Wilf Fairhurst holds a framed photograph of himself from the Second World War in this 2013 file photo. On the wall behind him is a symbol of Remembrance - poppies - a needle point work of art by his late wife Nellie.--NEWS FILE PHOTO
gslade@medicinehatnews.com@MHNGillianSlade
A local Second World War veteran and recipient of France’s highest national order – the Legion of Honour, sadly passed away in Medicine Hat on Monday at the age of 96.
In February 2018, Wilf Fairhurst was awarded the rank of Knight of the French National Order of the Legion of Honour – the equivalent of the Order of Canada – for his service in the Second World War.
He said it made memories of his service come flooding back. Some of those memories were good, while others were not pleasant at all.
Fairhurst was sent to France soon after D-Day at the age of 20. He’d enlisted at the age of 17 in February 1941 and had begged his mother not to reveal that he was under age.
In France they were bombed by American aircraft.
“It’s called ‘friendly fire’ but there is nothing ‘friendly’ about it,” Fairhurst told the News in 2018. He said that the training he received had not prepared him for what he would encounter.
“We were advancing. Bombers had left and we went a little further than planned. When we stopped we did not know we were at the exact location the bombers were sent to bomb,” said Fairhurst in 2013. “You don’t know what fear is until you are under attack like that. It seemed to last forever.”
When it was over there were 400 soldiers either dead or wounded. Fairhurst, luckily, was physically unharmed.
They worked their way through France, Belgium and Germany and helped to liberate Holland.
It was not only people in distant lands who expressed gratitude to Fairhurst.
For Remembrance Day in 2010 Fairhurst shared his war memories with a Grade 5 class at Elm Street School. He made a huge impression on the children and he said they had changed his life.
In the spring of 2011 when Fairhurst was in hospital, the students sent him a massive handmade get-well card. He said the gesture brought tears to his eyes.
Fairhurst wanted to give to the children, too. He had been given some gift cards for books the previous Christmas and he gave those to the school children.
In May 2011 the Grade 5 teacher said each child was able to choose a book, and for some it was the first book they had ever owned.
Fairhurst was born in 1923 and passed away on Monday, Aug. 10, 2020 at the age of 96.
