Karl Forrest didn't say much about his time serving on a Lancaster bomber during the Second World War.
His son, John Forrest, says his dad would watch war movies and speak of what it was like to fly in a very general sense. It wasn't until John Forrest was six years old and he stumbled across a flying helmet and flight boots tucked away in the basement of the family's Port Credit, Ont., home that he learned his father had served overseas.
"He said it was tough to explain the feeling of fear," John Forrest, 65, told CTVNews.ca. "He said there were butterflies in his stomach every time he went up."
"I think he spoke with his buddies about it, but they kept it amongst themselves," he added.
Decades after Karl Forrest died, John Forrest began looking into his father's past.
The crew that survived 30 missions in a Lancaster bomber is pictured is this undate photo. Karl Forrest, 19 at the time, is in the back row, third from the left. On his right is pilot John Musselman.
The retired elementary school principal said it was during a Remembrance Day service at school that he suddenly become more interested in learning of his father's military service.
In his early 40s at the time, Forrest reached out to military officials in Canada and London, England to track his father's service records. But it wasn't until Forrest, with the help of his son Rob, took his search online, that his investigation became fruitful.
"We found a website where the pilot's son, John Musselman, posted looking for crew members from his dad's crew. We connected and have stayed in touch since," Forrest said.
He eventually connected with the sons and grandson of three other crew members who survived 30 missions in the Lancaster -- nicknamed 'Roger Squared.'
Forrest says through his writing, he hopes to keep the memories of Canada's war veterans alive.
One of his stories, 'Good Show Roger Squared', was co-authored by Musselman and currently sits in the Bomber Command Memorial library in London, England.
"I loved running the Remembrance Day assemblies," he recalls of his teaching days. "The children always, always found a way to understand what was happening."
He says soldiers currently serving overseas face a different kind of war than his father did.
"I wouldn't say it was simpler -- it was just has horrible as the war is today -- but it was a little bit simpler in the sense that your enemy was clearly identified, and you were there to try and take down a regime, which was trying to conquer the world," he said.
John Forrest poses in front of a Lancaster bomber at the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum in Hamilton, Ont.
"The people fighting it now seem to have all enemies on all sides and it's also conflicting. People are wondering are we really trying to keep the peace or are we trying to be aggressive."
Forrest says he believes Canadians work hard to preserve the memories of veterans.
"We will continue to remember -- I'm sure we will," he said. "And I think the young people will pick up the torch and continue to carry it."
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