It was a devastating time for the Murphy family of Glace Bay when four brothers went to war.
“Only two came home,” said Cathy Murphy MacDonald of Port Hawkesbury, a niece of the brothers.
“I can't imagine how hard that was on the family, but they were not alone. So many families had their children fighting in the war.”
MacDonald said her paternal grandparents were James and Mary Murphy from the Stirling area of Glace Bay. There were six girls and six boys in the family. MacDonald’s father Jimmy was the youngest and around eight years old when his brothers went overseas, and along with the eldest brother Bernie, did not serve during the war.
“Bernie didn’t have to go as he was a father with kids, it never got to that point,” she said. “I think they were calling all the single men first.”
John, Bill and David went overseas first — John in the army, Bill with a tank crew and David flew on a Lancaster bomber with the air force. Colin, also in the army, soon followed his brothers overseas.
Colin searched for a job in Glace Bay hoping he would be able to avoid the war.
“He had already seen three of his brothers go to war and how it had affected his parents,” MacDonald said. “He ended up getting drafted anyway.”
MacDonald said her father remembered when you would see the boy from the telegraph office and the local clergyman walk down the street together, you stopped and watched.
“You hoped they would walk past your house,” she said. “Many times they did but there were two times that they did not.”
The letter
Colin Murphy was killed in action on May 24, 1944 near Cassino, Italy. He was in the same unit as his brother John.
His brother's death prompted David to write a letter which he gave to another soldier to mail to his parents if he was killed or was missing in action.
A section of the letter read, “This is a letter which I had hoped you would never have to receive, but this war is a game in which we must be prepared at all times to face our maker. By now you will have received word that I am “missing” or have been “killed on active service.” If the report says “missing” there is still hope and, please God, I’m still well. As you can see, I’ve merely written this letter “in case,” not in anticipation.”
David was killed during a bombing raid on the Donges oil depot near Saint-Nazaire, France, on July 25, 1944. His Lancaster was shot down and he was reported missing. His body eventually washed ashore and was found by residents of a small village several kilometres away.
“Those citizens quite respectfully laid our uncle’s remains to rest in their small community cemetery,” MacDonald said.
Never forgotten
Growing up MacDonald said it wasn’t just Remembrance Day when the family would talk around their deceased brothers. It was year-round.
“They would all constantly be spoken about in our home,” she said. “Whenever it came up we’d talk about them. We always knew them really.”
One of her father’s sisters, Mary, who was a pre-teen during the war years, told MacDonald that although the family knew Colin and David were dead, it didn't really hit them until the surviving brothers returned without their siblings.
In July 2017, MacDonald travelled to Europe with other family members and they visited Colin’s grave in Cassino and then went to France where they visited Vimy Ridge and spent time near Juno Beach. On July 25, the 73rd anniversary of David’s death, they travelled to Saint-Nazaire and visited his gravesite in Montoir-de-Bretagne where they were joined by people from the town.
“I did not expect it to be so emotional for me but it was.”
MacDonald’s father Jimmy died in 2014. His stories and the letters handed down through the family continue to keep her uncles memories alive.
“We always remember, not just on Nov. 11.”
