52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks
Week 9 Prompt – Where There's a
Will...
My father (1917 -1983) enlisted and
served in WWII. Jake Peters' official
rank and number is listed as: L74422, Private. He enlisted January 28,
1942.
Approximately
ten years ago while I was going through some of mom and dad's
memorabilia that my sister held, I came upon an intriguing envelope.
The Canadian postage was only 3 cents. The canceled stamp says it
was mailed June 24, 1946.
The covering
letter is from Department of National Defense – Army. It was sent
registered mail. The army returned his will that was made the day he
enlisted. However this will was missing from his memorabilia. I
suspect that when he and mom updated their wills they disposed of it.
I have
difficulties articulating the reason this find moved me.
How sobering
it must have been for my father to go through the complicated army enlistment
process and then have to contemplate the making of a
will. He was 24 years old and I know I was not thinking of a will at
that age, but then I wasn't enlisting into the active duty of the
Canadian army. The “just in case” scenario must have become very
real for dad at that moment. Did he light up another cigarette to
calm his nerves and ponder what the hell he was getting into?
I wondered
what was involved in making a will in the army. Was the process just
another station in a maze of stations of filling out never ending
paperwork? You know for example, a station for filling in personal
information, a station for filling
in employment records, another for physical examination and finally
getting to a station named “Wills”. Hmmm? Was it overwhelming
for him because he could not read or write?
Knowing the
army it was probably a “fill in the blanks” type of will. In the
Government of Canada website and in particular National Defense and
the Canadian Armed Forces there is a whole section devoted to making wills
and its administration for the army. The website states that the
Canadian Armed Forces is “strongly encouraged to make a will if
they do not have one already”. It gives guidelines when to make
and revise wills. It has forms to be filled out when the recruit
does not make a will. It has forms for everything. It is the army
way.
I'm glad the
will was sent back to dad because obviously he did not die in active
duty. Well he didn't die physically but emotionally he died a little
each day thereafter. Dad went on to father three more boys and two
girls to complete his family.
Where there
was a will there was a live veteran. Thank you dad for your service
and self sacrifice.
Wendy
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