Meet Canada’s newest centenarian — and his 2 tips for longevity
Canada’s newest centenarian has two tips for longevity.
Russell Kaye, who will be 100 years old on Friday, says his first suggestion is to stay busy and avoid moping.
“If you wake up in the morning and want to go back to bed, that’s not going to work,” he says.
The other part of the equation, the resident of Riverview, N.B., acknowledges, is that he has had an abundance of luck.
Kaye was a gunner with Canada’s 12th Field Regiment during the Second World War. He was one of 133,000 Allied troops that stormed the beaches of Normandy on D-Day, June 6, 1944. This summer will mark the 80th anniversary of a day that left more than 4,400 Allied soldiers dead, including 381 Canadians.
Kaye had been placed with the Winnipeg Rifles for the landing at Juno Beach and remembers knowing he could die at any time.
“I almost felt like I was in a card game gambling with my life,” Kaye says. “I said to myself ‘If I step right, I could get killed, or if I step left, I could get killed’. Whatever I did, I made it. But it was a little tricky there for a few hours.”
Perhaps due to the trauma of that day, Kaye spent decades trying to forget what he lived through. His memories are vague of what is one of the most important days in Canadian military history. The Allied landing established a beachhead in Normandy and led to the liberation of Western Europe. Nazi Germany surrendered 11 months and one day later.
Kaye remembers little of what he did on Juno Beach. He says the troops simply did what they were supposed to do. Many had spent years in England preparing for the day.
“I think the training saved a lot of lives,” Kaye says. “You didn’t stop and think ‘what do I do now?’ We knew what to do next – keep going.”
One of the most vivid memories for
Read more on globalnews.ca
