Remembering Private Stevens

_{Private Harold Stevens, May 1944. Courtesy of Mary Chester.}

In the halcyon days before COVID-19 pandemic, I received an intriguing request – could I help locate the descendants of a local soldier? There was a special story and connection to share that would link Luciana Trerè of Italy with the family of Private Harold Stevens. Luciana’s friend, Silvana Toscano, was helping her with the Canadian research. How could I resist?

After digging through family trees, obituaries, directories, newspaper clippings, our Soldier Information Card Collection, internet searches and a few calculated hunches, I made contact with Mary Chester, Harold’s niece, and passed on Silvana’s contact information with the details of the story of Luciana’s story. In the intervening months, parties on both sides of the Atlantic have been working to honour Harold and his heroism in Italy.

_{Soldier Information Card – Private Harold Stevens, Kitchener Public Library Collection}

_{Harold Stevens . Courtesy of Mary Chester}

The story of Private Harold Wellington Stevens and Luciana Trerè has been written by Mirna Milandri in a book called Il soldato canadese e la Bimba di cinque giorni / The Canadian soldier and the five-day-old baby girl It’s an insightful look at hope, loss and gratitude, chronicling the chance meeting of an Italian family fleeing war and a Canadian soldier at a river.

_{Harold Stevens with puppy, ca. 1932;
Courtesy of Mary Chester}

Harold Wellington Stevens was born on 20 October 1922 in Haysville, Ontario, the son of James and Madgalene (nee Lichty) Stevens. He had four brothers – George, Albert, Lorne and Donald, and one sister, Kathleen. After the family moved to Waterloo, Harold attended Alexandra School and played clarinet in the Waterloo Musical Society Band. He worked at Canada Barrels and Kegs Ltd and, at the time of his enlistment in 1943, worked at B.F. Goodrich Rubber Co. He was also a member of Stirling Mennonite Church in Kitchener. He lived with his parents at 29 Rudy Street, Waterloo.

_{Stevens Family. Front row, left to right: James, Kathleen, Magdalene. Back row, left to right: Donald, Harold, George, Albert, Lorne. Courtesy of Mary Chester.}

Following his enlistment on 26 March 1943 in London, ON, Harold trained in Canada and England until February 1944, when he was transferred to Italy. Harold served with the “Westies,” Canada’s Westminster Motor Regiment, now known as the Royal Westminster Regiment, which bravely fought its way through several heavily-defended German defensive lines in Italy.

As war raged in Italy, Aurelio and Emma Trerè awaited the birth of their child in the village of Fusignano. On 13 November 1944, Emma gave birth to a beautiful and healthy girl, who was named, Luciana, in the local hospital. Two days later, the couple were told by partisans of an impending conflict and were advised to flee to areas already freed by the Allies, near Piangipane or Camerlona.

A wet, rainy fall has made travel treacherous. On 18 November 1944, after grabbing a few possessions, the family set out as the fighting approached their village. Baby Luciana was placed on a mattress, which was encased in a pillow case, and then wrapped in a wool blanket. Evacuees were handed over to a patrol of Canadian soldiers who were stationed near a river crossing. They were directed to cross the river at a fording place, but struggled with their possessions, fatigue, and the swollen, fast flowing river. As she began the crossing, Grandmother Teresa Ravaglia slipped and fell under water. She accidently let go of the mattress holding baby Luciana. Panicked family members cried out as the mattress quickly sailed down the river. Aurelio struggled to get out of the river and ran along the bank yelling for help as his daughter was carried away by the fast current.

As the mattress rounded a bend in the river, Private Harold Stevens, who was standing on the opposite bank heard the cries of Aurelio and family members and those of baby Luciana. Without regard for his personal safety, he quickly took off his rifle and jacket, descended the embankment and waded into the river. Holding onto the reeds, he was able to grab a hold of the mattress as it passed, rescuing baby Luciana.

