Anne Gafiuk's interest in history has led her to uncover the stories of a whole generation of Elk Valley residents who fought in the Second World War.
The Calgary author's latest book Carved in Stone was released in September; a detailed account of the Second World War veterans listed on cenotaphs in Fernie and Sparwood. The book dives deeply into their time in the military and their personal lives, providing insight into their jobs, schooling, family, personality and hobbies.
It also has information on the people involved in the war whose names never made it on to the cenotaphs, including women who served, veterans who survived and returned home, and a few men who were missed.
As a former social studies teacher, Gafiuk has always had a keen interest in the history of the Second World War, particularly people-centric stories.
"I'm not a nuts and bolts kind of person. I'm a storyteller," she said. "I like to tell people's stories."
"I don't care what horsepower an engine has or how many wheels a tank has or how many guns there are. What interests me, is who was the person? Who's their family? What did they do before the war?" she explained.
Her previous books on war history have included Wings Over High River, a biography about wartime flight instructor Gordon Jones from High River, AB and Quietus: Last Flight, an investigation into aviation-related accidents during the war.
She has also created websites to commemorate Canadians who fought in the war, about the men who piloted the Typhoon aircraft and veterans memorialized in Ottawa.
Gafiuk had long been interested in the men on the Fernie and Sparwood cenotaphs, having once owned a recreation-property in Fernie. She initially intended the book to be small, a pocket-sized compilation that people could take with them whenever they visited the cenotaphs, but it quickly grew into a big project with over 700 names in the book.
"I started to get to know all the interconnections between the families and the multiculturalism of Fernie," she said. "The Italians, Ukrainians, Russians, Czechs, Hungarians, British, Scottish, Irish, they intermarried. Many of the men moved to the West Coast. Some moved to Calgary."
For her research, she consulted the B.C Genealogy Archives and combed old newspaper articles in The Free Press. She tracked down old-timers who grew up in Fernie who knew the men, and their descendants.
She reached out to Fernie resident Sylvia Ayers and Fernie Museum curator Lindsay Vallance, who are working on a similar project. The women contributed research to the book and helped find old photos from the Legion and museum.
Among the veterans featured in the book, is flying officer Dean Washburn. Washburn was born in Lindsay, California in 1921, but moved to B.C with his family in 1924. Renowned for his bravery, he became the first airman at his station to parachute out of a flaming plane at 5,000 ft. His heroic efforts throughout the war led him to be appointed leader and later commanding officer of his squadron in the Royal Canadian Air Force. A street and mountain in Fernie were named in his memory after he was killed in action in Germany in March 1945.
Pilot officer Stephen Kuleski from Michel B.C, worked as a rope rider for Crows Nest Coal Company prior to enlisting, manning the cable train as it transported coal to the mine. He was part of 432 Squadron of the Royal Canadian Air Force, where he had a reputation as a decent pilot. He was actually sent home from training to work in the mines during a coal shortage in 1943, but was dispatched overseas later on, only to be shot down during a bombing operation over Le Mans, France.
Ronald Brewer served as a sapper (combat engineer), blacksmith and driver for the Royal Canadian Air Force and was killed by mortar fire on June 6, 1944 during the landing at Juno Beach. Brewer's nephew uncovered the history of his wartime service unexpectedly last year while on vacation in Europe and Gafiuk was able to connect with the family.
The more Gafiuk researched, the more she found out about the men.
Disease and accidents took soldiers to their grave just as often as battle. One Fernie man died in a mining incident, working to keep the war effort supplied with coal. Another drowned shortly after the war ended in a canoeing incident. There were a few suicides after the war ended as well.
Men who worked in mining and forestry had practical skills that came in handy during the war effort. A group of loggers were part of the Forestry Corps overseas, cutting down trees in Scotland to make bridges.
Men frequently lied about their age in order to enlist, seeing the war as an opportunity to make money or travel.
Some men had their names spelled incorrectly on the cenotaphs, and some were left out and forgotten entirely.
"I still don't know who chose what names to go on the cenotaph because there were a couple fellows who died during the war, and neither of their names are on the Fernie Cenotaph," she said. "There's going to be questions lost to time."
Local women were not active in combat during the war, working behind the scenes as stenographers, teleprinter operators, truck drivers, cooks and nurses instead. Women joined the Salvage Corps as teenagers, collecting cloth and metal for the war effort, and later enlisted in the Canadian Navy, Royal Canadian Air Force, or Canadian Army women's divisions, or worked for Boeing.
Gafiuk said there were 50 women from the Southern Interior of B.C who joined the airforce in 1942. Most returned home after the war and quite a few married veterans.
Gafiuk said researching the book brought Fernie to life in a way she had never imagined before.
"It was like I was there," she said. "It was fascinating to imagine people walking down 2 Ave. and Victoria Ave., going to dances, reading the newspaper."
