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I started working for The Memory Project: Stories of the Second World War on Wednesday, September 16, 2009 with no real idea of what it would be like to actually record veterans’ stories from the Second World War. A week later, I was at Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto interviewing veterans for the first time, and I learned quickly that recording stories is quite different from listening to stories. Simply recording stories implies we do not listen and share in the story; on the other hand, listening to stories means we connect with the storyteller and become involved in his/her story.

At Sunnybrook, I interviewed my first veteran of the entire project, then Flying Officer Joseph Hawkins, RCAF. Mr. Hawkins’ story of how he was an air gunner in the belly of a Halifax Bomber clarified to me the difference between recording and listening. He survived 36 sorties, and described for me what the world looked like from the aircraft as bombs were dropped, “What a jungle it was down there. Fire, fire, bombs flying and aircraft lying down, being shot down. It was just a great big furnace down there.” His words made me listen, and fully appreciate the stories that I am recording for this project.