Nick Melnechuk in more recent times (left) and with the Lacombe Buffalos in the late 1940s. (Supplied)

By Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Lacombe WWII vet given 98th birthday surprise

Jul 25, 2020 | 1:30 PM

Born in 1922, Nick Melnechuk enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force and was in London when it was bombed by German Nazi forces.

A Saskatchewan boy, originally, Melnechuk served his country as a medic before returning home in 1946. He turned 98-years-young this week, but because of the global pandemic, a traditional celebration was out the window.

A much loved member of the Lacombe Legion Branch #79, Melnechuk’s friends decided to throw him a drive-by parade party, and Mayor Grant Creasey even joined in.

“It was very heartwarming. The Legion in Lacombe has amazing people, and my dad has supported them for as long as I can remember. They look after their own,” says Melnechuk’s son Tim. “My mother Thelma was born in 1928 in Drumheller, and then her family moved to Lacombe in 1929. My dad has had roots here since ’46 after the war, and is well-known in Lacombe. People love him. He’s supported Lacombe forever.”

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Thelma passed away from diabetes complications in early 2017, months ahead of the couple’s 70th wedding anniversary. Melnechuk has remained strong despite a recent dementia diagnosis.

“He’s led a pretty good life, and has been a very active Legion member. He sure was excited the other day,” adds Susan Churchill, the Legion’s archivist, who adds that she and her daughters have symbolically adopted Melnechuk as a second father. “He was on the executive for a long time, and he and his wife ran our bingos for years. Thelma was the love of his life and that’s what he always talks about.”

Tim notes another admirable thing his parents did was adopting him and his brother because they couldn’t have their own.

While in England, Tim tells, Melnechuk found a way to play hockey, at one point taking the ice with eventual Hockey Hall of Famer Gump Worsley and 1972 Summit Series participant Ron Ellis. Once in Lacombe, he joined the local Buffalos hockey club.

Nick Melnechuk is pictured here (front row, right end) with the Lacombe Buffalos sometime between 1946 and 1950. (Lacombe and District Historical Society)

“He was a pharmaceutical salesman, he sold life insurance and even sold candy for Nutty Club. My mom was a union cashier at a grocery store and when they retired, they spent 24 years snowbirding to Yuma, Arizona in the winter,” says Tim. “My dad was an avid golfer as well. He played golf until just a couple years ago. He survived five heart attacks, he’s had a couple strokes; he’s one tough little guy from a family of eight siblings.”

In 1998, Melnechuk won gold in golf at the Alberta Seniors Games in Three Hills.

“His was the greatest generation; as well as the people in the First World War. They gave their all, they fought for world peace. If they hadn’t fought like they did, I can’t imagine the world that we’d be living in now,” says Tim on continuing to acknowledge and honour the sacrifices of our veterans.

“I consider my father a true patriot even if he didn’t have a rifle in his hands and wasn’t on the front lines. He was there trying to put people back together so they could be taken home or get back out on the battlefield.”