My father was Irish; my Mother was German. They met in Wiesbaden when Dad was a soldier in the British Army of Occupation. Later, he stayed on in Germany to work for the British Graves Commission, locating the graves of British and allied soldiers in Germany. That job ended in 1927. Hence the interest in coming to Canada.
Mother tells the story: "There was this British Legion scheme of sending 3,000 families to Canada. They had sent them over in the years since the war, and there were 50 wanted to make up the 3,000. They were trying to get at least one family from the Rhineland, from the Army of Occupation, and they did have a different man, but his legs were bad. Another Irishman. He wanted to go, but...
"So Mr. Storey, the man from the Consulate, was after your Dad to go. I refused to go, you know. I didn't want to go to Canada. I never thought I'd live my life in another country. But he talked us into it. Your Dad was okay; he wanted to go. Your Dad says, 'Well, it's up to you now. I've got my medical. I've got everything. If you don't want to go, we won't go.'
"Well, they talked me into it. Told a lot of lies. We had to go right away; we were already late.
"We left right away. We got to Cologne at nine o'clock at night, and the train left at twelve."
That meant that they had three hours to say good-bye to the German side of the family before leaving forever. They never got to Ireland to say good-bye at all.
Mother tells the story: "There was this British Legion scheme of sending 3,000 families to Canada. They had sent them over in the years since the war, and there were 50 wanted to make up the 3,000. They were trying to get at least one family from the Rhineland, from the Army of Occupation, and they did have a different man, but his legs were bad. Another Irishman. He wanted to go, but...
"So Mr. Storey, the man from the Consulate, was after your Dad to go. I refused to go, you know. I didn't want to go to Canada. I never thought I'd live my life in another country. But he talked us into it. Your Dad was okay; he wanted to go. Your Dad says, 'Well, it's up to you now. I've got my medical. I've got everything. If you don't want to go, we won't go.'
"Well, they talked me into it. Told a lot of lies. We had to go right away; we were already late.
"We left right away. We got to Cologne at nine o'clock at night, and the train left at twelve."
That meant that they had three hours to say good-bye to the German side of the family before leaving forever. They never got to Ireland to say good-bye at all.
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