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'My
Commonplace Book'
By Beryl A. (Bock) McPhee
Dad
had to go back to Trenton in Ontario on the 26th so we saw him off but
Bubbles seemed to have caught a cold again so she went to bed early, a
couple of evenings later on the 28th she sat up in bed talking about the
lovely time we had over Christmas when suddenly she started saying strange
things, Mom gently shook her but she was just rambling and delirious.
While
Mom stayed with her I went down to the basement to use the phone to get
a doctor, but being wartime doctors were in short supply and hard worked,
I called Bubbles' doctor and couldn't believe my ears when he wouldn't
come out at night when I told him what she was like, all he would suggest
was to bring her to the office next day! Edmonton is divided by a river
and I subsequently found out doctors wouldn't make calls on the other
side, so I started at the A's and didn't get someone till I got to Dr
Eadie.
The
doctor came at once and sent her straight to hospital by ambulance, Dad
hadn't even reached Trenton by this time and I had to send a telegram
bringing him straight back, we found out from Dr Eadie she had leukemia
and Dad and I both donated blood but she only lived five more days, we
grieved for Bubbles as normal but I was very afraid at one time it was
going to affect Dad's mind permanently.
We
couldn't bear to stay in that house any longer so we moved into a couple
of quiet rooms until Mom and Dad were finally allocated a house when Dad
was posted to Edmonton, the war was changing so Aircraft Repair closed
down and I was out of work, the next job I got was as timekeeper in a
machine shop and foundry where I met my second real boyfriend Vernon "Buck"
Cass on the day I went for the job. The work didn't last too long as I
got involved with a much needed shop union and the boss didn't like it,
he told me though that I was the best timekeeper they'd ever had!
Buck
was a terrific man and we had nice times and lots of fun, we danced well
together and went dancing regularly every Saturday night, I especially
liked to dance a two-step to a one-step. He asked me to marry him and
I said yes but I hurt him dreadfully when later I realised I didn't love
him, I felt terribly bad about it as he was such a nice man but it wouldn't
have been the right thing to do.
Next
Dad was posted to Whitehorse in the Yukon Territory so as usual Mom and
I decided to follow to be with him, the only way we could go was to be
employed by the Americans who had a base hospital up there so we went
for interviews and were accepted and then had to go through a medical,
everything was fine with me except for my teeth so abruptly I had two
back molars and four wisdom teeth pulled with one breaking into pieces,
we then went for our shots - all this on one day!
Next
day we were in a small Army transport plane on our way to Whitehorse,
we had a very bumpy ride because of air pockets over the mountains and
half a dozen soldiers and I were sick but Mom was her tough old self!
When we landed we were split up because Mom was to be a barracks maid
and I was a hospital aide so we had different residences, this was really
the beginning of a new life in a new world! The first few weeks I had
trouble eating and had to go to the dentist nearly every day to have bits
of my broken tooth removed, one piece is still in there as a souvenir
to this day, both my arms were very sore from the shots and I had more
to come!
The
first morning I went to work my room-mate Julie Nitkolinich (Nicky) and
I walked in the door to the hall past a Ward Boy (male nurse) and walked
to the Chief 
Nurse's desk with him following, the Chief Nurse told me
my duties but I never heard a word! "He" was standing next to me, that
is how fate hits you some times, I did finally come-to and found out his
name was Frank Miszak.
The hospital was set out into eight wards
of eight beds each, Frank worked in Ward 4 which was the psychiatric ward
as he was very good with disturbed patients and was always being called
at all hours to calm someone down if they had to have a straight-jacket
put on to fly down to another hospital in the States. The
hospital was originally built with the view of a war with Russia but the
only patients were enlisted personnel or employees.
I
really enjoyed my work and the atmosphere of it all, the television show
M.A.S.H. is very much what it was like there, lots of amusing things happened
between patients and the staff but the work was never neglected, it all
had to be done smartly and Army style. Even the linen cupboard was "just
so" with everything folded correctly and piled in perfect rows with folded
sides showing and alternate corners out so they could be taken in a hurry,
to this day if I look in a hospital linen cupboard and see it untidy I'd
love to straighten it for them!
The
country around Whitehorse is beautiful although you probably wouldn't
like it if you're not into the "wilderness", in the summer after our 3
- 11 shift we would sometimes take a walk out along the river to a particular
spot between the mountains where we could see the sun at midnight, in
summer it is continuous daylight and in winter it's dark most of the "day"
with only an hour or two of light in the middle of the day.
For
recreation we had a hall where we could relax, play records or the piano,
once a month there was a dance in the hall with a live band called the
Alconeers whose theme song was "Mood Indigo", I always arrived when this
was playing because I didn't want to miss a moment. Frank
didn't dance so he would work the 3 - 11 so someone else could go but
I always had dance partners, with my Granny being so religious she wouldn't
allow me to go to school house dances so when we lived in Saskatoon Dad
took me to a basement ballroom and taught me the ballroom dance steps.
Of
course the time came when another man came to ask me to dance, he was
an Argentinian with the forces and I was truthful and told him I was just
learning but he insisted I was to have every dance with him, by the end
of the night I was doing fine and I'll never forget that man who gave
up his time and effort to me when he could have had many more expert partners.
One time at a country dance Mrs. Kirkland took me in hand and initiated
me into the ways of square dancing as well, so between my Dad, the Argentinian
and her, I felt confident at any dance and how I loved it!!
Other
things I enjoyed there were;
- going
with Frank and the others on our days off to a little cabin near a lake
where there was a boat we could use to fish, I loved just pulling the
boat along by the reeds and reaching down into the crystal clear water
to put my hand around an astonished fish. Sometimes the cook would give
us some steaks or a pie so we could have a meal out there,
- there
were movies in a little theatre on the base and we always got the
latest pictures, for a couple of years later I couldn't go to a movie
I hadn't seen already!
- one of
the medics named Mike Golaner (we called him Big Mike) was a big dark
Italian man with a fierce expression that would frighten children until
he smiled then it was like an angel smiling at you, one time in chow
line I plucked up the courage and said "Mike smile" and I was rewarded
with a lovely grin. One day the medics played a game of baseball and
Mike was fielding, I yelled across the field "Mike smile" and saw a
brilliant set of white teeth in that dark face just for me!
- Frank
and I went steady from the day we met, he was born in Lublin, Poland
the eldest of eight children (and he was 15 years older than me), by
the time we met both his parents had died. Frank told me when he was
a boy he went around the Chicago streets as a lamp lighter when they
still had gas lights, in the days of prohibition his mother ran a still
in the basement where the locals came to play cards and have a drink
in the evenings, later when we were married and living in Chicago he
showed me this dark dingy little room containing a table and a couple
of chairs that lent some nostalgia to the place.
Eventually
the end of the war came along and all the medics and girls were being
sent back home, just before Frank left he got official permission to marry
me, with me being a "foreigner" there was an enormous amount of paperwork
to be done but we did it! By this time the Base Hospital was closed down
and because I had Mom and Dad there in Whitehorse another job was found
for me at the U.S. Air Base as a file clerk.
The End
Memoirs: Beryl A.
(Bock) McPhee
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