Colleen Booker is rare among her peers to have heard the stories of her grandfather who fought in the Second World War.
But she didn’t hear them directly from him.
Colleen’s grandmother wrote a collection of stories about her husband’s experiences, which she passed on to her son, who then read them to Colleen as she was growing up.
The Hugh Boyd student appreciates the significance of the history she’s been gifted and is intent on passing it on to the next generation.
The fact her grandfather passed away recently only further highlighted to Colleen the fact that important war stories are being lost as veterans age. It motivated Colleen to produce a video for last year’s Hugh Boyd secondary’s Remembrance Day assembly — part of it will be shown again this year.
(Colleen Booker's video above)
“I wanted to bring to light the aging veterans who are losing their stories,” said the Grade 12 student. “I was fortunate that my father had this collection of stories he would read to me growing up. But so many others can’t talk or share their experiences because of the trauma and disorders like PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder).”
Samir Ladak, Grade 11, doesn’t have a family member serving in the military, but he looks to his parents as an example of what Remembrance Day means to him.
“My parents are from different countries, so Remembrance Day reminds me of that, and the people who fought for freedom.”
Reflecting on multiculturalism
This year’s assembly focuses on the diverse faces of Canadian soldiers who fought during the Second World War. Under the guidance of teacher Doug Park, Samir and fellow classmates Nicole Samson and Kristina Lim, are producing a video to illustrate this theme.
Also included in the assembly is a school band set, as well as an honouring ceremony presented by the Coast Salish nation.
“Diversity in war is also something that’s not showcased very often,” said Kristina. “You usually see the white, strong soldier in all the historic images.”
For the three student producers, Remembrance Day reminds them of the many immigrants who call Canada home.
“My grandfather fought in WWII,” said Nicole. “He was from Poland and immigrated to Canada to fight, so he actually fought against his home country. He felt that strongly about Canada and his new home.”
Exploring a theme such as diversity allows them to draw parallels with contemporary Canada, according to Park.
“When you look at the faces of these veterans, there’s a diverse range of people,” he said. “Then you look around today and see who these veterans represented. I wanted them to look at Canada today and apply that back then.”
Honouring a late veteran
For a generation just now touching the age of 18, the atrocities of the Second World War become increasingly distant and hearing stories from those soldiers become increasingly difficult, as they are now reaching an average age of 92.
It’s what inspired Colleen to go off on her own and make her video a year ago. She spent hours with Wes Bowen, who was a young soldier in the 1940s and is the father of Hugh Boyd’s music teacher, Garth Bowen.
He would show her old photos and together the two relived his youth.
“I really wanted to drive the message home and bring to light the need to preserve these memories,” she said. “Bits of identity are being lost because older veterans aren’t sharing, or can’t share their stories.”
Bowen had expressed his concerns that veterans’ voices are disappearing as they get older. He feared their legacies wouldn’t be preserved and his story would be lost.
“I connected with him and I had that connection with my grandfather as well, but I don’t think we need to have that direct connection to find meaning,” said Colleen. “We can find other ways to learn about these stories, like in Social Sciences.”
Bowen passed away a few days ago.
Park decided to re-jig the assembly a bit and show a clip from Colleen’s video, as a way to preserve his legacy and ensure his voice didn’t disappear. “We’re hoping the video will also make a more concrete connection for the audience.”
Connecting through music
For her video, Colleen used music of her time to help tell the story, beginning it with Death Cab for Cutie’s Transatlanticism.
“I wanted to use our generation’s music to connect to their generation’s stories,” she said. “I found one of the songs was also more eerie and creepy. It was meant to bring home the message that the veterans are passing away.”
“We had the same idea as well,” added Nicole.
The three chose Wicked Man’s Rest by Passenger to overlay the black-and-white images and clips of young soldiers. The song has a similar eerie feeling highlighting the haunting traumas of war.
“We also wanted to choose something different, something with strong lyrics that told a different story,” said Nicole. “We thought it portrayed how a soldier would feel coming home from the war.”
The Hugh Boyd Remembrance Day ceremony will be divided into two assemblies, taking place on Friday, Nov. 8.
