WWII veterans reconnect over Skype after 70 years
Anjuli Patil | CBC News | Posted: May 4, 2015 10:12 AM | Last Updated: May 4, 2015
Larry Hartman and Alf Geldard served side-by-side aboard HMCS Sackville
The last time Larry Hartman saw Alf Geldard, they were serving side-by-side aboard HMCS Sackville during the Second World War.
Geldard was a coder who worked with Hartman on the corvette's wireless radio office.
More than 70 years later, the two logged on to Skype for a chat.
"You feeling alright?" asked 89-year-old Geldard from his son's home in London, Ont.
"Yes," said Hartman, 91.
"You don't look it," Geldard joked.
Then Geldard asked, "Do you still got your own teeth?"
The two friends lost touch after the war ended, but Hartman says he always wondered what happened to Geldard.The Vancouver veteran was in Halifax over the weekend for the Battle of the Atlantic anniversary.
Hartman mentioned Geldard in an interview with CBC News last week.
Geldard's sister, who lives in Dartmouth, called and helped reconnect the long-lost friends.
Face-to-face on Skype, Hartman asked Geldard if he remembered the time they had to brace against a wall because a German U-boat scraped its conning tower on HMCS Sackville's keel.
When Geldard was asked what he remembered about Hartman, he replied, "he was always falling asleep."
Hartman said seeing Geldard again made his trip.
"It brought back a lot of memories, of course, to see him again and I never thought I would meet any of the crew again."