While interviewing veterans in Moncton and Miramichi this November, I found that these veterans had a different wartime experience than veterans in other areas that I have visited. Veterans based in the communities around southern Ontario, in and around Kelowna, British Colombia, and near Montreal, Quebec, largely met fellow veterans in their towns after the war. The postwar camaraderie of the legions was coloured by different personalities than those they met during their wartime years – and many veterans have told me that they regret falling out of contact with their wartime friends and colleagues. On the other hand, many of the veterans from Moncton and Miramichi knew each other before the war. They often enlisted together and served together largely with the same regiment, the North Shore Regiment, and lived long postwar lives in at home with these same friends.

One Miramichi veteran in particular, Mark MacDonald, left a large impression on me. He and his three brothers served in the Second World War. One brother served in the Engineer Corps and three others, including Mr. Macdonald, served with the North Shore Regiment. It was during this time that Mr. MacDonald witnessed the death of one of his brothers, who was killed by a shell blast while they were on opposite sides of a bridge.

I have heard other stories of veterans being separated from the friends with whom they enlisted, in order to be spread across different regiments. This distribution was intended, one veteran explained to me, so that a particularly difficult battle which took many lives and involved specific regiments, such as Dieppe, would not disproportionately impact a town or city.

This begs the question - would it be better to serve alongside your siblings and friends, knowing that if something terrible happened that you could be there to help them, or would it be worse, for the families back home in Canada. I can’t decide.