Lest We Forget - Volume 17 www.legionnl.ca 133 Amazing, at age 65, Jennie got her license and we bought a truck camper. We travelled at our leisure, our times were never better. We spent our days sightseeing and took in all the naval conventions. We also enjoyed Rattling Brook and our cozy hillside cabin. “Those were the days, my friends, we thought they’d never end. We’d sing and dance forever and a day, we lived the life we choose, We’d fight and never lose, those were the days, oh yes, those were the days.”(13) “Good day, I’m the neurologist, I take it you’re Mr. Hillier’s children, Well the news is not good, though your father can still function. Ya’ know, his falling down, has not helped his situation, He has memory loss, and there’s goin’ to be, long-term ramifications. I see he has a large family and his wife is still alive and healthy, plenty of support to care for him, his condition will advance so quickly. There’s no nice way of saying this, but your dad will die two times, the first he will not know you, the second from physical decline.” “Have you seen my old man hanging with his Legion buddies? His memory fading, with the medal ribbons he wears. Now in our little town, the sun casts another frown, For one more forgotten Joe in a world that he doesn’t know.”(14) To tell the truth, we pretty well knew, what the doctor said, made perfect sense. We just wanted dad, to live out his life, with his wife, at their residence. He was only 79; too young to part, from the best years of his life. Our family never had the where-with-all to look after this couple ladened with strife. But thank God for local health care and the Botwood Veterans’ Pavilion. Dad was treated with the greatest respect and upmost admiration. “I stopped by the Hugh Twomey Centre to visit for a while. His eyes lit up as I walked in the room, he looked at me and smiled. I pulled up a chair, sat down and he gently shook my hand. He called me by another name, I did not fully understand. My father didn’t know me, my father wasn’t there. He was living in a child’s world, and he didn’t have a care. Soon I said good-bye, and sadly walked away. I knew things would be different, it was a very crushing day.”(15) “I will remember you, will you remember me? Don’t let your love, pass you by, Weep not for the memories. I’m so tired but I can’t sleep, Standing on the edge of something much too deep. Funny how we feel so much, but cannot say a word. We are screaming inside, oh, we can’t be heard.”(16) continued .... A Shattered Soul – War takes its toll
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