Remembrance Day 2017 and tribute to Family Warriors

A self-painted image in honor of Remembrance Day 2017 - Melanie Elliott-Nightingale

A FAMILY OF WARRIORS

Grandparents:

Photo:  Evelyn (nee Nightingale) and husband Forrester Hector Faulkenham.

     This wedding picture and taken at the home of Evelyn Nightingale in Manchester, England just days after Armistice was signed in 1918.  This couple met while serving on the Western Front in France.  Forrester was a soldier and a medic and originally from the Annapolis Valley.  Evelyn was a reservist/telegraphist.  Her work dictated long hours working in clay caves.  When on leave they would take short walks and sit under a tree to read to one another and to gather pine cones for a stove in their quarters.  Evelyn kept a diary of her days in France - a small booklet - 2 in. x 2 in. which she hid in the hem of her skirt.....fortunately this diary has been preserved and is the property of a family member.

Mother and marriage to a RCAF Pilot - 1942

      This photo is that of the author's Mother - Frances Evelyn Bent (nee Faulkenham) on the day of her marriage to Elroy Fenwick Bent, Pilot Officer, RCAF.  Within hours of their marriage, Elroy was informed there was a troop ship in Halifax where he was to report to in the process of his sailing to England to serve as a Pilot.
     Shortly after Elroy's departure, Frances joined the RCAF and was sent to Rockcliffe, Ottawa for basic training.  During that period she received a message to the effect that her husband, Elroy had been killed in action over the skies of Khartoum, Sudan.
     Frances continued to work hard while at training came with the hope that she would be posted overseas.  She was selected to occupy an overseas position and when she reached Liverpool, England she was informed she would be working for the Department of Intelligence and her skills were recognized within the system of the Churchill War-Rooms.



Mother's marriage to Norman Arthur Elliott - 1945

                                         

Photo:  A wedding picture  of Frances Evelyn Elliott and Norman Arthur Elliott
     When the war had ended, Frances was posted to the south coast of England to help in the management and organization of sending troops back home to Canada.  It was there that she met Norman Arthur Elliott of  Britannia Beach, British Columbia and after a whirlwind courtship they married before boarding a ship to sail home.