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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
"Lest we forget" is ever more commanding in its decree following the death of Harley Crowe on Nov. 4, one of the last Second World War veterans to live in Yellowknife.

Cub Scout Paul Leonardis, 9, was excited to meet the late Second World War veteran Harley Crowe, 95, after the Remembrance Day service at Weledeh Catholic School last year. - NNSL file photo Remembrance day ceremony and parade route The Yellowknife Remembrance Day ceremony and parade will take place on Sunday. The parade will commence at 10 a.m. in front of the Yellowknife Legion, then progress down Franklin Avenue toward 53 Street and turn right onto Veterans Memorial Drive before stopping at the cenotaph for the wreath-laying ceremony at 10:15 a.m. Following the ceremony, the parade will continue back down Veterans Memorial Drive to 48 Street before turning right onto 51 Avenue. The parade concludes at St. Patrick High School with the Remembrance Day ceremony. The public must be seated by 10:45 a.m. because the ceremony is set to begin at 10:55 a.m. At 11 a.m. there will be a minute of silence. Source: Royal Canadian Legion

Second World War veteran Douglas "Dusty" Miller, 93, is believed to be the last Second World War veteran living in the city, according to Basil Hickey, who chauffeurs veterans during Remembrance Day ceremonies each year.

"Our vets are few and far between," Hickey said. "As far as I know I'll only have two this year, Dusty and (Korean War veteran) Jan Stirling."

Members of Crowe's family came North this week to prepare for the funeral on Nov. 15.

"He was a pretty down to earth guy," said Dee Dee Crowe, Harley's daughter-in-law. "He was a very easygoing, earnest person to get along with. A really happy-go-lucky person."

At 96, Harley was Yellowknife's oldest Second World War veteran. Born and raised in Bass River, N.S., in 1940, he enlisted in the military and received training as a mechanical engineer in London, Ont., before being deployed to Europe aboard the RMS Aquitania, one of the only transport ships in North America to have gone unscathed during the war.

"He and his brother Glen kind of jockeyed to enlist in the war and didn't tell their parents," Dee Dee said. "Both ended up in the same regiment, which was unusual at the time. Both survived."

Perhaps it was the luck of the ship, or Harley's determination to outlast the war, that allowed him to make it through uninjured as he repaired vehicles and delivered messages to the front in Belgium and the Netherlands.

"I don't know if he was traumatized by the war, but he did run messages up and down the trenches. He said the war was pretty scary at times. I asked if he saw dead people and he said, 'Yes'," said Dee Dee.

However, Harley did not share much about his wartime experience with his family.

"He never talked about the war at all," said Solomon Crowe, Harley's son.

When the war ended, Harley moved back to Nova Scotia and became a bus driver in Halifax.

"He was the type that was always willing to help people," said Solomon. "He was very easygoing with people and very friendly."

He eventually became a ranch hand in British Columbia and Alberta before breeding, raising, and training horses in Brooks, Alta.

As Harley got older, his health had deteriorated to the point that his son, Solomon, who worked for Air Tindi in Yellowknife, brought his father North so he could take care of him. Harley lived in Yellowknife for nine years. He died at Aven Manor on Nov. 4.

"He was somebody who loved life and enjoyed family," said Dee Dee. "He was really determined to live forever."

Douglas 'Dusty' Miller

Miller was born in the little town of Blenheim, Ont., near Lake Erie in 1919.

"As far as I know Dusty is the oldest vet in the Yellowknife area," said Lt. Paul Pendergast, public affairs officer for Joint Task Force North.

Miller's father was a house builder and taught Dusty his trade at an early age.

"When you're born into a carpenter's family, you begin as soon as you can drive a nail. I was building footstools when I was hardly old enough to hold a hammer," said Miller.

When he graduated from high school, a group of military recruiters encouraged him to join the Royal Canadian Air Force.

"They didn't waste time. They were keen to modernize the military," Miller said. "Some of us couldn't wait to get into action and fight as soon as we could."

At age 17, Dusty was shipped to Galt, Ont., to study aircraft engineering, followed by basic training in St. Thomas, Ont., as a ground engineer. He was taught to maintain and repair de Havilland DH-98 Mosquito bombers with the 406 squadron, which conducted night bombing missions in Europe.

"Night fighting became one of the key elements for the air force. We got radar and the airplanes would fly at night so the boys could go up in pitch black night and use the instruments to bomb and get home without being seen."

Miller regarded the dangerous task as his duty.

"We weren't scared. It wasn't part of the system. Dangerous - yes," said Dusty, who experienced gunfire while aboard an air carrier. "There were dangerous places with high losses but it never scared us because we came into service to do what we needed to do and what was necessary. If you were scared, you did what you had to do quickly and well, and then you got out of it."

Miller worked on aircraft in Newcastle, England, eventually coming home in 1945 as a Flight Sergeant.

"We were obliged to be servicemen because we were needed but when it was over, you just wanted to go home," he said.

Miller married his wife, Connie, in British Columbia before moving to the NWT in 1955 as a development officer with the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs. He is well known for his sense of humour.

"One of the reporters from the Yellowknifer was talking to Dusty when Prince William was here," said Lloyd Lush, Miller's friend for 28 years. "She said to him, 'Dusty, have you lived in Yellowknife all your life?' He said, 'Not yet'."

Dusty will be attending this year's Remembrance Day ceremonies on Sunday.

A service will be held to remember Harley on Nov. 15 at 1:30 p.m. at the Yellowknife Alliance Church.

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