'It's one of those stories fit for a movie': N.S. brothers reunited during Second World War

The Paris siblings of Windsor, N.S., sit around the table at the local Royal Canadian Legion ahead of Remembrance Day, drinking sodas and reminiscing about their late father and beloved Uncle Junior.

It’s a place where John “Buster” Paris spent a lot of time.

"Dad was a Legion man. This was his second home," says son Mike Paris.

Almost 90 years ago, Buster Paris was a soldier in the 87th Battery, 3rd Medium Regiment, fighting his way across Europe.

He was wounded four days after D-Day, and then again during the Liberation of Holland.

John “Buster” Paris is pictured. (Source: CTV News Atlantic/Jayson Baxter)His son Percy Paris, a former Nova Scotia cabinet minister, does not know much about his father’s wounds because, like so many veterans, he did not want to talk about the war.

But he did tell Percy one injury was a shrapnel wound from a bomb.

"Medicine was not like it is today.” says Paris with a laugh. “Dad said they gave him a pat on the ass and said get back out there again."

Back home in Windsor, then 14-year-old Percy “Junior” Jackson missed his big brother terribly.

“He worshipped the ground he walked on," says Percy Paris.

So much so that Junior lied about his age and tried to enlist at 14, but was denied.

Two years later, he had better luck, lying about his age at the Halifax recruiting office and joining the fray as a reinforcement with the North Nova Scotia Highlanders, who made the 16-year-old a Section Leader.

Jackson shipped off to Europe around Christmas 1944, which did not sit well with his mother, who contacted the Canadian Armed Forces.

"You already have one of my sons over there,” she told Army brass, according to Percy, “And this one is underage, so if anything happens to him you’ll have to deal with more than just me!”

It worked.

Junior was pulled off the front lines and assigned to a chaplain, work which could be its own kind of horror.

"He’s 16 years of age, holding someone's hand, trying to comfort him as he dies," says Percy.

Percy “Junior” Jackson is pictured. (Source: CTV News Atlantic/Jayson Baxter)Finally, after the Nazis surrendered in May 1945, Junior finally tracked Buster down.

They were both stationed in Holland.

According to Percy, his father did a double-take. “He turned around and said... what the hell are you doing here?!"

Both brothers survived the war, but Junior never left the service. The father of five stayed with the Army Reserves until his retirement in 1976.

Faye Paris remembers her uncle, who passed away last year at age 95.

She says he “spoiled me because I was the only girl.”

Buster Paris retuned home to Windsor after the war, where he worked at the post office and raised seven kids with his wife Annie May.

He became a fixture in the local baseball scene as a coach and player, and was so talented the Brooklyn Dodgers offered him a tryout.

"He knew everybody in town and everybody knew him," Faye says.

Each Remembrance Day he'd pin the medals on his blue blazer and lay a wreath at the local cenotaph with his comrades.

“Dad wasn't a very tall man,” says Percy Paris, “but those days he stood six-foot-six." 

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