'It still haunts me': Military veterans keen to share their history as numbers drop

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CALGARY — The time around Remembrance Day is tough for Second World War veterans like Hank Jackson, who turns 103 in January.

"It's the only time you really stop and think about all the poor buggers that didn't make it," said Jackson, a former tail gunner on a Halifax bomber.

Bill Cook, who is 98 and was also a tail gunner in the Second World War, flew a dozen missions over Europe.More than one million Canadians served in the Second World War. More than 45,000 died and another 55,000 were wounded. Another 33,000 fought in the Korean War. Staff with The Military Museums in Calgary, home to eight separate museums, have interviewed many of the dwindling number of Second World War veterans."That's why it's important for us as a museum and as educators and historians in general to try and keep the public interest alive in those kind of things. It's up to the next generations to carry the torch forward."

"Why should children come to our museum and say, 'Canada was in World War II?' I am concerned that Canadians are not being told of the excellence of gentlemen like these guys that did their best to give us our freedom." Jackie Jansen van Doorn, executive director of The Military Museums Foundation, said stories from a source are key to educating the younger generation.

 

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