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Garden stirs story of five lucky brothers

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Many seniors love their gardens. Angus McLennan shares his with the whole city — along with the tale of a lucky kid from London and his four brothers who all came back alive from the Second World War.

Ten years ago, the navy vet and his wife Mabe helped to fund the Veterans’ Garden in Victoria Park near the cenotaph.

His wife died soon after the garden was built, but McLennan is still in good shape and often makes the block-long walk from his apartment to sit by the garden.

It’s been 72 years since McLennan embarked on the adventure that took him on board a corvette near the shores of Juno Beach for the D-Day invasion.

“The water was covered with ships, the sky was filled with planes. It was mind-boggling. When the big ships fired their 15-inch guns, they would lift out of the water,” he said.

As a Free Press street vendor , he sold the edition that proclaimed that Canada was at war in 1939.

Four years later, he enlisted in the Canadian Navy even though he was under age at 17.

“I had a letter saying I was born in 1926 and I did a little jiggling to make it 1925,” said McLennan, still a bit nervous about admitting to the deception.

“I thought I would be able to put on the uniform and meet all the beautiful girls downtown.”

But within hours he was on a train to a base in Quebec City, stopping just long enough to let his mother know he had enlisted.

His brothers Jack, Ron and Norm also served in the navy and his oldest brother, Ken, was in the army. His brother-in-law was in the air force and was shot down, spending time in a prisoner-of-war camp.

All of the McLennans saw combat and all came back from the war. But he said the brothers missed out on growing up together. “We lost our bonding in the family. I was only 13 when the first two brothers left and I didn’t see them for five or six years.”

When McLennan came home he married, raised two daughters and had a long career running a series of businesses.

McLennan said he originally went to city hall to pay for a tree planting but jumped at the chance to contribute to the garden.

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