemed to have the means of obtaining these products by trading them for gold, silver , precious stones or anything of value. Our mom occasionally would get us a chocolate bar or one or two apples for a couple couple of earrings or some other valuable piece of jewelry or homemade lace placemats or serviettes. Unfortunately, we were not well off and we did without the chocolate and fruits for a long time, until the war was practically over. I recall that some schools, including our own, were closed since they were occupied occupied by the German soldiers. My sister and I would go to our school with a container trying to obtain some food. We would ask the guard if he would let us inside the school so we could sing for the officers and soldiers and hope to receive something to eat. Depending on the guard, we would be allowed to walk through the classrooms, sing for the soldiers and walk away with some rye bread, a bit of left over stew, one or two sausages and a couple of candies. candies. We had a good repertoire since my grandmother had taught us long before, some German folk songs. She was born in Munich and remembered remembered many of these tunes. We did not realize that these songs would sometime in the future keep us from starvation. My sister and I must have been really good because at least twice a week we were singing and came home with our container filled with food. This lasted about three months until the army vacated the school. One year before the end of the war, as the German army WAR Continued page 9 The Lions Club of Bowmanville Presents The 11 th Annual Saturday |un@ 1Sth> 7 §SewWB66i||fll* [i k *n y'f'i W VriV fo ■ """'XKZXÿ www.claringtontravel.com Llmo provided by SouthPort Executive Services 'See contest rules at: www.claringtontravel.com Tickets sold at Orono Weekly Times