re: Pictures from days gone by....

The real story of the "Wait for me, Daddy" photograph, 1940


Wait for Me, Daddy” is an iconic photo taken by Claude P. Dettloff on October 1, 1940, of The British Columbia Regiment (Duke of Connaught’s Own Rifles) marching down Eighth Street at the Columbia Street intersection, New Westminster, Canada.

Pictured are five-year-old Warren “Whitey” Bernard and his parents Bernice and Jack Bernard, as the family was about to be separated by the war. The picture received extensive exposure and was used in war-bond drives.

Five-year-old Warren “Whitey” Bernard was in Grade 1 at nearby General Wolfe Elementary. Whitey’s Dad was enlisted in the British Columbia Regiment and was stationed in the city on various sentry points throughout the city.

Since the declaration of war in 1939, the men of the BC regiment had been doing various guard duty assignments which were boring and monotonous. Finally after months of waiting the regiment received word that it was to be moving to a secret destination “Overseas”.

As the troops marched to a waiting train to take them to their next destination, photographer Claude P. Dettloff of The Province newspaper positioned himself to photograph the whole column marching down the hill. As he was getting ready to take the picture, he saw a young boy run out onto the road.

The mother’s outstretched hand and the swirl of her coat, the boy’s shock of white hair and his own reaching hand, the father’s turning smile and the downward thrust of his own outreaching hand — he has shifted his rifle to his other hand to hold his son’s for a moment — the long line of marching men in the background, all this makes an unforgettable image, a masterpiece of unplanned composition, a heart-grabbing moment frozen for all time.

The picture Dettloff captured was picked up all over the world, getting exposure in Life; it hung in every school in British Columbia during the war.

The secret destination the regiment was heading to turned out to be Nanaimo, only three hours away.

From the 1960's Sinclair Oil Dinosaur Tour.

Hanoi Jane before she became insufferable.

quote:

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Mopping up the enemy on Peleliu. September 14, 1944.

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This is Pvt. 1st. Class Eugene Sledge, USMC of Mobile, Alabama…



… serving as a 60mm Mortarman with Kilo 3/5 Marines, Sledge, known as “Sledgehammer” to his friends, fought in the Peleliu Campaign, landing in the 2nd wave, and the Okinawa Campaign. Following the war, later in life, at the urging of his wife, he wrote what would become the definitive memoir of a frontline enlisted combat Marine in the Pacific, titled “With the Old Breed”. Sledgehammer passed in 2001 after a long career as a professor at the University of Montevallo. In 2010 his wartime story was told in the HBO mini-series “The Pacific”. He is survived by his two sons, one of which is a dear friend of mine.

hate that count but she was fine as a young’n

"Ezra Meeker was a pioneer who traveled the Oregon Trail and was known as the "Hop King of the World." He lived in Indiana from 1839 to 1851. In 1916, at 85 years old, he made the trip by Pathfinder automobile.The Pathfinder Co., based in Indianapolis, loaned him a car and driver for publicity. He traveled from Washington, D.C., to Olympia, Wash."

It's my understanding his trip was to promote the history of the Oregon Trail so that it wouldn't be forgotten and why he's driving his conestoga wagon truck.