The Invisible American: The War Years Before and Beyond

By Donald J. Kreewin

Lt. Hal Robert, a native of Canada, was one of many veterans of World War II and the Korean War.
During the last years of his life, his nerves were frazzled from so many bad wartime memories. Before he died at age forty-one, his son – the author – was able to coax him to share his experiences.
In this biography, he traces his father’s life and connection to the wars, beginning with when he signed up with the Lord Strathcona Horse regiment at Camp Shilo, Manitoba, on June 27, 1938. He was immediately sent for training in horsemanship. At the time, the Strathcona was still very much a cavalry regiment.
The Lord Strathconas ended their use of horses in 1940, except on special occasions, as horses were by then deemed obsolete in modern warfare. It changed to a mechanization regiment about the same time Canada declared war on Germany: Sept. 10, 1940.
Join the author as he traces his family history, focusing on the role his father and Canada played on the world stage.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Archway Publishing
• Release date: Dec 27, 2019
• ISBN: 9781480886094

Donald J. Kreewin

Donald J. Kreewin was an air traffic controller for thirty-five years before retiring. He has written articles and short stories for newspapers and magazines. This is his first book.

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Copyright © 2020 Donald J. Kreewin.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

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ISBN: 978-1-4808-8608-7 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4808-8609-4 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2019920686

Archway Publishing rev. date: 12/20/2019

CONTENTS

Introduction

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

For More Information

To Leah, Debbie, Brenda, and Sherry

INTRODUCTION

Lieutenant Hal Robert of the Lord Strathcona Horse (Armored) was my father.

I decided to write my father’s biography highlighting his life and achievements, especially as one of the many honored veterans of World War II and the Korean conflict. My father was not a saint. He was just an average human being with a few faults. During the last years of his life, he had problems trying to settle his nerves, which were frazzled from too many bad wartime memories. He tried desperately to relax, but he just couldn’t sit still. Unfortunately, his poor health habits involved cigarettes and alcohol, and they drastically shortened his life. Lieutenant Hal Robert was only forty-one years of age when he passed away.

My father did not like to talk about his wartime escapades, but after much coaxing and cajoling, I finally convinced him to tell me his stories. I believe that his wartime experiences are worth preserving, so here they are, according to the best of my memory and to the best of my ability, and I am now able to relate them to you, the reader.

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CHAPTER 1

The cold, dark, and gray clouds of winter were now gone, allowing for the warm and brilliant sun of spring to shine on a small town in Manitoba called Fork River.

Fork River consisted of only a hotel, a dry goods store, a blacksmith’s shop, a livery stable, and a little one-room schoolhouse. It was a small but important town for the surrounding livestock and wheat farming community.

The records of the Canadian Army reveal Fork River as the birthplace of Hal Robert on February 25, 1916, to parents Bill and Betty.

Bill and Betty had three children. The sons were Michael, the oldest, and Hal, the youngest. A daughter in the middle sadly passed away from cholera at twelve years of age.

Bill was the town’s blacksmith. He made a rather comfortable living forging horseshoes and manufacturing metal objects out of iron and steel for the farming community. At all hours of the day, and sometimes even into the evening, the loud, metal clang, clang, clang of the heavy blacksmith’s hammer smashing, turning, and twisting the red-hot metal on the heavy cast-iron anvil could be heard ringing through the little town.

Hal’s father was not a tall man. He was only five feet, three inches in height, but he was exceptionally strong. His occupation as a blacksmith gave