90-year-old man shares father's secret grief over Halifax Explosion
Arthur Moxon learned only after his father's 1953 death that he'd lost 4 kids and a wife in the explosion
Growing up, Arthur Moxon had no inkling of the tragedy his father suffered on Dec. 6, 1917. But he did know he dreaded visiting Halifax.
That morning, Fred Moxon, a locomotive engineer with Dominion Atlantic Railway, left Halifax by train for Kentville. It was his 27th birthday.
By the time he pulled into Windsor mid-trip, people were waiting on the platform to tell him that his wife, four children, parents and sister-in-law had been killed in the Halifax Explosion.
It's a story that Fred never revealed to Arthur, who was born 10 years later. While his father was alive, Arthur never knew about the family that had been lost.
"It was terrible for him to carry the load all by himself for so many years," Arthur said. "I would have gladly tried to help him, but that's the way it went."
After losing his wife and children, Fred remarried. Arthur and two siblings were raised in Annapolis Royal.
"We were a very happy family," Arthur said. "My father was a very kind, thoughtful person who spent a lot of time by himself."
His father was a quiet man who never sought sympathy.
It was only after his father's death in 1953 that Arthur's sister told him what had happened during the Halifax Explosion, a story confirmed by his mother. It was a "revelation."
His father had returned to Halifax to find his north-end home levelled, and his children — ranging in age from seven months to four years — killed, along with their mother. Just down the street, the house of Fred's parents had also been destroyed. They were killed, as was his sister-in-law, who lived nearby.
Fred, his three brothers and sister Lily survived the Halifax Explosion. Lily had been thrown from the porch of her parents' house. Her clothes were blown off by the force of the blast. One of her brothers found her and wrapped her in his jacket.
When Fred and his brother went to the morgue to retrieve their loved ones for burial, they found bodies burned beyond recognition.
"They eventually said, 'We need three female bodies, one adult male, four children's bodies,'" said Arthur.
"They needed to have bodies to bury to bring closure to this terrible tragedy. So this is why they, like many other people at the time, just identified some bodies to have buried. They were treated as though they were family members."
What was left of the Moxon family moved to Agricola Street following the explosion. A few weeks later, in January 1918, the Spanish flu struck Halifax and two of Fred's brothers died from the illness.
Arthur, now 90 years old, said in the years since his father died he's struggled to understand why he never talked about what he'd lost that day in 1917.
"I think he went through a terrible time most of his life," Arthur said. "I respected him a great deal more after learning that he carried this load by himself all those years."
One thing Arthur did know about his father was that he hated going to Halifax, which he had to do frequently as a train engineer.
"He always told me that every time he left the station with the train, he said a little prayer to the Lord — just to make sure his train got to the next station."