For Ed Walsh and his sister Martha, this is their story, along with telling the story of their late sister Mary. They are the last of their generation in their family. For Ed's daughter Valerie, this film holds the spirit of her dad and her mother Bev, who has also passed on.
In the first short segment of the film, you'll see the interview footage from when Ed sat down with Personal Historian Cory Bretz during the hottest days of the summer of 2013. His story starts out in the cold prairie fields of High Tor, Saskatchewan where his parents scratched out a living during the Depression running a rural post office and a farm. Matched with the original faded photos of their family's collection, the story comes alive.
Ed's War
Part II of The Walsh Family Legacy documents how Ed joined the Regina Rifles Regiment in World War II and slogged his way through the flooded dykes of Holland and then along the Rhine River, commanding his own troop of soldiers. You'll get to meet his lovely wife, Beverly Ilott."I hope my grandchildren will watch this", said Ed. He was very clear while being interviewed that he didn't want his own descendants to wonder about their ancestors, just as he had wondered about his own silent father's story.
When war began in 1939, I enlisted because my buddies did". For Ed Walsh, going to war was about fighting injustice and making the world safe for democracy. But he admits now after more than 70 years that he signed up to be a soldier because he didn't want his buddies to think he was chicken. But Ed says, that's okay, "Because they all did it too".
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Personal Historian & Videographer Cory Bretz holding a stack of finalized discs containing The Walsh Family Legacy movie, ready to be handed over to Ed and Valerie.
The full film is also on the web, available 24/7 to Ed's family and watchable on their computers, tablets, phones, and big screen Smart TVs.
Ed’s daughter Valerie helped immensely by sorting their family photos and identifying the names of all the people. Ed had just gotten his war medals polished and mounted. These interviews were conducted last summer while Ed visited Vancouver. He sat in a comfy chair and just talked. Later he said it was very easy to tell his story with Personal Historian Cory Bretz.