When Hitler threatened the world, they enlisted. Today, they have 6 great-grandchildren

Anne McNamara did not want to stay put. As young Canadian men were leaving for war, she enlisted.

“All the boys were going,” McNamara told CTV News, “I wasn’t going to be left behind.”

Now retired Corporal McNamara says she joined the travelling entertainment troupe as a dancer.

“When they were waiting to go forward, they needed entertainment. We were Canadians entertaining Canadians,” said Anne.

“We were self-contained. We had curtains, we could work a bare stage and set it up, and it was a wonderful experience,” she said. “It was hard work, very hard. “

She and her troupe travelled across Canada and Europe performing for soldiers, including flyers, like Howard – her future husband.

Howard McNamara, a dashing pilot from Montreal, flew Spitfires. He too refused to be left behind. When war broke out his brother James enlisted, and he was right behind him. The only problem was that he was underweight, too skinny, he said. It would take him a month to put on a few pounds.

After flying school, he was shipped off to North Africa to fight Hitler’s forces and volunteered for the Italian campaign.

Howard and Anne McNamara are seen in a compilation of their old and new official portraits. (Images courtesy of the Government of Canada)Speaking of the war, he says, simply, “It was a job we had to do (and) I think we did a good job.”

After the war ended, like the plot of a Hollywood romance, the two met in Montreal and fell in love. They went on to have three children, seven grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren.

Born in 1922, Anne is now 101 years old. Howard is 104. This year, the couple made the trip to France to commemorate the 80th anniversary of D-Day.

At a gathering of elderly Canadian veterans, only 13 made it to France for the celebrations. The group is among the last living witnesses with memory of D-Day and the bloody battles that followed to free Europe from Nazi occupation.

‘If it’s my turn to go, at least I’ll be clean’

During an interview with CTV News, Anne recalled living in London during The Blitz, when Hitler’s forces bombed the city. In need of a bath, she says, hot water was in short supply. She found a school with a bathtub, and she wasn’t going to let German bombs stop her.

Then, while soaking, “the sirens went off, the air raid sirens went off, and there I am sitting in this house. What do I do?”

“Do I get out, or do I sit there?” Anne recalled. “I’m talking to myself and I said, ‘Well, if I get out, I don’t know where to go or what to do,’ so I just sat there and thought, ‘If it’s my turn to go, at least I’ll be clean.”

Anne McNamara smiles at her husband, Howard, while posing for a photo. (Marie France L’Ecuyer / Government of Canada)

After the war, the couple retired in Saint Laurent, Que. Howard lost his brother, James, in the war. His body was never found. Howard says he will think of him and so many others who died during World War II this 80th anniversary of D-Day.

“They did such a good job, and the countries (which they liberated) are so grateful,” said Anne. “That makes you feel good to be a Canadian.”

As one of the war’s few living witnesses, says she fears for the future of peace as conflicts in Ukraine and the Mideast continue.

“I think this world today is in such a mess,” she said. “What about these young people who will inherit this mess?”