By Sheldon Spackman and Troy Gillard

Local WWII veteran honoured with Grey Cup visit

Sep 21, 2018 | 1:11 PM

“I’m honoured. You don’t expect things like this when you’re 95. You’re usually ready for the scrap heap or retirement,” Tom Baker said jokingly.

The WWII veteran was all smiles Friday morning when he received a special visit from the Grey Cup, escorted by current members of the Canadian Military, at the West Park Retirement Lodge where he lives.

“It’s quite a thing. It’s a symbol,” Baker said about the cup. “Little kids just die to get up and touch it, the big ones, too.”

Friday’s visit was part of the Calgary Military Family Resource Centre’s (MFRC) second annual Operation Tea Cup – an event celebrating the deep-rooted connection between the Canadian Forces and the Grey Cup.

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Gord Young with the MFRC says their mission is to help local communities support their local veterans and their families.

“We really want local people to take care of their local military. The biggest thing is knowing what resources are here,” Young explained, “and especially the military families. That’s really where we focus on.”

Though based in Calgary, Young points out the MFRC has a satellite office in Red Deer. Friday morning, they received a cheque for $20,000 from a fundraising golf tournament.

“The sponsors, even though the golf tournament was cancelled this year due to weather, said ‘keep the money.’ So I was really pleased,” he said glowingly while noting the money will allow them to hire their part-time Red Deer employee on a full-time basis.

“The most important thing is it was raised locally, by the local community, and the money that we raised here is actually staying here.”

“When you see people be so reactive and so pleased that they actually get to touch it… this is really a hands on experience and Jeff (McWhinnie, Keeper of the Grey Cup) is so full of stories. He knows everything about every person on the cup.”

“All these guys [veterans] have great stories and nobody ever asks them to tell those stories. So they get a chance now to talk about them. Some of the people here didn’t even know they even served. So it’s a great thing for the whole community.”

Operation Tea Cup refers to a game played between Canada and the United States during WWII in which Canada came away victorious.

Baker never played football himself, having entered the army as a teenager, but is a long-time Saskatchewan Roughriders fan.

He’s says he’s proud of the six years he served in the military, which included being part of the landing force at Dieppe on Aug. 19, 1942.

“It was quite a battle… You don’t really realize what you went through until it’s all over,” he remarked.

VIDEO — Operation Tea Cup 2017 (Rene Rondeau)