Just one more little trip
...and then I will try to blog regularly. I have so much to say, but it seems I can't have more than 4 big things running at once in my life anymore, something always gets short-sheeted.
I am heading back up to Ontario in the morning. Compliments of Mr. U, he and I will be attending a dinner event at the Glen House honoring an old beagling friend of his. When I say old, I mean 88 years old. It just so happens I wrote an article on Mr. Okill Stuart in this last beagle stud book I just finished. Besides being a prominant beagler, Okill is a Canadian war veteran who stormed the shores of Normandy with the allied troops back in 1944, at the age of 23. Canadian TV did a nice telephone interview with him last Saturday, showing footage of the troops coming ashore. He and another Canadian veteran were being honored His recount of that was pretty fascinating, and he is still quite articulate. Judging by fashion, here's a picture of Okill taken back in the seventies; he's the tall fella on the right. (Mr U is the young man in the center)
I don't know if this link will work, but this is the photo and caption by the Associated Press from Sunday. I will post it separately to give credit:
Okill Stuart D-Day 65 years later.
Canadian D-Day veteran Okill Stuart (centre), 88, of Saint-Lambert, Que., takes a moment as he he is joined by other veterans to take part in a ceremony in the Memorial Garden of the Abbaye d'Ardenne during continued ceremonies to mark the 65th anniversary of D-Day landings and the Battle of Normandy in France, on Sunday June 7, 2009. Stuart's rank was Bombardier, 14th Canadian Field Regiment, RCA.(AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Sean Kilpatrick)
For anyone interested in such, here is a link to the video and his interview (I don't know how long they will keep it up to view):
Our event this Saturday is a yearly reunion of sorts of those D-Day survivors in Okill's troop. I believe there are seven this year. I'm honored to be able to meet him, shake his hand, and present him with a copy of the magazine containing the article on him as a Hall of Fame Beagler.
