George and Geoffrey B.S. Johnston

After completing High School and not able to find steady employment in Scotland, my parents advised me to emigrate to Canada. I gave the matter much thought and tried to persuade my best friend to come with me. His parents would not agree to let him go, so it was off to Canada by myself. I left my home town of Kirkcaldy, Fife on April 5, 1952 by train to Southampton, accompanied by my Mother who would see me off on the ship to Halifax, Canada. I was not to see my mother for three years. (Then I would return for a vacation home). When we arrived from the train dockside in Southampton, we discovered the SS Canberra ( the ship I was to sail on) was involved in a collision with another ship in the English Channel. The ship would be laid up at dockside for three days, for repairs to a large hole in her bow. I was a teary eyed young boy when I waved my Mother goodbye from the stern of the ship on April 9, 1952, the parting was just as difficult for my Mother. The second day out to sea the weather turned for the worse. Waves were breaking over the bow of the ship and 80% of the passengers were sea sick, including myself. It took me three days to recover and venture back into the dining room for some food. I shared a cabin with three other males, an Irishman, Englishman and a Russian. One evening the Russian and the Irishman got into a heated argument, the Irishman then pulled out a hand gun from his suitcase and told the Russian he was going to shoot him. The Russian took off down the passageway with the Irishman in hot pursuit. I never did see them the rest of the voyage. I assumed they were both locked up in the brig. As we approached the coast of Canada the seas had calmed and the ship had slowed some. I could see a few large icebergs in the distance, but no land yet. The excitement began to build when I finally sighted land and sailed into Halifax harbour. I immediately sent a telegram to my parents stating "ARRIVED SAFELY IN CANADA".

I arrived on the docks of Halifax eight days before my seventeenth birthday. With my luggage, ten dollars, a train ticket to Saskatoon via Montreal and meal vouchers for the journey. My parents had befriended a young Canadian soldier in Scotland during the second world war so I was to live with his family in Saskatoon. There were hundreds of people at pier 21. I sat there on my luggage and thought what have I got myself into, I thought it was going to be one big adventure. The thought of being away from home and all alone suddenly hit me. I must have looked so forlorn as an emigration officer came over to me, put his arm around me and said "Come on over here and tell me where you are from". He stayed with me all the way through customs and on to the train with some friendly advice, "Work hard son and you will do well in Canada". I never did find out who he was, but took his advice. The train journey seemed never ending. There was still lots of snow and thick ice on some of the northern lakes and parts of the countryside. It was a four day journey by train to Saskatoon from Halifax, Nova Scotia. I thought I would never get to my destination.

I was welcomed at the station in Saskatoon by my new found family and stayed with them for a year. I got a job in a lumber mill on the third day of my arrival in Saskatoon. My Father arrived three months later in July. He managed to find work in the lumber mill with me. Father stayed only one year in Canada, then returned to Scotland. After my Father left I had trouble adjusting to my new life in Canada so I decided a change of scenery was in order and decided to seek my fortune in the big city of Toronto,Ontario. I got employment with Canadian General Electric as a maintenance mechanic on high speed automatic machinery. Met new friends, got married and settled down, had no family of my own. Got divorced after twelve years of marriage. I stayed with General Electric for 17 years, until the plant closed down. Two weeks later I landed a job with Brewers Retail driving truck. Got remarried four years later in 1973 and we had one son (Gregory) in 1975 and one daughter Beverley) in 1977. I stayed with Brewers Retail for 25 years then took early retirement in 1995. My life's journey has been a good one in Canada.

"THANK YOU FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART CANADA".

Sincerely Geoffrey B.S. Johnston