Lögberg-Heimskringla - 05.11.2004, Page 2

2 ♦ Lögberg-Heimskringla • Friday 5 November 2004
A day to
remember
Over 2,100 men and women of lcelandic
descent served with the Canadian and
American armed forces during the Second
World War. Some of them never came
back. One of them was Kjartan Ari
Solmundson. Steinþór Guðbjartsson
discussed the loss with his widow
Maragret Sigmundson in Gimli and the
meaning of Remembrance Day for her.
PHOTOS: STEINÞÚR GUÐBJARTSSON
Margaret Sigmundson at her home in Gimli, Manitoba.
Margaret Sigmundson with her son Haraldur Keith Sig-
mundson, psychiatrist in Victoria, B.C., and his partner
Gwen Kalansky, a family doctor in Winnipeg, during the
Manitoba’s Icelandic Festival in Gimli, íslendingadagurinn,
last summer.
Kjartan Ari Solmundson
from Gimli, Manitoba,
became a Pilot Officer
in the R.C.A.F. in the Second
World War and received mili-
tary awards for his service. For
a while he was stationed in Ice-
land when he was on loan to
the fleet air arm of the Royal
Norwegian Navy, serving on
the North Atlantic air patrol
between Iceland and Scotland.
He embarked for overseas duty
in late 1941 and was killed
about two and a half years
later.
“He was killed over Berlin
in Germany January 28, 1944,”
Margaret Sigmundson recalls.
“His plane vanished and no
trace of it was ever found. I did
not leam about it right away.
First he was just missing and I
was never sure whether he was
taken prisoner or what. I felt
terrible. This was no fun. War
is a sad thing.”
Margaret Olafson and
Kjartan Ari Solmundson, or
“Kardy,” as he was nicknamed,
got married in Winnipeg, Man-
itoba, in April 1940. She was
then 23 years old. They had
about a year and a half togeth-
er before he embarked for
overseas. “I went with him to
various places when he was in
training,” Margaret says. “I
went to Regina, Moose Jaw,
Rivers, and to Nova Scotia
when he embarked in Septem-
ber 1941. That
was a lucky
thing because
otherwise I
would not have
had any time
with him.”
Soon after
saying goodbye
to Kardy, Mar-
garet got a job
as a registered
nurse at the Toronto Western
Hospital in Toronto. “You
could not work there as a mar-
ried woman so I worked under
my maiden name but when I
found out that I was pregnant I
had to quit. Then I went back
to Riverton and had Keith in
February,” she says.
Haraldur Keith was born
February 8, 1942, and his
father came to see him in
August the same year. He never
saw him or his wife Margaret
again. Her brother Harold was
the last member of the family
to see Kardy alive. “He went to
visit him in England just before
he died,” Margaret says. She
adds that in his
letters Kardy
never described
the war as an
awful thing but
it left her as a
single mother.
“When he did
not come back I
knew that he
was dead. How-
ever, I thought
for some time that he was still
alive and everybody who knew
hirh said all the time that he
was not dead. Soon after the
war ended in 1945 I knew that
he was dead. I lived at the farm
with my parents and had a
good support. Some young
unmarried boys from Riverton
died during the war but I think
that I was the only married
woman in Riverton who lost
her husband during the war.
The community was very sup-
portive and I had many visitors
who were kind to me.”
Marino Sigmundson was
her second husband. They got
married in 1946 and her son,
Haraldur Keith, was brought up
as his son as well. Marino
passed away February 18,
1991. Haraldur Keith is a psy-
chiatrist in Victoria, B.C. and
visits his mother in Gimli regu-
larly.
Remembrance Day has
played a big role in Margaret’s
life for a long time. “I went to
one ceremony in a church dur-
ing Remembrance Day and I
bawled so much that I never
went back,” she says. “Way
later I once went to the Legion.
Remembrance Day is a special
day. I keep silent for two min-
utes at 11 o’clock that day.
Remebrance day is a day to
remember.”
Remembrance Day or Veterans’ Day
November 11 is the anniver-
sary of the Armistice which was
signed in the Forest of
Compiegne by the Allies and the
Germans in 1918, ending World
War I after four years of conflict.
In 1921, an unknown World
War I American soldier was
buried in Arlington National
Cemetery. Similar ceremonies
occurred earlier in England and
France, where an unknown sol-
dier was buried in each nation’s highest place
of honour (in England, Westminster Abbey; in
France, the Arc de Triomphe).
These memorial services all took place on
November 11, the anniversary of the end of
World War I at 11 a.m., November 11, 1918
(the 11 th hour of the 1 lth day of
the 11 th month), which became
known as Armistice Day.
Ön November 11 Canadi-
ans and Americans (and others)
gather at war memorials across
Canada and the U.S. to pay trib-
ute to those who died in war. At
the 11 th hour of the 11 th day of
the llth month, the time the
Armistice of World War I was
signed in 1918, two minutes of
silence to remember are observed. Great
Britain and France celebrate November 11 as
Armistice Day, in Canada it is called Remem-
brance Day, and in the U.S. Veterans Day hon-
ours those who have served in the U.S. armed
services.
ARE YOU PROUD OF YOUR ICELANDIC HERITAGE?
Do you want to see it preserved for your
children and grandchiidren?
Are you a member of your local lcelandic club?
Don't know where they are or who to contact?
Check out our website at www.inlofna.org
or for more information, contact Rosa in our INL office.
Telephone: (204) 642-5897 email: inl@mts.net
Ifyou don't have a club in your area
but are interested in forming one, please call the INL office.
WOULDN'T YOUR AMMA AND AFI BE PROUD?
“His plane
vanished and no
trace of it was
ever found. I did
not learn about it
right away.”
Visit us on the web at http://www.logberg.com