When we think of war, we think of darkness. When we think of war, we think of horror and loss. But as the saying goes, there is a bright side to every story, even in the most desperate of situations. Debby Neville, who was born in Sherbrooke, has many stories regarding her family and the Second World War. Her father and mother were both sent overseas. But among her many stories, Neville has one that we don’t hear about often when we talk of war; a story of love.
Neville’s father, Edward James Sayer, was born in 1925 and was a Sherbrooke local. He was sent overseas around 1941 with the Canadian army. “He was in the Canadian army and he was in a tank, then he was a foot soldier, and then he was in a jeep.” He was one of the thousands of brave Canadian soldiers who went to Europe to fight off Nazi German occupation. “He fought in France. My father was also involved in the liberation of the Netherlands, that’s for sure.” She also remembers her father telling her that despite French Quebecers not wanting to go to war, they were quite the soldiers. “My father told me they didn’t want to go to war but they were damn good soldiers when they got there.” See full story in the Friday, Nov. 8 edition of The Record.
A story of love overseas
By Taylor McClure, Special to The Record
