How it all began
Keeping the Peace By Tom Lessard, C.D. It was early November 1953 when my fellow apprentice soldiers and I arrived
Tom Lessard
The Grand Tour
Keeping the Peace By Tom Lessard, C.D. My military career of 18 years took me to many places I probably
Daylight losing time
Keeping the Peace By Tom Lessard, C.D. (Editor’s Note: Please remember that these are memories of a time long ago,
Learning the ropes
Keeping the Peace By Tom Lessard, C.D. Arriving at Camp Ipperwash in 1960, I was directed to the battalion orderly
ROTF not LMAO
Keeping the Peace By Tom Lessard, C.D. “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up!” Those were the words that came
Lighten up, Tom!
Keeping the Peace By Tom Lessard, C.D. It all began about the middle of November. The weather was perfect for
Deserving tributes
Keeping the Peace By Tom Lessard, C.D. I was privileged to attend the Grand Bend Legion’s Remembrance Day dinner on
The bottom line on sewers
Keeping the Peace By Tom Lessard, C.D. (Continued from last issue) The saga of the sewers continued throughout the town
Tom makes a splash
Keeping the Peace By Tom Lessard, C.D. Not long after Crediton’s bridge repair was finished and traffic resumed (but not
Reflections on Crediton
Keeping the Peace By Tom Lessard, C.D. It all began many many moons ago. This is the saga of the
Reunited and it feels so good
Tales from the 2009 Lessard reunion Keeping the Peace By Tom Lessard, C.D. My Sunday morning began at 2:45 a.m.
Learning to swim
Keeping the Peace By Tom Lessard, C.D. My family moved from Windsor to Waterloo in 1944 because my dad was
Feelin’ alright in Jamaica
Keeping the Peace By Tom Lessard, C.D. I think it was 1969 that word came down from the top that
A break from the heat
Keeping the Peace By Tom Lessard, C.D. On a warm, sunny day in November 1957, some of us were told
Holy tourism, Batman!
Keeping the Peace By Tom Lessard, C.D. “Hey, Tom! Have you ever been to Tillsonburg?” No. But I’ve been to
Boys will be boys in Beirut
Keeping the Peace By Tom Lessard The time came to get out of the desert, so a two-week leave in
Tourism during a (Suez) crisis
Keeping the Peace By Tom Lessard With Rita away in the sunny Dominican Republic, I was reminded of my trip
Go West – to Frankenmuth
Keeping the Peace By Tom Lessard, C.D. Frankenmuth, Michigan is a beautiful little town on I-75 between Saginaw and Bay
Boys’ day out
Keeping the Peace By Tom Lessard It all started on my birthday this October. My boys bought three tickets to
Windsor’s good eats
Keeping the Peace By Tom Lessard, C.D. I was born in Windsor, Ontario in 1937, the seventh child. I had
Another year older
Keeping the Peace By Tom Lessard On the 16th of December, 1974, at the South Huron Hospital maternity ward, a
Go west, young man
Keeping the Peace By Tom Lessard In the spring of 1958, there was a posting on the board for an
Running for office
Or, how to get into real trouble Keeping the Peace By Tom Lessard Many years ago, there was an upcoming
Toilet humour
What to do when you have to go Keeping the Peace By Tom Lessard At Protective Plastics Limited in Huron
Wanted: vacuums
Oh where, or where, did our little vacuums go? Keeping the Peace By Tom Lessard A lot of strange and
A cat and mouse tale
Keeping the Peace By Tom Lessard Back in the good old days – the early 70s, that is – there
A day at the beach
Keeping the Peace By Tom Lessard Hey kids, who wants to go to the beach? That was a stupid question
Remembering the early days in Huron Park
Keeping the Peace By Tom Lessard The air force had recently moved out of Huron Park when we moved from
One night wasted at the Albatross
Keeping the Peace By Tom Lessard During the years I worked (mostly part-time) as a waiter and bartender at the
One for the history books
Keeping the Peace By Tom Lessard Even though I spent 18 years in the army, I was never trained as
A divorce in Cyprus
Keeping the Peace By Tom Lessard After living in Lizard Flats for a few months, the monotony of the same
What a trip!
Keeping the Peace By Tom Lessard Sunday morning. Club Albatross, Huron Park. Hockey game in Detroit. Most of us arrived
The grand prize: a rooster that lays eggs
Keeping the Peace By Tom Lessard Years ago Bill Brady, the announcer for CFPL 980 radio, ran a fundraiser for
A little prank
Keeping the Peace By Tom Lessard A lot of life spilled through the doors of the Dufferin, most pleasurable, but
April 1968: Centralia’s bar scene
Keeping the PeaceBy Tom Lessard In April of 1968, Rita and I moved our family from London to Huron Park.
You think this winter’s bad! Remember 1971?
Keeping the PeaceBy Tom Lessard For some reason, I had driven myself to work at Wolseley Barracks in London instead
Elmer’s wake
Keeping the PeaceBy Tom Lessard Many years ago, I had the good fortune of working for a window and door
Cherishing memories of a Cypriot Christmas
Keeping the PeaceBy Tom Lessard, CD I spent Christmas 1967 stationed at Lizard Flats outside Nicosia, Cyprus, which had at
The ten-miler: army takes physical education to a new level
Keeping the PeaceBy Tom Lessard, C.D. At 27 C.O.D. (the Central Ordnance Depot on Highbury Avenue in London), the only
Educating Tom
Keeping the PeaceBy Tom Lessard In 1953, I was having a difficult time at my high school, St. Jerome’s in
(Did Tom deserve award?) Somebody thought so
Keeping the PeaceBy Tom Lessard About 14 years into my military career – by this point the late 1960s –
The trip to Egypt: Christmas 1956
Keeping the peaceTom Lessard, former UN peacekeeper It’s Christmas Day 1956, and I’m on leave at home in Waterloo. I
Deep trouble: Cyprus, 1970
Keeping the peace By Tom Lessard, former UN peacekeeper I was over in Cyprus in 1970 for a six-month tour.