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John Napier-Hemy wrote the memoir: Evacuee: Growing Up in Victoria (Rutherford 2018) $26.99 978-1988-7393-4-2
Napier-Hemy was born in Esquimalt, B.C. in 1931. Prior to 1939, his family moved to a home in Reading, England, to find better work. When the war broke out, John's father sent the family back to the safety of Vancouver Island. They sailed on the Duchess of Athol bound for Halifax from Liverpool. John's mother made the voyage with John and her infant daughter Elizabeth safely across the U-boat infested Atlantic.
In September 1940, the trio crossed Canada by train and wound up living in the Admiral's House in Esquimalt with Uncle Roy (Commodore of the Pacific Fleet) and his family. John began attending Glenlyon School in Oak Bay where he learned how to become a Canadian all over again.
In 1942, the trio moved into a home of their own home in Oak Bay. Shortly thereafter they were joined by John's father who went immediately to work at Yarrows Shipyard.
In 1945 the War ended on the same year that John graduated from Glenlyon. From there John attended Oak Bay High, Victoria College and eventually UBC in Vancouver.
Professionally, John has been a teacher and, after further training, a psychotherapist working with troubled families in Vancouver.
[Photo caption: John Napier-Hemy standing in the Falmouth Art Museum in Cornwall beside a John Singer Sargent painting of his grandfather, marine artist Charles Napier-Hemy.]
[BCBW 2020]
Napier-Hemy was born in Esquimalt, B.C. in 1931. Prior to 1939, his family moved to a home in Reading, England, to find better work. When the war broke out, John's father sent the family back to the safety of Vancouver Island. They sailed on the Duchess of Athol bound for Halifax from Liverpool. John's mother made the voyage with John and her infant daughter Elizabeth safely across the U-boat infested Atlantic.
In September 1940, the trio crossed Canada by train and wound up living in the Admiral's House in Esquimalt with Uncle Roy (Commodore of the Pacific Fleet) and his family. John began attending Glenlyon School in Oak Bay where he learned how to become a Canadian all over again.
In 1942, the trio moved into a home of their own home in Oak Bay. Shortly thereafter they were joined by John's father who went immediately to work at Yarrows Shipyard.
In 1945 the War ended on the same year that John graduated from Glenlyon. From there John attended Oak Bay High, Victoria College and eventually UBC in Vancouver.
Professionally, John has been a teacher and, after further training, a psychotherapist working with troubled families in Vancouver.
[Photo caption: John Napier-Hemy standing in the Falmouth Art Museum in Cornwall beside a John Singer Sargent painting of his grandfather, marine artist Charles Napier-Hemy.]
[BCBW 2020]
