St. Mike’s Remembers
At St. Michael’s, we remember the more than 150 students and graduates who sacrificed their lives in World War I, World War and the Korean War. Their names are permanently etched into the Soldiers’ Memorial Slype, the sandstone archway between Fisher House and More House., their names visible year-round as a lasting tribute to their courage and service.
On Remembrance Day, we invite members of the community to gather at the Slype for a memorial prayer service at 9:30 a.m. The occasion will be a time to reflect on the cost of the freedoms we enjoy today, to offer a prayer of remembrance for the lives lost to war, and to bless the wreath beneath the archway of the Queen’s Park Building (Fisher House and More House). Following the service, anyone wishing to attend the University of Toronto service at Soldiers’ Tower may leave as a group.
This year marks 80 years since St. Mike’s alumni Flying Officer Donal Kevin Joseph Hector and Lieutenant Francis Frank Wilfrid McGarry — two of the names that appear on the memorial — died in service to their country.
While at the University of Toronto, Donal Hector played hockey and lacrosse. He graduated in 1943 and enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force in May of that year. In January 1944, he received his wing and commission at Portage la Prairie, Manitoba. Overseas, he served as a flying officer and navigator of a Lancaster bomber. He was reported missing following a raid over Ruhr Valley in Germany (his sixth mission) and presumed dead on March 11, 1945, at the age of 24. He is buried in Reichswald Forest War Cemetery in Kleve, Germany.
Francis Frank Wilfrid McGarry graduated from the University of Toronto as part of the class of 1940 with a Bachelor of Arts and joined the Royal Canadian Naval in 1942. He served for a year at a base in Newfoundland before transferring to the Royal Navy’s Fleet Air Arm. After earning his pilot’s wing in December 1944, he was stationed for a short time at Somerset, England. He was killed in a flying accident over Northern Ireland on September 8, 1945, at the age of 26. He is buried in Ballycranbeg (Mount St. Joseph) Roman Catholic Churchyard in County Down, United Kingdom.
Members of the St. Michael’s community continue to experience the effects of war. Professor Jaroslav Skira, the Fr. Terrance Forestell, CSB, Dean of the Regis St. Michael’s Faculty of Theology, recently travelled to war-torn Ukraine to take part in an event organized by the Ukrainian Greco-Catholic Synod of Bishops. While there he was able to reconnect with family members. He shares this moving testimonial about what he witnessed. Read ‘InsightOut: I Went to a War Zone’.
