teenLook #6 - November 2019 - Arizona Skeoch

teen
LOOK
a feature
"A GOOD CONVERSATION"
With Remembrance Day coming
up this November 11’th, teenLook
wants to emphasize the importance
of the day.
A day to reflect and remember
the lives of the soldiers that have
fought and died in their military
service to our country.
November 11’th is the anniversary
date of the Armistice agreement
of 1918 that ended World
War 1. The red poppy we wear as
a symbol of Remembrance Day
was inspired by Lieutenant-Colonel
John McCrae’s poem “In
Flanders Fields.”
I had the pleasure to sit down
and speak one on one with Veteran,
Robert M. Torrie, who goes
by “Mac.” We spent about three
hours together at the Kingsway
Legion, Branch No. 175 in Edmonton,
AB talking, laughing and
enjoying each other’s company.
It indeed was an honour getting to
know more about this fine gentleman
and his life.
Mac had planned to join the Canadian
Army for three years, but
as he reminisces,
“I forgot to come home.”
PHOTO / James Goodwin
Robert “Mac” Torrie
Master Warrant Officer - Retired
Canadian Armed Forces
Mac was born in Dauphin, MB, Canada
on August 30, 1944. Growing up on a
Mixed farm and attending school in the
Dauphin-Ochre Area School District of
Manitoba.
“While in High School, I
joined the Army Cadets, then
the Canadian Army (Militia)
and that’s where my liking
for the military started.”
At the age of 17, Mac joined the Canadian
Army (Regular) in 1962. Signing
up for the trade of Field Engineer (now
called Combat Engineer)
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