by Liz Bernier for the Sarnia Observer (2011) Bill Gunter was 19 years old when he was captured by Japanese troops. It was 1941, and Gunter had only been a member of a British Air Force ground unit for a few months. Instead of fighting in the Second World War, [...]
by Phil Egan It happened 148 years ago, but it was a massive, destructive blaze the likes of which Sarnia hasn’t see before or since. The fire that tore across Sarnia’s commercial downtown district on the night of Thursday, November 14, 1867, destroyed Sarnia’s business core, but it could have [...]
from the Belleville Intelligencer (2011) The national unveiling of two stamps Monday, commemorating the three-peat Harmsworth Trophy win by Miss Supertest III, capped off a very successful celebratory weekend in Picton. The Canadian hydroplane Miss Supertest III captured her third Harmsworth Trophy just kilometres away from the 50th anniversary show [...]
(from 1957 Progress Edition of The Observer) (1957) The crunch of the bulldozer, the whine of the crane, the roar of the truck, the staccato of the air compressor and hammer are all sounds which tell of Sarnia’s continuing expansion. Steel-helmeted construction workers are pushing up more of the weird [...]
by Phil Egan Special for The Sarnia Journal He arrived by way of London and the old Errol Road, driving a team of oxen and a cart filled with goods he intended to sell. His destination was the collection of log shanties huddled together at “The Rapids.” He was 28 [...]
From 25th Anniversary Yearbook of St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church (1995) Canada was founded more than 200 years ago by European settlers who came to this new land in search of a better life. Canada’s strength was, and continues to be, the diversity of its people. Its multicultural heritage can [...]
by Mike Bradley (2015) Poets in the 1800s were the rock stars of today. One of the biggest was Walt Whitman, whose most famous and controversial poetry collection was Leaves of Grass. He started writing Leaves of Grass in the early 1850s and was still working on and revising the [...]
by Phil Egan Special to The Sarnia Journal Sarnians, and Ontarians in general, have had a tempestuous experience over the years with the practice of purchasing liquor. It wasn’t always as easy as it is today. In fact, there was a time not too long ago when it was pretty [...]
by Phil Egan Special to The Sarnia Journal (2015) It is a warm evening in early July, 1910. King George V is in his second month on the throne of the British Empire. Sir Wilfred Laurier is Prime Minister. You have just boarded the 100 foot long ferry, Skater at [...]
by Phil Egan Mary Alice Moon had already lost two sons to the war. She was determined not to lose a third. The Edmonton mother had seen sons Kris, John and William answer the call to King and Country by enlisting in the RCAF in World War II. When John [...]
