Wait for Me, Daddy
{{Short description|1940 photograph by Claude P. Dettloff}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2024}}
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File:British Columbia Regiment 1940.jpg|alt=soldiers marching down a street with a boy reaching for one of them]]
Wait for Me, Daddy is a photo taken by Claude P. Dettloff on October 1, 1940, of the British Columbia Regiment (Duke of Connaught's Own Rifles) marching down Eighth Street at the Columbia Street intersection, New Westminster, British Columbia. While Dettloff was taking the photo, Warren "Whitey" Bernard broke away from his mother to his father, Private Jack Bernard. The picture received extensive exposure, with widespread circulation through magazines such as Life and Time, and was used in war-bond drives.{{cite web |last=Davis |first=Chuck |year=2010 |title=Wait For Me, Daddy |url=http://www.vancouverhistory.ca/archives_daddy.htm |access-date=September 5, 2010 |publisher=The History of Metropolitan Vancouver |quote=}}
Background
On August 26, 1939, Hitler was threatening Poland and demanding Danzig. At 4:15 that morning the regimental adjutant in British Columbia, Canada, received a call from Ottawa instructing him to call out the British Columbia Regiment.{{cite web |year=2010 |url=http://www.bcregiment.com/bcr_history_ww2.htm |title=The Second World War 1939 – 1945 |publisher=The British Columbia Regiment (Duke of Connaught's Own Rifles) |access-date=September 5, 2010 }} Soldiers fanned out in the city to guard vulnerable points. On September 10, 1939, Canada declared war against the German Reich, which had invaded Poland on the first of the month. While other units were sent to the United Kingdom, the British Columbia Regiment was left behind on the west coast. After months of drills and guard duty the regiment was ordered out and on October 1, 1940, marched to New Westminster to board a waiting ship, the SS Princess Joan,LeBlanc, Ron, Keith Maxwell, Dwayne Snow and Kelly Deschênes, Swift & Strong: A Pictorial History of The British Columbia Regiment (Duke of Connaught's Own), Vancouver: The British Columbia Regiment (Duke of Connaught's Own) Museum Society, 2011, page 159. to their secret destination.{{cite web |date=July 7, 2010 |url=http://www.famouspictures.org/wait-for-me-daddy/ |title=Wait for me, Daddy |publisher=Famous Pictures |access-date=September 5, 2012 |last=Lucas |first=Dean }}
Photograph
Coming down Eighth Street in New Westminster, Canadian photographer Claude P. Dettloff of The Province newspaper positioned himself to photograph the whole column marching down the hill. As he was getting ready to take the picture, he saw a young boy run out onto the road; Wait for Me, Daddy captures the image of the boy, five-year-old Warren "Whitey" Bernard, running out of his mother's grasp to his father.
Aftermath
The secret destination turned out to be Nanaimo on Vancouver Island, only three hours away. Later, after years of training, the regiment converted from infantry to armour and was sent to France and the Netherlands; it returned home at war's end. When Jack Bernard returned home, Dettloff was on hand to photograph the family's reunion. Jack and Bernice Bernard eventually divorced.{{cite web |year=2010 |url=http://www2.canada.com/vancouversun/features/bc150ed/war.html |title=The British Columbia Regiment (Duke of Connaught's Own Rifles), Eighth Street at Columbia Avenue |publisher=Canada.com |work=Vancouver Sun |access-date=September 5, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090727073216/http://www2.canada.com/vancouversun/features/bc150ed/war.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=July 27, 2009 }}
File:Wait for Me, Daddy Statue.jpg
