LEST WE FORGET 303 PETERSON, Wallace Russell WWII Wallace was born to Jens and (Inger) Marie Peterson on September 5, 1920, the youngest of ten; he had four sisters and five brothers. Wallace was a very shy, kind, young man, but loved to tease. He attended Great West School and the Peterson homestead was just southwest of Radville. His nieces and nephews remember him as a “protector” – he always looked out for them when they walked to school. Even though he was ten years older than most of them, he always had fun with them sliding down the hills and using Wallace’s skis. They were a musical family, with many memories of brother Elvin playing guitar and brother Edgar on the violin. But on Saturday nights, everyone knew not to bother Wallace as he loved hockey and he always listened to the Saturday night hockey games on the radio. The Peterson family worked hard on their farm, everyone pitching in to help with the big garden and raising their special turkeys. Wallace, being the youngest, got special attention from all his sisters. Sundays included extra roast beef or chicken for supper because someone was always invited over – friends, relatives or neighbours. Wallace loved to hunt and trap skunks and weasels to sell the skins and he had a special knack for butchering the turkeys. Wallace worked on the family farm until he joined the Army in 1942. He was a member of the Calgary Highlanders and while training in British Columbia, he had met a special girlfriend there. After one last visit home and just before he went overseas, Wallace’s niece remembers climbing into the car with him to take him to Regina. They never dreamed it would be the last time they saw him. Every letter he wrote home has been kept – some parts blacked out by his commanders. On July 25, 1944, Wallace died leading troops into a small community. He was killed by a German sniper nine miles south of Caen. He was 24 years old. He is buried in Bretteville-sur-Laize Canadian War Cemetery in Calvados, France. Soldiers buried there were part of the later stages of the Battle of Normandy, the capture of Caen and the thrust southwards to close the Falaise Gap and seal off the German divisions fighting desperately to escape being trapped west of the Seine. There are about three thousand allied soldiers commemorated at this site. Wallace’s brother, Hjelmer, visited the cemetery with his daughter, Ruth Bailey, in 1975 when Hjelmer was 77 years old. They spent four hours there, Hjelmer took photos of every grave he found from the Weyburn/Radville and areas. When they returned home, he visited the parents of every fallen soldier and gave them the photo of their gravestone. PICKERELL, Charles Walker WWII Charles was born in Leslie, Saskatchewan, in 1921. He was one of six brothers in the service at the same time. He enlisted in the Army on October 29, 1942 and served with the No. 12 District Depot in Canada. He was discharged on September 1, 1943. Charles passed away in 1990.
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