Harold returned the baby to Emma and Grandmother Teresa who were distraught believing that Luciana had been lost to the raging river. After an exchange of smiles, nods and well-wishes, Harold returned to his unit and the family set off on their journey. It seemed like tragedy had been averted thanks to a plucky Canadian soldier from Waterloo. As the family walked away, a thunderous explosion made them fall to the ground in a protective huddle. Private Harold Wellington Stevens had stepped on a landmine left by German troops. He died on 19 November 1944 and was buried at the Villanova Canadian War Cemetery in the Commune of Bagnacavallo, Province of Ravenna, Italy.

_{Villanova Canadian War Cemetery – Mar 2020. Image courtesy of Roberto Toscano.}

_{Gravestone of Private Harold Stevens, Villanova Canadian War Cemetery.
Source: https://www.findagrave.com/}

The impact of Harold’s death was devastating upon his mother, Magdalena. Harold had pleaded with his brother, George, to not to tell their mother that he was being shipped out to Italy so as to not worry her. In a strange premonition of Harold’s death on the day of his death, family tells of the story of Magdalena feeling suddenly ill and hearing Harold’s voice calling to her – a sign to her that something terrible had happened to him. The telegram notifying her of Harold’s death arrived on 27 November 1944, almost 10 days later.

Bob Berg, President of the Royal Canadian Legion – Waterloo Branch is hosting a ceremony to recognize the heroism, service and life of  Private Harold Stevens on 16 May 2021 at 1pm.

_{Author Mirna Milandri and Luciana Trere at book launch, 25 Sep 2020, Italy. Courtesy of Mirna Milandri.}

_{Honouring Pte Stevens at the site of his grave on 11 Nov 2020 – front row, left to right – Mirna, Luciana; back row – Roberto Toscano (retired Brigadiere/Marshal) and friend. Courtesy of Silvana Toscano}

_{Luciana Trere at grave of Pte. Stevens – 11 Nov 2020. Courtesy of Silvana Toscano.}

We are grateful to Luciana Trerè for never forgetting Private Stevens’ sacrifice and her determination to connect with his family to share the gift of his kind spirit.

_{Private Harold Stevens, 1922-1944.}

Lest we forget.

Karen

Remember Them

P002134 William John Parker

On this day in 1918, the guns fell silent at the 11th hour. The “Great War to End All Wars” had ended. Despite the horror, carnage and loss of  a generation of its young, Canada would answer the call again, in 1939, in 1950 in Korea, and in many places around the world in the years following, to defend the values and beliefs that we held so dear.

Today, we stop at 11am to remember them – to vicariously live in the moment when the gunfire stopped, to feel the sharp and deep pain of loss, to reflect on the sacrifice of generations of men and women who forfeited their youth, health and happiness, and in many instances, their lives, to defend values that we hold dear; and to thank them for their service – in conflicts and peacekeeping in years past, present and future.

Remember them, not only today, but always.

Visit our Waterloo County Soldier Portrait Collection here.

Visit our World War I Soldier Information Collection here.

Regards, Karen

 

When Time Stands Still

Remembrance Day. Image credit: Jeff Wallace (https://www.flickr.com/photos/wherezjeff/). Used under Creative Commons License.

I’ve always loved the poignant moment when the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th occurs, marking the beginning of the end of the First World War. We become still to remember those who have served our country in war and peace, unharnessed of all the busy-ness of modern life, alone with our thoughts and remembrances. It is a quiet moment of reflection, gratitude and respect for all those who have served us in war and in peace.

Conversely, sound can evoke many emotions. I, for one, always choke up when the Last Post is played at Remembrance Day ceremonies. Voices of the past take us back in time too. This year, the Grace Schmidt Room is honoured to have worked with Joe Pavia of 570 News on a Remembrance Day project to help bring the voices of “Women in War” to life. Using the oral history tapes of military personnel and war subjects in our collection, Joe has produced a series of audio clips being aired up to and including Remembrance Day. Be sure to be tuned to 570 News to hear the voices of Margaret Schreiter, Ann Schreiber, Dr. Deborah Glaister-Hannay, Darlene McClennan, and Catherine Wilkes Thomson as they talk about their war experiences. As the links go live, I’ll update them in this post. Joe’s feature will air every 30 minutes on Remembrance Day. Joe, by the way, is our oral history volunteer in the GSR, and is helping us to digitize the cassette collection. It’s been a real pleasure to work with him.

