A Lonely Soul on the Prairies

November 3, 1941

It was my son’s birthday. He turned 18, I couldn’t believe how fast he was growing. It seemed like yesterday when I held him on my lap while we drove the tractor together. But now he had officially become a man. He had enlisted into the army that day, he was ready to do what was right! He was ready to defend the battlefields for the nation!
A month had passed since the day my son left. I was of the many farmers of the west that had re-experienced prosperity again. The demand for food was very high. I was not harvesting and producing food just for our Canadian soldiers, but the British soldiers as well. The Brits were in desperate time, but we Canadian farmers were there to help. However unlike some farmers, I was fortunate to have not experienced a labor shortage. I had gotten two more German Canadians on my farm. Also the Farm Service Camps were helping my farm as well. I had a handful of youngsters working on my farm. Those days of depression were way behind me now. My farm had been reborn.
The only thing I could do for my son at that point was work endlessly, producing foods for the soldiers out on the battlefields. My work style affirmatively changed during that month. I had produced more wheat than I normally had. The thought in my head was, “Every grain I grow, could feed a soul. For every one of those souls, one of them could be my son.”
The next day, I was in the kitchen when I had heard the news on the radio. Pearl Harbor had been attacked. When I heard of this attack, all I could think about was my son. I knew he wasn’t at Pearl Harbor, but an attack just reminded me of our soldiers fighting. I went out to the mailbox and the red flag was up again. I had gotten a letter from my son. I opened with the letter with my wife. In the letter, he said that his training was over and he was ready to go fight in the battlefields. He was being shipped to Hong Kong. He was going to be stationed there, in case Japan attacked. At that moment I became scared, thinking that I might lose him forever.
When I heard the news, that Japan had attacked Hong Kong, my heart froze. I became scared and felt helpless. On December 26, 1941, I had heard the worst news. Hong Kong had surrendered. Of all the 2000 Canadian troops, there were 793 casualties. I heard that many of these soldiers were captured by the Japanese. Weeks had passed and I hadn’t gotten a message from my son or the Canadian troops. I almost knew what had happened, but I didn’t want to believe it. I had lost my son…

- Gurt Bachett