Cecil Bradbury has always quipped that when called up for military service during the Second World War, he chose the Navy because he didn’t have to wear a tie.
But Bradbury, 97, a resident of South Surrey’s Peace Portal Seniors Village, recently received a formal acknowledgment of Canada’s gratitude for his wartime service – a commemorative lapel pin and certificate of recognition from federal Veterans Affairs Minister Kent Hehr.
It’s part of an ongoing government campaign to mark the 75th anniversaries of important milestones in the Second World War by recognizing surviving veterans for their service and sacrifice “on behalf of a grateful nation.”
And Bradbury – whose battles now are mainly with the effects of Alzheimer’s – did sport a tie when he posed for a picture with the pin last Friday at the residence.
According to his daughter, Bonnie Morrison, humour, over the years, has masked some painful memories for Bradbury.
As a leading seaman on the destroyer HMCS St. Laurent, he was in the thick of action protecting all-important supply and troop convoys in the North Atlantic, constantly preyed on by U-Boats and other enemy attacks.
One, dubbed the ‘nightmare convoy of the Atlantic’ in a magazine account, was the hardest-hit convoy ever escorted by the Canadian Navy.
“It’s not a memory he’s liked to share because he lost a lot of friends,” she said, noting that her dad also suffered considerable hearing loss from “heavy depth-charges, motor noise and gunfire.”
It wasn’t all hardship. The Mount Pleasant-born Bradbury, an excellent swimmer and all-round athlete before the war, got to teach physical education to his comrades in the Navy.
When the war ended, he came home to Agnes, the redhead he’d met when she was working at a Vancouver bakery, and married during a leave in 1942.
He got a job at Wolfe Chevy, and, calling on his previous car-industry experience, designed their first assembly body shop.
He and Agnes raised their family and he continued to work as a manager at Wolfe until he retired.
“He had a very good eye and used to paint a lot of the hot-rod cars for shows – he used to hand pin-stripe them,” Morrison said.
Peninsula residents from the early-’90s, the couple were close to their grandchildren and great-grandchildren and celebrated 70 years together in 2012, although Agnes passed away at the end of the following year.
Morrison said she is glad the government is taking time to recognize the contribution of Second World War veterans like her father, noting the words of the letter from Hehr that accompanied the certificate and pin:
“Canadians, like you, who served during this conflict selflessly rallied together in extraordinary ways to defend the right of all people to live in peace and freedom… Canada will never forget your valiant wartime service and your lifelong dedication to our great country.”