My Husband to be

Heroes Remember

My Husband to be

Transcript

He wrote me on VE Day, I have a letter that he wrote to me VE Day from Germany and it said, "I'm coming home." And, you know, he wrote it without saying what he was, "You'll know the reason why I'm coming home and I'm going to Camp Borden." So, I knew, the second letter he said he was going to Camp Borden. So anyway, he was back, got back the 1st of July and he went to Camp Borden. We saw one another from July cause he lived in Camp Borden and I was, I was in Ottawa and we saw one another. And then I had to leave in November and he had to leave in November and I spent it down here and so we parted. He was going to Moncton Tech and I was going to Brockville. So we parted and we just had a little disagreement and so we decided we'd each go our own way for a year. If we decided at the end of the year that we wanted to see one another, well, we'd get in touch. So we each, he had his girlfriends, I had my boyfriends and then I really had nice, interesting boyfriends. Anyway, he wrote my mom. Now I wasn't home when she got the letter, but he wrote my mom and asked mom if he could come for Christmas and my mom said yes, but she didn't tell me. Interviewer: She decided for you? Anyway, I came home on Friday night and before Christmas and I don't know when Christmas was, but I know it was Friday night anyway. So she said, "Would you mind, I rented the room downstairs. I have a friend coming for Christmas," because apartments were hard to get then, so, and it was a school teacher's house we were in and she was single and she used to rent the room downstairs which was very convenient for her. So she said, "But will you clean it tonight?" And I said, "Yes." She said, "Will you help me clean the apartment in the morning?" "Yeah." And then would I help her bake. So we baked and then Jean wasn't still up now, she was in the bedroom, she wasn't out of bed yet, so we were waiting for her to get up. And then she got up and anyways, I guess she tidied the bedroom up. Anyway, by this time, I got a bath and was ready and then she said, "Well, will you go down to the station and meet our friend?" And then she had to tell me who it was. Interviewer: How did you react? I reacted. Well, I went. I said, "Well, mother, I have a date for New Year's Ball at Rockcliffe. So, I don't know what you're going to do about it." And I did. But he and I, anyway, he went back on New Year's Eve and I went to the New Year's Ball with Ted and I told him what had happened and he said, "Well," he said, "Shirley was in touch with me over Christmas." His old girlfriend. So.... Interviewer: He went back to Shediac. And we were married the same day.

Description

While a lot of people were rushing to marry before and after the war, Mrs Grégoire waited.

Christina Janet Grégoire

Mrs. Grégoire was born in Campbellton, New Brunswick, on March 1, 1925, and grew up in Sillarsville, Québec. In March 1943, when she was 18, she joined the Air Force in Montréal. After training at Rockcliffe and a first posting in Scoudouc she was given a Top Secret rating by the RCMP before being assigned to the Air Force Headquarters Intelligence Directorate in Ottawa. She was discharged after VJ Day and released in November 1945. She now gives workshops for the United Church and is involved in volunteering in various Hospital Veterans' Wards.

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