In conjunction with Joe’s project, the Library has uploaded the full oral history tape interviews for the women noted above. The link to our oral history page is here. Each interview has two parts, about a hour’s length each.

Please feel free to browse our Soldier Information Card collection indexes for both wars. You can view our online Soldier Information Card Collection for World War One here. We welcome your comments, stories and information for our soldier card collection.

I’ll be talking about the Soldier Information Card Project at the Grand River – Stanley Park branch on Wednesday evening at 7pm. Join me if you can. No registration is required and details can be found here.

If you are in the Grace Schmidt Room, please stop by to see our exhibits – one honouring the 100th Anniversary of the founding of the Kitchener-Waterloo Branch of the Red Cross Society and their work in war and at home, and the other looking back at nursing sisters from World War One.

We will remember them.

Cheers, Karen.

The Great Escape: A Canadian Story

An evening with Ted Barris, author of the Great Escape: a Canadian Story, on Monday May 5, 2014 at Country Hills branch, 6:30pm

As I’ve been working on the Soldier Card Project, I am continually reminded of the need for remembrance and commemoration of our military veterans and heritage.  I recently picked up Ted Barris’ book, The Great Escape: a Canadian Story and thoroughly enjoyed it. Packed with fascinating details about prisoner of war life, Barris dispels the myths of the 1963 Hollywood movie by the same name. The Great Escape from Stalag Luft III is a great Canadian story – something which Hollywood and its storytelling machine frequently overlooks (remember Ben Affleck’s movie Argo?).  Reading the book, I was constantly moved by the ingenuity, resourcefulness and courage of the Canadian airmen incarcerated at the Sagan prisoner camp and their role in planning, supporting and executing the attempted mass prison escape of 24 March 1944. The terrible retribution for the escape and the forced march of prisoners by their Gestapo captors ahead of the Soviet advance across Eastern Europe is retold through the eyes and stories of Canadian POWs by Barris in moving detail.  I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in Canada’s military history and heritage.

We are fortunate to have author, Ted Barris, join us to discuss his book in Kitchener.  I hope that you will join me on Monday May 5, 2014 at 6:30pm at the Country Hills Branch to welcome Ted and to hear about his research and the untold Canadian story of the Great Escape.  It’s a free event, but registration is required. Register online or call the Country Hills branch or InfoLink.

Cheers, Karen

Lest we forget

P9824 Kitchener Cenotaph at City Hall, 1954 (KPL Collection)

Remembrance Day is a quiet day of reflection, memory and gratitude for the many men and women who fought and defended our rights and freedoms in conflicts around the world.  We will gather at cenotaphs, ceremonies, homes and workplaces to mark a moment of silence during which we will remember those who answered the call of duty to serve Canada.  As Winston Churchill once said, “Never was so much owed by so many to so few”.

The Kitchener Cenotaph, pictured above, designed by Kitchener architect, William H.E. Schmalz, was dedicated on 24 May 1929. It originally sat on a small traffic island on Frederick Street, near King Street. It was later moved to City Hall in 1949 and then to the corner of Frederick and Duke Streets, where it sits today, with the development of Market Square. It rededicated by Queen Elizabeth during a royal visit in 1973.

Today, I am remembering my great-uncle, James McPhee of Abbotsford, BC, who served in the Second World War as a Royal Air Force navigator, a war correspondent and later as a Canadian Armed Forces peacekeeper in the Suez. I will remember Captain Brinley Frederick Roberts Thomas, of Dinas Powys, Wales, husband of my grandfather’s cousin, who risked his life in both world wars to ensure that supplies, personnel and munitions reached Allied troops as a member of the British merchant marine.  And, I will remember David Harding, my first cousin once removed, who served with the Canadian Armed Forces in Afghanistan and, thankfully, returned home safely.

Who will you remember today?