A 99-year-old Second World War veteran fated to spend Remembrance Day in a B.C. hospital alone will now honour the moment of silence with comrades by his bedside, after a rallying of support from fellow former veterans.
Irvin Radatzke, recovering in New Westminster’s Royal Columbian Hospital after a recent fall, will be joined by his grandchildren, great grandchildren, caregivers and members of the Canadian Forces as the clock strikes its eleventh hour this Nov. 11.
The day will be an event of commemoration and celebration, as Radatzke will turn 100 years old just two days after, on Nov. 13.
Dr. Greg Passey, a Vancouver psychiatrist who treats first responders suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, felt compelled to visit Radatzke after hearing from a friend working with the RCMP that the veteran would be spending Nov. 11 in hospital, alone.
“I just thought it was important for someone to go and spend time with Irving on Remembrance Day, and to honour him and his service, and everything that he’s done for his country,” he says.
Passey, who served in the Canadian Forces for 22 years, will join two other veterans in marking the moment of silence with Radatzke, a former infantryman, and hearing about his long and storied life. The three will have a birthday cake in tow, topped with a ‘100’ numbered candle and a poppy.
“We’ll do a toast to him, and just spend some time letting him know that he’s not forgotten,” he says, describing how Radatzke “lit up” when he heard the news he would be welcoming visitors to his bedside for the important day.
“He’s going to be smiling from ear to ear,” says Manon Boyle, Radatzke’s longtime carer and friend who helped gather the veteran’s family members for the event.
Boyle first met Radatzke in 2001 while the two were walking their dogs on the streets of New Westminster. The chance occurrence formed a long-lasting friendship, with Boyle supporting Radaizke through the loss of both his son and his wife—a fellow Canadian Armed Forces veteran who passed away in 2021.
“He’s been there helping me through turmoil in my life too, it’s just been a completely wonderful relationship,” she says, describing Radatzke as ”probably the sweetest man in the world.”
“He would just do anything for anybody, and I think he deserves gratitude. I think he deserves any honour that the military can give him,” she said.
Radatzke has both dementia and Alzheimer’s, and as a result has “good days and bad days,” she says. After the events of this week, she plans to take on the task of finding him a comfortable, supportive care home where he can happily live out the rest of his days.
It is a sad inevitability, says Boyle, that at some point over the coming years she will take on the more disheartening task of planning Radatzke’s celebration of life. It will be an undertaking, with even the largest of churches expected to be “overflowing” with people who have been touched in some way or another by the charismatic, soon-to-be centenarian.
She recalls a conversation she had recently with Passey on how they would manage to create an event of such a scale.
“Don’t worry about it,” he had told her. “The veterans will take care of that.”
