When? How old were you? Relating to the Past

Often as I hear these stories and work on putting them in order in a timeline (this is the linear thinker in me), it takes a bit more thought and my brain begins to focus on where those stories fit in that timeline.  For those of us who weren't there due to time or space, the list below might help in understanding that time and space:

1939 - 1945 World War II (the most widespread war in history)

1939: Philip Valentine King Tripe left his girlfriend Elizabeth Ann Rannie in Canada to join the Royal Air Force in England  

1940 (May): Elizabeth (19 years old and pregnant with Anne) left for Chester, England with her father by ship to marry Phil

1940 (July 29th): Anne Margaret Tripe was born in Chester, England

1945 (January 16th): Phil was shot down by friendly fire in As, Belgium - he was sent home to Canada shortly after

1945 (June): Elizabeth (pregnant with Robert) and daughter Anne sailed back to Canada

1945 (September): Robert Leslie King Tripe was born in Ottawa, Ontario

1947 (June): Louise Elizabeth King Tripe was born in Trenton, Ontario

1949 (November): Donald Philip King Tripe was born in Ottawa, Ontario

1953 (October): The Tripe Family returned to Chester, England as Phil was posted to Trier, Germany

1953 (December?): The Tripe Family moved to Echternach, Luxembourg (to be closer to Phil's post in Trier)

1954: At 13 years old, Anne met her new friends; Josee, Mely, Emelye and Jemp in Echternach (this blog focuses on that time in her life)

1954 (September): Gordon Peter King Tripe was born in Bitburg, Germany

1956 (October): The Tripe Family, including Phil, returned to Canada on the SS Homeric - Phil was 38, Elizabeth was 36, Anne was 16, Rob was 11, Louise was 9, Donald was 6, and Gordon was 2.

May 1940 Wedding!

(l-r - RAF Chaplain, Phil, Elizabeth, Aunt Hilda, Grandpa Rannie)





To Rob, Weese, Don and Gord: we may have a few details wrong here.  Our apologies.  Mom is sitting across from me writing a blog post about European appliances (you should see us try to figure them out) and I'm interrupting her with questions.  Please do comment and correct any errors you see here.

There, now I have my head wrapped around the early years and I hope this helps you!

June 28, 2013

I've been getting ready for a few months now to go back in time to visit people and places I haven't seen in (with one exception) 60 years. In 1953 my father, Phil Tripe, was posted to 4th ATAF in Trier, Germany. We left RCAF station Lac St. Denis, Quebec in October and sailed from Montreal to Liverpool. From there we went to Chester - where I was born. Mom, Robert, Louise, Donald and I stayed there while Dad went over to find us a place to live. There were no PMQs - Personnel Married Quarters - at the base in Trier. He, and 3 other officers, found a place in Echternach, Grand Duchy of Luxembourg about 20 minutes or so away. We lived in that beautiful little town for 3 years. I was 13 when I went there and 16 when I returned to Canada. They were 3 wonderful years and I made some good friends there, had many adventures and grew up.

Last year, I made contact with some of my old friends and decided to go on a trip to see them - as many as I could - and to see those places. I am also going back to As, Belgium for a visit with friends I made there in 2010 when my husband Bill and I visited the place where my Dad's Spitfire crashed and he was able to parachute out with a wounded arm and land behind the Hotel Mardaga. That story is told at the blog I created for his wartime experiences and our trip at .

This blog will be a record of this trip.