[r.morrison]

For Canadian History Buffs....a tribute was paid to the most famous photograph to come out of Canada during the early years of World War 11. A stunning memorial was unveiled today on the exact spot where the "Wait For Me Daddy" photo was taken. The original photo was taken on October 01 1940 as the British Columbia Regiment snaked it's way down to the New Westminster waterfront for embarkation to Europe. Along the other side of Eighth Street, families walked along looking for husbands, sons or brothers heading off to war. Among them was 5 year old Warren "Whitey" Bernard and his mother. At the bottom of Eighth and Columbia "Whitey" spotted his father and breaking away from his mother cried out "Wait for me Daddy". The rest is history. The photographer for "The Province Newspaper" took only one picture that day....only one! But according to his grand daughter when he did, he knew he had the winning shot. The photograph was published in Life Magazine and "Whitey" went on throughout the war years helping to sell war bonds for Canada. His parents split up during the later years of the war and as "Whitey" said today, this was the last photo ever taken of them as a family. He is 79 years of age, still married, has 4 children and 4 grand children and is is retired in Tofino, on Vancouver Island.

The first photo is the original famous Canadian picture. The fourth photo shows "Whitey" in the centre of the photo just below his father. The third one shows him just below himself and the second photo shows him with his grand daughter, who is 5 years old (you might have to zoom in to see her) ....the same age as "Whitey" when the original photo was taken. You can google the entire story under "Wait For Me Daddy".

The bonus for today's event was there were 2 remaining veterans from this march, who sat with the dignitaries and gave a short speech. Neither of them had met until 2 days ago, but one of them was a great friend of Whitey's father and was somewhat responsible for getting him into the BCR's.

Enjoy....R.