Pre-start Checklist

     Winter has arrived in Ottawa and it is cloudy so I can't pursue my interest in astronomy and astrophotography.  However, there is now ample time to do other things such as writing.

23 Nov 2011

     I have been told that I am full of stories (and other things).  I suppose that after over 40 years as a physician, pilot, accident investigator, musician, lecturer, father and husband, that there would be a few tales in there.  Having heard some of these, a number of people (including members of my wonderful family) encouraged me to write a book about my adventures and misadventures.  This seemed to be a daunting task and a potential minefield as it would be diffucult to de-identify some of the participants in this saga.  However, I have read my grandfather's autobiography, which was, unfortunately, incomplete, thanks to the Grim Reaper.  Wishing that I knew more about my family and had taken more interest early on, I decided to put down on paper (virtual as it is) a few of my thoughts and memories for, at least, members of my family who might at some time in the future be curious and patient enough to read this.  Recording has become more urgent lately because, as one of my friends said, "they are digging in our row!" and the ravages of time are beginning to take a toll.
     Not knowing how to proceed, I took, as a potential format, my daughter, Laura's, example.  She creates an interesting and well written blog on this site and has had some of it committed to hard copy - really cool.  Being a neophyte at blogging, I hope that there are not too many booboo's.
     So where to begin?  Perhaps at the beginning (sounds logical), and then proceeding as thoughts and events come to mind.  So here we go!

Mom and Dad 1942

     I arrived on a Friday the 13th in 1942, a cold February day during one of the worst periods in our history, as Hitler and Tojo had taken over huge portions of our planet.  My father, Arthur Frederick Skjenna, left for the European Theatre of Operations shortly after and I didn't see him until late 1945.  He was in the Royal Canadian Electical Mechanical Engineers (RCEME), leading in post war times, to a career as a mechanic and heavy equipment operator. Being in the First Canadian Division, he participated in the Sicilian, Italian, French and Belgian campaigns, returning at the end of hostilities on a hospital ship, the "Lady Nelson" in poor health due to an infected chest wound.  I still have the special VJ (Victory Japan) menu from the crossing - not too fancy in our terms, but probably a feast for the war weary and sick veterans aboard.

Lady Nelson

     The hospital train that carried him across Canada stopped in Medicine Hat for the night and he was allowed to go to my grandparent's home, where Mom and I had lived for the duration of the war.  I was introduced one dark night to this seemingly gigantic person who they said was my Daddy - I had no idea what a Daddy was and remember being intimidated by him.  My grandmother asked him if he wanted anything and he said "could I please have a fried egg!" and I watched with fascination as he devoured it, likely the first fresh food he had tasted for a long time. 
     The next few times that I saw him were in the Colonel Belcher veteran's hospital in Calgary where I played on his bed with the radio earphones and a model tank (I would have thought that he had seen enough of tanks in Europe).  There was a tube in his chest and he was left with a terrible scar from removal of a rib (not to mention the hidden scars suffered by so many veterans).  My mother said that he was changed forever.  In retrospect I guess that my Daddy had gone to war but it was my father who came back.  It is truly regrettable what wars can do to families, even if they need to be fought!
     After a few months he was released and returned to Medicine Hat for a long convalescense.  I can still see him sitting at a card table and working on some mysterious balsa wood creation that he told me was a bird's nest.  One morning he told me to look under my bed and to my surprise and delight, I found the model Spitfire that he had built for me.  It was a wonderful creation that actually flew for short distances and ignited a life long passion for airplanes as you shall see.