143 14 15 16 17 18 The GreatWar Come fromAway Discovering and Honouring FamilyWar History By Allison Wilcox ‘Are you come from away?’ If you are a visitor to Newfoundland, and are missing the charming East Coast accent, you will likely be asked this question by a local during your stay. While I am a proud Newfoundlander by birth, I have lived most of my life in BC, and so it’s a question I get asked when I return home. The expression suggests a sense of foreignness; that you are a visitor from a faraway place. While I am unsure if there are similar expressions used in European countries, I’m sure our Canadian soldiers who went overseas, far from their familiar homes, would have felt ‘come from away’ while they fought for their country during the Great War and the Second World War. I have always held our veterans in reverence, as my dear ‘Grampy’ - my father’s father – joined the 59th Battery, Royal Artillery during the Second World War. He was fortunate enough to return home, and went on to be an integral part of my life until his death in 2008. Years later I learned that I had a great great great uncle who died at Beaumont-Hamel on July 1, 1916, which we Newfoundlanders now refer to as Memorial Day. As a child I loved visiting Bowring Park in St. John’s and looking at the caribou statue there, not knowing at the time that it was a tribute to our fallen soldiers who died in service, my relative included. As I grew up, and especially after the passing of my grandfather, I began to want to learn more - which led me to Private Frederick Wilcox. Little did I
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