Saskatchewan

Mrs. Regina Leboldus of Vibank, Saskatchewan, was selected 1955 National Memorial (Silver) Cross Mother. During the national Remembrance Day ceremony in Ottawa on November 11, 1955, and accompanied by her daughter, she laid a wreath at the base of the National War Memorial on behalf of all mothers who have lost a child in military service to Canada.

On February 13, 1943, her son, Flying Officer Peter John Leboldus, was killed in action while serving with the Royal Canadian Air Force.

On November 24, 1943, a second son, Flight Sergeant John Anthony Leboldus, was killed on duty while serving with the Royal Canadian Air Force.

On February 20, 1944, a third son, Sergeant Martin Benedict Leboldus, was killed in action while serving with the Royal Canadian Air Force.

The memory of Mrs. Leboldus’ sons was honoured in northwestern Saskatchewan with the naming of Leboldus Channel, adjoining lake, and islands in the lake for John, Peter and Martin, respectively.

Mrs. Margaret Santo of Bender, Saskatchewan, whose eight of nine children served during the Second World War, was the 1973 National Memorial (Silver) Cross Mother. During the national Remembrance Day ceremony in Ottawa on November 11, 1973, she laid a wreath at the base of the National War Memorial on behalf of all mothers who have lost a child in military service to Canada.

On May 5, 1943, her son, Warrant officer Class I Frank Robert Santo, was killed while serving with the Royal Canadian Air Force.

On August 1, 1944, twin son, Pilot Officer John Alexander Santo, was killed while serving with the Royal Canadian Air Force.

Mrs. Santo married Alexander Santo in 1916 in Bender, Saskatchewan. They raised nine children on their family farm, daughters Edythe, Jean and Phyllis, twin sons, Robert and John, David, Carlyle whose twin, Calvin, died at six weeks, Edward and Richard.

In an interview with a local newspaper, Mrs. Santo commented on her children’s service, “They felt they had to go, and I wouldn’t try to stop them. One after the other they left for Regina to join the Air Force. Mostly I would be too busy in the day to think about them, until I would open a closet door and the hangers would be swinging empty where their clothes had hung. They were so young, so young to go to war.”

Santo Bay and Santo Island in Pinehouse Lake, Saskatchewan were named in honour of her sons Robert and John.

Margaret passed away in November 1976 at the age of 81.

Mrs. Eliza (Elizabeth) Beatty of Carlyle, Saskatchewan, was the 1979 National Memorial (Silver) Cross Mother. During the national Remembrance Day ceremony in Ottawa on November 11, 1979, she laid a wreath at the base of the National War Memorial on behalf of all mothers who have lost a child in military service to Canada.

On August 19, 1942, two of her sons, Private Melville Douglas Beatty and Private Walter Earl Beatty, were killed in action at Dieppe while serving with the South Saskatchewan Regiment.

Mrs. Beatty, née Keal, was born on July 25, 1891 in Saskatchewan. In 1911, she married Walter Wellington Beatty and together they raised seven children: Keal, Erma, Lois, Thelma, Melville, Earl and Reginald. Reginald, who also served in the Second World War survived, returning home.

Mrs. Beatty was widowed in 1967. She died in 1985 in Saskatchewan.

Mrs. Wilhelmina Marine (Minnie) Baerr of Yorkton, Saskatchewan, was the 1994 National Memorial (Silver) Cross Mother. During the national Remembrance Day ceremony in Ottawa on November 11, 1994, at age 101, she laid a wreath at the base of the National War Memorial on behalf of all mothers who have lost a child in military service to Canada.

On October 2, 1943, her son, Trooper August Baerr, was killed while on duty with the Calgary Regiment.

Mrs. Baerr was born in 1892 in Westphalen, Germany and immigrated to Canada in 1906 at age 14. She later married John Baerr, an immigrant from Warsaw, Poland and homesteaded just south of Gorlitz, Saskatchewan. Their son, August, worked as a mechanic at the Lakehead and in Winnipeg prior to enlisting in 1942.

The Baerrs retired to Yorkton, Saskatchewan just before the beginning of the Second World War. Mrs. Baerr died in 1996.

Mrs. Patricia Braun of Raymore, Saskatchewan was the 2011 National Memorial (Silver) Cross Mother. During the national Remembrance Day ceremony in Ottawa on November 11, 2011, she laid a wreath at the base of the National War Memorial on behalf of all mothers who have lost a child in military service to Canada.

On August 22, 2006, her son, Corporal David Braun, a member of the 2^nd Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry based out of Shilo, Manitoba, was killed by a suicide bomber while on patrol in Kandahar, Afghanistan.

Mrs. Braun, originally of Semans, is a graduate of Margaret McClumb School and the University of Saskatchewan. She and her husband, Blaine, raised four children—David, Diana, Christopher and Michael. In 1994, she was widowed.

Mrs. Braun is employed by the Horizon School Division.