“Isabelle, it’s Stan. I’m coming home.”

STORY BY: John Weston
YEAR: 1942
LOCATION: Japan

John goes back and forth between Ottawa and West Vancouver. His dad, Stanley Weston, was gunner 3785 of the Federated Malay Volunteer Forces, captured in 1942 by the Japanese. Stanley was a prisoner for three and a half years. John’s mother, Isabelle - Stanley's fiancée - was part of the BC Security Commission, who interned Japanese-Canadians in the interior of British Columbia. Isabelle waited for Stanley, not knowing whether he was dead or alive, and refused a Mountie's marriage proposal. Finally, a call came from London, England. "Are you still going to marry me?" "Yeah, get yer ass back to Vancouver!" Stanley needed to take a ship across the Atlantic, then a train all the way across Canada, where Isabelle met him at the railway station in Mission, B.C. They were married within days. Thanks for sharing, John.