At 11:11 a.m. on November 11, at the West Kildonan Legion #30, Corporal Roy Solinger spent his one minute of silence remembering fallen comrades that died in the war. Seven medals are pinned proudly to his pressed navy-blue pocket and he says, “One is a volunteer medal, one is a Canadian medal, one is Italy, and, I don’t know, there are seven of them.”
Solinger, now 88-years-old, says that he was one of the lucky ones to have never suffered physical injury amidst the bombing and gunfire in the Second World War. However, not all injuries need to be physical to be painful. He recalls, “In Italy, a bomb dropped and a man was hit. It blew his leg right off. He died right there.”
When Nazi Germany invaded Poland on September 1, 1939, it was the beginning of the Second World War. On September 10th, 1939, the Parliament of Canada declared war on Germany. Solinger enlisted in the army on September 15th, 1939 and was a part of the Allies that fought against, and later defeated, the Axis, that of Nazi Germany.
When Solinger voluntarily enlisted in the army, he says, “Everyone else was signing up so I did too. I still remember saying goodbye to my mother.” Solinger didn’t realize this would be the last time he saw her. He was 17 years old.
Solinger completed his basic training in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan in September1939. He was then sent to England where he was a member of the Princess Louise Dragoon Guards regiment. His regiment was later sent to fight in Sicily, Italy in 1943 for the Allied invasion of Sicily where the Allies (United Kingdom, United States, Canada and France) took Sicily from the Axis (Italy and Germany). This was also known as Operation Husky. “I remember driving with my Major in armored cars.” He recalls, “Germany kept dropping bombs from aircrafts above. We were definitely in the middle of a lot of action.”
Solinger, unlike some men, had something to keep him going while he was witnessing these harrowing sights. When he wasn’t sleeping in shifts, Solinger would take time to write letters to his wife Ilene whom he met while stationed in England in 1942. “We just bumped into each other in Hastings, Sussex and I wanted to marry her.”
Hoping for a letter through falling bombs became something Solinger looked forward to. “They came through mail but not very often, maybe one letter every one to two months.”
The letters were written for four years. “I didn’t get back to England from Italy in 1946. That’s a long time to not see each other.” Ilene remained a housewife in England while anxiously awaiting her husband’s return. Solinger was re-stationed and the time came to travel. “She was quite happy to travel with me.”
Solinger was stationed here in Winnipeg, Manitoba after the war ended in 1945, where he remained in the service for 27 more years. “Ilene got a job here too. She worked at the army base canteen on Kenaston for 40 years.” Solinger says smiling.
As Solinger conveys his recollection of his time in the war, at the West Kildonan Legion #30, his granddaughter hands him a plate of cheese, pickles, meat and rye bread. As much as this day is spent to remember the fallen, one can’t help but admit to the outcome of Solinger enlisting on that day in September, 1939. It enabled him to meet his wife, spend 63 years of marriage together, and grow a family who sits by his side on this November 11 to remember with him.
