Why the Morleys Remember on Remembrance Day

By Minou Morley

Wm. & Felix Morley WWII

I come from away. Aside from a four-month placement my son had in Halifax, none of my family has ever lived in Nova Scotia. I am privileged to be the first. I am so very grateful to call this beautiful place home.

   Remembrance Day has always evoked a lot of big emotions in me. As someone who generally emotes little, I struggle with how to channel that. So here I unload.

   My Dad, William Felix Edmund Morley (b. 1920), served as did most of his generation. His family had him quit high school at 14 years old so that he could learn a trade. He apprenticed for four years and at the age of 18 he gained his signwriting indentures. He then promptly signed on as a deck boy on the steamship Dunvegan Castle, bound for circumnavigation of Africa. At 19, he was in the Stretcher Party, Air Raid Precautions. then the Royal Air Force where he started training as a Nursing Orderly because of his previous St. John Ambulance qualifications. He was posted in North Battleford and Regina Saskatchewan (so began his love of Canada), repatriated and trained as a Flight Engineer, then was posted to the Bahamas for final training. It was there he learned his only sibling, his younger brother, was “lost at sea”.

Em and Hugh Grigg WWI

   After enlisting in August 1944, on March 30, 1945, my Uncle Leslie Victor Morley (b. 1922), was 22 years old when his vessel the M.V. High Tide was never to be seen again. He was a toolmaker before the war, and a deck hand during. I have several

Alice, William, Leslie Morley WWII

letters he wrote describing the bombing of London and consequently having to sleep in a shelter. My grandmother received a hand-written note in the mail “We much regret to inform you your correspondent was lost at sea. Your letter returned herewith.” Ouch.

   Although I never got to meet him, I carry his loss with me. I have no aunts, and he was my only uncle … so no first cousins. To me, his death at such a young age and, just before the war was declared over, is particularly tragic.

   All four of my grandparents served as well – three of them British, one Canadian. My Dad’s father, Felix Morley, was a motor fitter. That skill earned him the honour of serving in both World Wars. At the age of 20, he was a non-commissioned officer in the British Army stationed in Egypt and Mesopotamia where he repaired military equipment including tanks, trucks, and aircraft for the Royal Flying Corps (subsequently called the Royal Air force, where my Dad later served). In World War II, Grandpa served with NAAFI (Navy, Army, and Airforce Institute), a non-combatant arm of service.

Felix Morley WWI

 My grandmother, Alice Williams (the name she was known as at birth, which changed nine more times before she died) served as a warden in the Air Raid Patrol, a voluntary position many civilians opted to do. The way she described it to me, her job was to walk around the streets of London with a flashlight (often rubble-strewn) and ensure that people’s windows were blacked out so that “the enemy” wouldn’t know where to drop the bombs. Sometimes she would have to knock on doors and advise people that light was showing. Her presence was not always welcome! She would then go home to my uncle who was desperately trying to enlist – her eldest son far away and her soon-to-be ex-husband out of country. While out on patrol one evening, a bomb blasted her front door all the way through the house to the back door!

William Morley (far right) WWII

 My maternal Grandfather, Hugh Biddlecomb Grigg (b. 1886) enlisted in the Highland Regiment in 1915. As the story goes, he found the kilt too itchy so switched to Infantry – Pay Corps. Although the war ended on November 11, 1918, Grandpa wasn’t discharged until a year later (8 November, 1919) having to ensure that all the soldiers were properly paid. He died on November 11, 1971, at 11:30am. I remember the day well, although I was only a child.

  My Grandmother, Emma Bertha Keefe (b. 1892) served as a translator (English and French) in the first World War and was an Aircraft Worker in WWII. I don’t ever recall her talking about these times and we talked a lot. Maybe it was too painful to think about the siblings and friends she lost, or maybe she was just trying to

protect me. She and Grandpa married the 29th of December, 1917, a couple of days before her 26th birthday. She left London, England – at that time the largest city in the world with a population of about seven million. She went on what she described as an arduous journey by boat (sea sickness for weeks) and train to a little town near London, Ontario called Clinton -

maybe a few thousand people. War changes so many lives in so many ways.

  There are many more stories about them, about great aunts and great uncles, supported by hand-written letters, photographs, official documents, word of mouth, and memorabilia. Big emotions.

Hugh Grigg WWI

   One of my favourite photos of my Dad (and there are thousands) is where he is in shorts, has sun kissed skin, and a huge smile on his face. He is 24 years old. He is sitting with three other young men in the balmy Bahamas. Dad and one of the other men are holding up their index and middle finger in a “V” and the two in the middle are holding a copy of the Nassau Guardian. The headline reads “JAPAN SURRENDERS”. It is August 14th, 1945. It has taken me years to piece it all together.

It took about a month for Dad to find out his brother died, they were very close, so I am sure the pain is still quite fresh. The shorts the four young men are wearing are their uniforms. They are still serving. I try my best to interpret the “V” (victory or peace

depending) and their smiles as satisfaction that there is finally some sort of relief. But it is the headline that gets me. Two words. Dire circumstances. Wretched doom. That’s why the Morleys remember on Remembrance Day.

  My Dad fell hard for Nova Scotia. I know he would have loved my community. I think my Mum and grandparents would have loved it here, too. So, if I see you at the ceremony in Noel on the 11th , and I don’t meet your eye, my profound apologies. It is a big day, and it evokes big emotions.