267 The Royal Canadian Legion MANITOBA & NORTHWESTERN ONTARIO COMMAND www.mbnwo.ca During a visit, father and son pored over Peter’s pilot logbooks, trying to decipher the lists of acronyms and numbers that document hundreds of flights and thousands of flying hours in more than a dozen different aircraft. After the war, Peter Yarema earned his teacher’s certificate, but the work didn’t suit him and re-enlisted. During the Korean War, he ferried personnel and equipment between Seattle, Japan and Korea. Along the way, the family grew: after John came Anne and Sarah. The family eventually settled in Ottawa. “My dad is a loving, practical and reliable man,” says daughter Sarah. “ I have fond memories of dozing off on the couch on cold winter afternoons with him reading poetry aloud.” When Canada scaled back the RCAF in the mid-1960s, Peter was laid off and soon began a new career as a social worker. Initially, he found it difficult, but eventually became known as one of the best and was often assigned the most difficult cases. “I met him in 1975, when I was starting my first real job,” says Barbara Merriam, a work colleague and long-time friend who visited Peter regularly. “For years, we shared brown-bag lunches - Margaret would make dessert for both of us. Working with troubled families can rip your heart out, but Peter was somehow able to shield himself from that - perhaps in the same way that he learned to cope with his wartime experiences.” Peter and Barbara shared a love of poetry, plays and French philosophy. Together with Margaret Yarema, they loved to downhill ski and skate the Rideau Canal. Although eligible to retire at age 65, Peter continued to work for another eight years. “During the latter part of his career, judges and other court officials often asked for his advice on difficult cases,” recalls Barbara Merriam. “He was highly respected.” Many summers, the Yarema family would pack up their tent trailer for extended camping trips. Peter and Margaret remained active during their golden years - Peter biked into his nineties and volunteered as a driver for a local seniors’ organization until he gave up his licence at age 92. Son John remembers taking his father to the Canadian War Museum in 2007, when an exhibit about Bomber Command touched off a national controversy. The panel questioned the Allies’ attempt to bomb Germany into submission from the sky. Many Veterans criticized it as revisionist history and the Museum eventually changed the text. By late 1943, the Allies had gained control of the skies, but the Nazis exerted ruthless control over most of Europe. Bomber Command hoped to destroy Germany’s industrial capacity; and while the effort achieved some success, it came at a significant cost: dozens of cities destroyed, and hundreds of thousands of German civilians killed, along with tens of thousands of Allied airmen. “Seeing the exhibit with my dad was almost overwhelming,” says John Yarema. “He told me that there was no such thing as precision bombing in the 1940’s and the role he had played in the deaths of so many people broke his heart.” In their later years, Peter and Margaret took comfort in their four grandchildren and one great-granddaughter. Margaret passed away in 2014 shortly before their seventieth wedding anniversary; Peter moved into the Perley Rideau a few months later. Peter Yarema passed away on September 2, 2019 at the age of 98. YAREMA, Peter (continued) Peter Yarema and son John at the Perley Rideau Peter Yarema and great-grandaughter Cecilia
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTM0NTk1OA==