Remembering a soldier’s war effort

Shooniyaa Wa-Biitong’s Marie Seymour remembers her father, World War II veteran Peter Seymour, as a patriot who believed in his country.
“He believed it gave him a lot and he wanted to fight for his country,” said Seymour. “But he put his family first, because he stayed here as long as he could before he joined the army because he was a provider for his family.”
Seymour said her father, who passed away in 2003, had been helping look after his family after his father passed away. The Big Island band member enlisted in 1940 and landed in Normandy on July 20, 1944, where his regiment, the Lake Superior Regiment Motor Battalion, fought through France, Belgium, Holland and Germany over the next 10 months.
Peter Seymour received six medals for his service during the war: Medal for Service in Holland, Northwest Star for Service in France and Germany, Defense of Britain Medal, Medal for Voluntary Service, Exemplary Service Medal and Medal for Service in WWII – 1939 to 1945.
The soldiers in the Lake Superior Regiment were awarded 71 decorations for their bravery during World War II, with the regiment suffering 775 casualties, including 199 dead.
“He was one of the older soldiers in his regiment,” Seymour said. “He was a runner (who delivered messages) between the front and the end of the line, so he drove a motorcycle back and forth. He (also) drove a tank; he didn’t like that too well.”
Seymour said her father enjoyed the structured life in the military.
“He went through residential school, so he was used to being told what to do and when to do it and to take orders,” Seymour said. “So the transition in the army — it was the same way. He just did what he was told.”
Seymour said her father felt it was important to fight in the war because Canada needed to stand up to Nazi Germany’s war effort against Britain and other European countries.
“In terms of being a First Nations person, I don’t think that played a lot into dad’s decision to join,” Seymour said. “He just said it was something he had to do and he could do it. He didn’t have a family other than his siblings and his mother. Had he had his own family, I don’t know if he would have volunteered.”
While her father would talk about the places he saw during the war, Seymour said he would not talk about the fighting.
“He said, ‘that was a war I hope you never have to experience, that type of violence,’” Seymour said. “But, he said, ‘that army gave me things to see, it brought me to places I would never have gone there otherwise.’”