www.oakvillebeaver.com The Oakville Beaver, Wednesday March 12, 2008 - 21 Students researching pasts of OT's soldiers Continued from page 19 Besides information on how Butler died, Falls' research also turned up information about a few aspects of Butler's life. "He used to live near Rebecca Street, he had one sister and he went to school until Grade 10, but only completed Grade 9. Then he became a worker on an aircraft assembly line and then he enlisted in the army," said Falls. Badia Abounassar also made an interesting discovery about William James Archibald, the pilot he was assigned to research. "I found out that his dad was the principal of this school a while back, and a lot of people used his dad's recommendation to get into the army," said Abounassar. Joey Monahan found out that his subject, Pilot Officer Kenneth Donovan, was married, had one brother, had three years of military service and was killed one day before his birthday when his plane was shot down on a bombing mission. "He was presumed dead," said Monahan. While many of the soldiers the students are researching were killed in combat, others died in accidents, with one particular soldier losing his life in a way that showed students the young men of that era were very real and capable of making terrible mistakes. "He was married and he had three kids, but he never actually left Canada," said Connor McAnuff. "He was in a military hospital in Toronto and he was drunk and he fell out of a second-storey window and died. This was in his file." Throughout all of this painstaking work and amazing discoveries, the Ancestors in the Attic crew has been present and filming, something many of the students feel is very cool, while others are not quite used to it yet. "It's actually been really awkward," said Monahan. "There's like a camera right by your head and you're not allowed to look at it." Despite having some reservations about the filming, all students agreed the project is a worthy one that provides them with a hands on and human approach to learning WWII history, which they cannot get from the textbooks. "These guys went to OT just like we did and they lost their lives helping to fight in a war for us. I think it is really important that we finally tell their stories because they don't deserve to just be filed away. People should know their stories," said Sierra Pearson. While the director of Ancestors in the Attic has decided what two soldier stories will be the focus of the portion of the documentary filmed in Europe, for the moment he is keeping that secret to himself, pending notification of the students who will participate. This European portion of the filming is expected to take place over the March Break with the Ancestors in the Attic episode featuring the Oakville Trafalgar High School students scheduled to play on History Television at some point during Remembrance Week in November. While getting this history project morphed into a documentary has been an unexpected bonus, it is secondary to what Calvert hopes her students will take away from their research into OT's soldiers. "I wanted the students to see their stories, not just how they died or when they died," she said. "I wanted them to know that they had families, next of kin, some of them were married, they may have had children, what they did. Were they a good student? We just wanted to make their stories come alive and be more than just names on the cenotaph." Poor mutual fund performance? Unfortunately for most mutual fund investors performance remains a problem. The facts speak for themselves. According to the Dalbar Report, the average equity mutual fund investor experienced a return of only 2.6% per annum between 1992 and end-2002. The average mutual fund charged fees and transaction costs of at least as much. By comparison, the S&P 500 Index (a broad US stock market index) rose 11.2% per annum during this period. More recent mutual fund performance data supports this. Between 1974 and 2006, for example, the S&P 500 outperformed more than three-quarters of the public equity mutual funds. Is this value ... a product of integrity? Warren Buffet, called by some the greatest investor of all time, says that part of the problem is the fees that mutual fund management charges their investors. Aside from the huge cost of investing in mutual funds, let's consider another reason to avoid mutual fund investing. The existence of `mutual fund portfolio manager mandates'. This is an authorization provided to portfolio managers ensuring they act in a particular way. 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Together, we can build a healthy, caring and inclusive community, for us all. To donate: United Way of Oakville 466 Speers Rd, Suite 200 Oakville ON L6K 3W9 (905) 845-5571 Online: www.uwoakville.org Peace of Mind ... ... the most Valuable Service we Provide Anton Tucker CFP, FMA, FCSI 905.901.3429 anton@tridelta.ca www.tridelta.ca OAKVILLE NORTH YORK MISSISSAUGA THORNHILL Tim Trian, CFA - Portfolio Manager Laura Trian, CA., CFP CIM - Associate Portfolio Manager , Vi i h // i d d lh FOOT PAIN? Roger D. Newell, D. Pod. M., & Associates · over 30 years in practice · former teacher, Toronto General Hospital · former consultant, Ontario Ministry of Health Recognize These Problems? 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