ROTARY MOMENT – INDUCTION OF OUR NEWEST MEMBERS
AUGUST 6, 2019 WAS ANOTHER HISTORIC NIGHT FOR THE ROTARY CLUB OF OSHAWA-PARKWOOD AS WE WELCOMED , TWO NEW MEMBERS INTO ROTARY – AND INTO THE ROTARY CLUB OF OSHAWA-PARKWOOD
Congratulations to Jackie Schagen and Eric Guernsey. We are all so proud of both you for becoming Rotarians and Members of our Rotary Club.
Our new vision statement tells it all so well: “together, we see a world where people unite and take action to create lasting
change — across the globe, in our communities, and in ourselves.”
Your fellow Rotarians will, by example, show you how to serve in your community, serve in and through your vocation, and they will show you how to contribute to world peace and understanding through The Rotary Foundation.
As Rotarians, we know that you will serve to enrich the lives of others. And through this service, we know that you will help others build a better world. By joining the Rotary Club of Oshawa-Parkwood, you have chosen to take those important steps forward to serve your fellow human beings.
Our club, and everyone of its members has an obligation to you: to reach out and welcome You in friendship and through Rotary service, they will be fine examples to you, as you start on your adventure of service with your Rotary Club of Oshawa-Parkwood.
GUEST SPEAKER
Name of Speaker: Bonnie Fraser, Vice President of the Fraser Auto Group. The Fraser Auto Group is a family owned
and operated dealership group that has been growing since 1996 and commitment in the Durham Region. They offer a full service environment within sales, service & maintenance and parts & accessories. They have Ford and Chrysler Vehicle sales and service stores in Oshawa, Cobourg, and Pickering and Carstar Autobody franchises in Oshawa, Cobourg, Clarington and Port Hope. Bonnie , a committee member of PADAN (Durham Region Police Association Dinner and Awards Night), began her business career in the dental industry, later became President of the Ontario Dental Nurses and Assistance Association. She is a strong community supporter and sits on various committees and foundations. Bonnie is a former director of the APBOT and co-chair of the Business Excellence Awards. She is also the recipient of the YWCA’s Women of Distinction and Women of Success awards.
Her presentation spellbound the members of the Rotary Club of Oshawa-Parkwood as Bonnie read excerpts of her newly published book “Fred Lodge’s Diaries- A Quiet Mans Journey Through Hell”. This book was created from the 7 Diaries her Father wrote from the day he enlisted in the military in 1939 when WW2 was declared to when he was repatriated in 1945. In this time period Bonnie’s Dad was captured on the beaches of Normandy during the Dieppe Raid and was incarcerated in a German Prisoner of War camp for 3 years. Her Dad was a committed diarist and kept very detailed daily journals of his every day activities and even when he was a POW. Bonnie shared with us some details of this very unique piece of Canadian history.
Frederick Thomas Lodge was born in Kenora, Ontario, in January 1913, the ninth and final child of poor English immigrants. His father and brother both served in the Canadian Army overseas during World War One and his brother, Bill, was killed in action in 1917. Fred Lodge grew up a skilled outdoors-man, often listening to stories about Army life and the courage and sacrifice of his brother. Fred enlisted in 1940 as an infantryman in the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders of Canada. He experienced the best and the worst of wartime service, surviving the disastrous 1942 Dieppe Raid and three years as a prisoner of war. After the war, Fred returned to Canada, married and raised three children while living out his life in Kenora. Fred Lodge died in June, 1976, a man proud of his family and military service.
The wartime diaries of Fred Lodge underscore his perilous passage through World War 2 including the Dieppe Raid and three years as a POW in Germany. Fred was a quiet, kind, considerate and courageous young Canadian who trained in Canada as an infantry soldier; practiced his military skills in England; waded onshore at Pourville, France on August 19th, 1942 (503 landed on the beach; 340 casualties, 60 killed, and 167 taken as POW’s) ; he survived intense German gunfire; saw his buddies killed, maimed, indeed slaughtered. Somehow he survived that awful day at Dieppe and was transported to Stalag VIIIB and later to Stalag IIC in eastern Germany. As a POW he was often hungry, bored, shamed, shackled, witnessed summary executions and was forced to participate in a death march in early, 1945. Through it all Fred Lodge was courageous and true to his beliefs no matter what obstacles, temptations or mistreatment came his way. He always did his best and the "right" thing. Fred didn't hate Germans although he had no respect for inhumane NAZI zealots. With the Russian Army fast approaching, Canadian POWs were evacuated westwards in January,1945 in bone-chilling cold and snow. Over four months they were marched west with little food, no warm clothing, little shelter and no reason to think they might survive. However, Fred and most of his fellow POWs did survive and in late April, 1945 they were liberated and returned to England. Somehow Fred Lodge remained the same quiet, kind, considerate and courageous man he was at the beginning. This story, as told by Fred Lodge himself, is a gripping tale. He passed through the hell of war and emerged whole.
Bonnie calls this an unfiltered view of a common soldier and the human side he shared with his fellow soldiers. Bonnie felt the sacrifices he made the pain, the fears , the lack of food, near starvation, the mortors firing all around, the blood from his fellow soldiers as he watched many of them die, her father endured for many years. After reading the diaries, that were kept from her and the family until he died, Bonnie then understood why he would often stare into space when he got home, and why he went to the legion every night.
The book is available in Kindle, paperback and hardback versions on Google, Amazon, and many other locations. It was published by Friesen Press on June 10, 2019.
Bonnie was thanked by our Secretary and past President Robbie Larocque.
IF YOU CAN’T MAKE IT, MAKE UP : Go online at www.rotary.org go to the club locator and find a club or clubs near your destination. Or you can add the free App Rotary Club Locator to your phone for instant look up of any club in the world. Please mail or fax your make-ups to Secretary Robbie Larocque, or give your make-up card to the attendance/registration officer at the next club meeting.