Fred Stevenson, 104, served in the air force during the Second World War and now lives at the Veterans Centre at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre.Fred Lum/The Globe and Mail
The lines from In Flanders Fields flow effortlessly from the mouth of 104-year-old Second World War veteran Fred Stevenson.
Mr. Stevenson is practising for a Remembrance Day ceremony for veterans and their families at the Sunnybrook Veterans Centre in Toronto. He will recite from memory the iconic poem honouring the fallen in front of an audience of 1,200 people.
"It scared the hell out of me this morning. I woke up and realized I couldn't get one part of it right," he said the day before the ceremony. "I got it right after a while, you know," he added with a chuckle.
Like thousands of other Canadian Army personnel, Fred Stevenson enlisted to help in the war effort and never left Canada's shores. But his service was crucial – running military hospitals in Eastern Canada that treated air men.
At a Royal Canadian Air Force base at Pennfield Ridge, N.B. – which is about 60 kilometres from Saint John – he was in charge of a 30-bed hospital that he ran with four doctors. Some patients had common illnesses such as colds and flus, but others were in much more serious condition, he recalled.
And there was tragedy, as aircraft crashed during training exercises.
About 15 kilometres from Pennfield Ridge is the Commonwealth war graves cemetery in Saint George. Twelve airmen – three Canadians, three New Zealanders, two Australians and four Britons – are buried there.
That was the hardest part of running the hospital, Mr. Stevenson recalled. "The fact that we lost so many top-notch pilots …"
Mr. Stevenson came to Canada from England in 1928 as a teenager and ready to work as a farmhand. The reality of Ontario farm life was gruelling. "Just damn hard work. That's what you did do," he said. "Thrashing, plowing, anything – haying. Hard work, that's all," he added.
His escape was a dream job as a drug-store clerk in the town of Stayner, Ont., where he worked for four years. His weekly salary of $5 covered his weekly boarding costs.
"I made out even every week. I did, no kidding – even smoked a little too," he recalled.
Around him, younger men were enlisting.
"All the young men were pretty much gone by the time I decided. I was working at the drug store – my first real job in this country – and just loved it," he said.
"And here I was about to make another big decision and I didn't know where it was going to lead me," he added.
He joined the RCAF in 1941 and rose through the ranks. By the time he left the service five years later, he was a flight sergeant.
"They gave me a job, and a really good job, I thought – being in that hospital and being fairly well in charge, except for the medical officers and doctors, I thought I learned a lot," he said.
While visiting a nearby army base in New Brunswick, a friend invited him to attend church in Saint George. Mr. Stevenson tagged along. In the church choir, his friend pointed out a young woman named Mary.
"He said to me, 'If you're looking for a girl, there's one up there that would be nice for you.' That's exactly what he said." At the end of the church service, Mary's family invited Mr. Stevenson back to the family home for some more singing. "And that's how I met my wife," he said.
They married and settled in Scarborough, Ont., and raised two sons. Mr. Stevenson weighed becoming a church minister or a pharmacist, but going to university and supporting a young family was not an option.
The war veteran eventually started a drug inventory business and worked with drug stores across Ontario.
At his Scarborough church, Mr. Stevenson would recite from memory In Flanders Fields around annual Remembrance Day events going back to the 1950s.
On Wednesday, he plans on doing the same at Sunnybrook Veterans Centre – the largest veterans care facility in Canada, with 475 vets from the Second World War and Korean War.
"It's a sad time – all those dear men who had to go down," he said. "We lost some of our very best youth."