When Stratford’s soldiers returned home from the Second World War, the first thing on their minds was seeing people they hadn’t seen for several years.
The community responded with one event to honour all members of the Perth Regiment upon their return.
“They came home to a heroes’ welcome,” says John Kastner, the general manager of the Stratford Perth Museum.
“They had a dance at 8 p.m. on January 14.”
On the same hour of the same day this year, in the same room where the soldiers had been feted in 1946,
“We came here 71 years later to celebrate those who came home and honour those who didn’t,” Kastner says.
While Jan. 14, 2017 wasn’t the “bitterly, bitterly cold” day that Kastner says Jan. 14, 1946 was, the event did feel a lot like a trip back in time in other ways.
The music may have been the most notable of those, as the 17-piece Festival City Big Band performed a selection of hits from that era.