The City of New Westminster commissioned a bronze statue honouring the photo to be placed at the bottom of 8th Street, in Hyack Square, to the artistic couple Veronica and Edwin Dam de Nogales. The city unveiled the statue on October 4, 2014. At the same event, the Royal Canadian Mint announced the issue of a series of three coins featuring a scene adapted from the image: it was released in denominations of $2 (alloy), $3 ({{convert|1/4|ozt|g|disp=sqbr}} silver) and $10 ({{convert|1/2|ozt|g|disp=sqbr}} silver).{{cite news |last1=Unser |first1=Mike |title=Canadian 2014 $2 Wait For Me, Daddy Circulation Coin Released |url=http://www.coinnews.net/2014/10/06/canadian-2014-2-wait-for-me-daddy-circulation-coin-released/ |access-date=February 13, 2015 |work=CoinNews.Net |publisher=CoinNews Media Group LLC |date=October 6, 2014 }}
Canada Post also issued a stamp featuring the iconic image.{{cite news |last1=Tahirali |first1=Jesse |title='Wait for me, Daddy' photo immortalized in bronze |url=http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/wait-for-me-daddy-photo-immortalized-in-bronze-1.2039896 |access-date=February 13, 2015 |agency=CTVNews.ca |publisher=Bell Media |date=October 4, 2014 }}
A re-enactment of the soldiers' march was planned for March 2015, to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of the Second World War.{{cite web |title=Iconic WWII photo to be immortalized in sculpture |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/iconic-ww-ii-photo-to-be-immortalized-in-sculpture-1.1405711?cmp=rss |work=CBC News |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130726171652/http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2013/07/23/bc-wait-for-me-daddy.html?cmp=rss |archive-date=July 26, 2013 |url-status=live |access-date=July 23, 2013 }}
Other stories
Detloff unwittingly captured a lesser known story in this photograph, though no less characteristic of wartime Canada. On the left-hand side of the photograph, the second woman behind "Whitey's" mother (wearing a dark long coat, necklace, and staring directly toward the camera) is Agnes Confortin (née Power) who had accompanied her friend Phyllis Daem that day to see the young men of New Westminster off. Even with the limited resolution of the photo, Agnes' somber expression reflects her concern for her two brothers, Wilfred and Larry Power, who had already enlisted in the North Nova Scotia Highlanders.{{Cite web |last=Canada |first=Veterans Affairs |date=February 20, 2019 |title=Wilfred Joseph Power - The Canadian Virtual War Memorial - Veterans Affairs Canada |url=https://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/memorials/canadian-virtual-war-memorial/detail/2232456?Wilfred%20Joseph%20Power |access-date=June 10, 2022 |website=www.veterans.gc.ca }} Larry returned to Canada in 1944 with severe post-traumatic stress disorder. Wilfred was killed in action in March 1945 near Arnhem as part of Canadian Forces preparation for the Liberation of Arnhem in April 1945.{{cite web |title=Second World War Service Files: Canadian Armed Forces War Dead |url=http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/databases/war-dead/001056-119.01-e.php?&id_nbr=28963&interval=20&&PHPSESSID=57jr0lkopid70pu5ip7ge38k46 |work=Library and Archives Canada |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140303175107/http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/databases/war-dead/001056-119.01-e.php?&id_nbr=28963&interval=20&&PHPSESSID=57jr0lkopid70pu5ip7ge38k46 |archive-date=March 3, 2014 |url-status=dead |access-date=February 27, 2014 }}
References
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External links
- [https://maps.google.com/maps?q=49.20122,-122.911579&ie=UTF8&layer=c&cbll=49.201234,-122.911557&panoid=monH9iUqz4lKQG-2QcnpXA&cbp=12,342.56,,0,9.22&ll=49.201315,-122.910879&spn=0.001567,0.002575&z=19 Google Street View of photo's location]
- [https://www.famouspictures.org/wait-for-me-daddy/ "Famous Pictures" summary]
- [https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/iconic-wait-for-me-daddy-ww-ii-photo-unveiled-as-sculpture-1.2777955 Sculpture unveiled]
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Category:Black-and-white photographs
Category:World War II photographs
Category:Military history of Canada during World War II
Category:History of New Westminster
Category:1940 in British Columbia
Category:Photography in Canada
Category:British Columbia Regiment (Duke of Connaught's Own)