Wally B

My great-grandmother, Wally Bone, is a hero to me, not because she was famous or well-known, but because she demonstrated much courage in such a terrible time. I admire her greatly for that. No matter how tragic or dreadful the circumstances were in World War II, she knew she had to get her family out of Germany.

My great-grandmother was born in 1901 in Germany and left to come to Canada in 1922, 17 years before WWII began. She left her entire family, two brothers and one sister, to start a new and better life in Canada, but still never forgot her loved ones during the war. As a matter of fact, she even risked her life to go back to Germany and bring them back to her new home. She is a hero to me and everyone else in my family. The first place she settled when she arrived in Canada was Edenbridge in Saskatchewan. She attended a school there with kids maybe half her age. As an immigrant she had to learn English. She sacrificed a lot just to escape from Germany and become an official citizen of Canada. But she was ahead of her time in understanding that Germany was not going to be a safe place for Jews to live.

My great-grandmother moved around Canada a lot, going to Timmins, Ontario and then finally worked her way to Montreal. Not only did she travel around Canada, she traveled back to Europe also, even after she left in 1922. At first it was just to visit her family, but then she heard Hitler speak in a park and she realized that he was going to try to persecute the Jews and that she had to get her relatives out. She then used whatever money and means she had to regularly return to Germany just before the war to save her family and bring them back to Canada. I find that was very selfless of her.

The war had been over for a long time, but my determined great- grandmother continued to fight her battle. Wherever she went, she would look for Nazis and try to have them arrested. “What were you doing during the war?” she would always ask. Naturally, no one would ever respond. But there was one time when she was in a café and she overheard a group of Germans giving the Hail Hitler salute. My great-grandmother figured they were up to no good, so she followed them and later had them arrested.

My great-grandmother is not only a hero to me, but a hero to my entire family. If it weren’t for my great-grandmother’s perseverance and courage, I wouldn’t be here today. She set an example of how to behave in the face of adversity and she sent a clear message to never give up on your beliefs. It is a message I will always remember. A hero is someone who doesn’t always do things the easy way. Even though she died a year before I was born and I never got to meet her, I can say with much pride that my great-grandmother took great risks to do what she believed was right and she is my hero.