A rescue and reunion: Ottawa veteran to reunite with child he saved during Second World War
CTV
It was in Holland in 1944 when Dr. Roly Armitage, who once served as mayor of the former West-Carleton Township, saved two kids he spotted on the side of the road late at night. Now, 80 years later, he will be reuniting with one of the kids he saved.
A special reunion will take place in Ottawa next month and it’s been 80 years in the making.
It was in Holland in 1944 when Dr. Roly Armitage, who once served as mayor of the former West-Carleton Township, saved two kids he spotted on the side of the road late at night.
"I was driving the Jeep in 1944 in Holland near the Eindhoven airport," he recalls. "I thought I saw movement as I went by, I thought it could be soldiers… so I backed up and there's two little kids in the ditch."
Armitage figures the boy was around six years old and the girl around three.
"So I dug them out. It was cold, cold, cold," he said. "I took them to the field kitchen and I said to the chef, 'Get yourself help, look after these kids, clean them up and warm them up.'"
He says the boy ended up going home but they took the girl to a nunnery. Armitage had to move with the troops and never knew what happened to the girl.
Armitage went on to have a distinguished military career. He was also a veterinarian, member of the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame and is the recipient of the Order of Ontario and Ottawa’s Key to the City.
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