Posts with the Carol Pearcey tag

Barris Beat

Inside a walk for change

Written by Ted Barris on . Leave a comment
Ken MacKay during his walk for homeless vets. Newmarket Today photo.

Last Saturday afternoon, friend and Royal Canadian Legion Veterans Service Officer Carol Pearcey got a call from a fellow Legionnaire from southwestern Ontario. She hadn’t met the caller, Ken MacKay, but she sensed he needed help. MacKay was 22 days into a solo walkathon to Parliament Hill for fellow veterans.

But (you’ll remember weather turned cold and rainy Saturday afternoon) and MacKay asked for a lift over the last few kilometres to the local Legion for a planned reception. Pearcey obliged and MacKay made it to the Franklin Street branch safe and dry.

“Carol was my guardian angel,” he said. “I’m very grateful.” (more…)

Barris Beat

Pilgrimages of loss and remembrance

Written by Ted Barris on . 2 Comments
Robin John prepares notes to remember her uncle’s service in the Great War. Photo Tom John.

We are virtually alone down this back road in northern France. A breeze rustling new spring leaves and chirping birds overhead provide the only sounds here. Nevertheless, because the lawn and flowerbeds look so immaculate, we know gardeners have tended here recently. At a headstone engraved with a maple leaf, our group gathers to listen to fellow traveller Robin John.

“John Alexander Edward Hughes enlisted in the Canadian Forces on May 22, 1917, five days after his 18th birthday,” she said of her uncle.

Which meant that Hughes was just legally eligible to enlist. (more…)