London veteran, 102, ‘would go gladly’ if called to serve again

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A Second World War veteran turning 102 years old, with more than 30 great-grandchildren, said she would do it all again.

Jean Garrity still remembers when an RCAF recruiting officer visited her hometown of Jamestown, Nfld., in the summer of 1943 when she was 23 years old.

“I said, ‘Mom, just think, next winter I’m going to have my own great coat.’ Because, at the time, the service people had lovely great coats, and I loved mine.”

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Garrity said it was an easy decision to join the RCAF’s women’s division, without “pondering much or sleeping on it.”

“I was the only girl (to enlist in Jamestown). It was a small, small logging town,” she said. “When I told her (the recruiter) I was a nursing assistant, she practically hugged me. I really did want that … I was just delighted.”

Garrity celebrated her 102nd birthday Friday alongside her family and other veterans at the Royal Canadian Air Force Association 427 London Wing on Crumlin Road in London.

“Well, until today it (my age) didn’t strike me, but then, all of a sudden, it hit me,” she said.

The social club and aviation museum is a meaningful place for Garrity.

“Other than my children, this is kind of where I can pick up part of my life,” she said. “My husband was one of the original members of this club. And we’ve been coming here all these years. Now, he’s passed away, but I still come.”

Garrity was stationed at an RCAF hospital in St. Hubert, Que., set up for the pilots and crews of the Ferry Squadron, responsible for picking up and delivering all types of aircraft from around the world, including bombers from overseas.

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“I enjoyed every minute of it. I was happy. I was busy,” Garrity said. “I’d do it all over again. If I was young again tomorrow and I was called to serve, I’d go gladly.”

She also took care of 90 prisoners of war who were repatriated in 1944. One of them, Jim Garrity, became her husband.

“Meeting him was the crowning glory of my service life,” she said. “My little heart pitter-pattered.”

After being released from the RCAF on Oct. 18, 1945, the Garritys moved to London, and went back to school, but “you can’t take the military out of a person overnight,” she said.

Discipline was an essential part of her service, a skill she made sure to pass on to her five children, Garrity said.

“It’s really awesome that we can do this (birthday party), and that mom is in such good health both mentally and physically,” said daughter Patricia Harild. “She’s who she’s always been. She hasn’t changed a lot. She was a great mom, and now she’s a great, great-grandmother. So, it’s nice to see that she’s able to go out with her friends and have some fun.”

As for Garrity’s secret to a longer life, she said there isn’t one.

“I enjoy every day and I just live every day as it comes. I just like living and I think it’s great,” she said. “I live with a very open mind and I accept people as they are. I do the best I can. You know, all my life I’ve tried to do what’s right.”

bbaleeiro@postmedia.com

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