Remember Them: Alexander Kovar

Photo: Courtesy of Veterans Voices of Canada

Veteran Profile: Alexander Kovar

Alexander was born in Czechoslovakia in 1926, and immigrated to Canada in 1929. At 16, he enlisted in the Canadian Army, training in Dundurn, Sask., before being sent overseas with the 8th Canadian Reconnaissance Regiment of the 14th Canadian Hussars. He landed in Normandy only weeks after D-Day, and saw front-line action from France through to Germany.

“I walked in to the (recruiting) office and an old fella said, ‘Sonny, you better go back home, and grow a bit of a moustache if you can. Maybe try shaving a little bit every day.’ I did that, came back in a few weeks and he said, ‘Well, I’ll sign you up but you’ll probably be back here in a week.’ I was only 16.”

Alex was discharged in January 1946 and now lives in North Battleford, Sask.

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