London, Ont., concert brings alive diary of WWII veteran who survived prison camp

Kenneth Irwin didn't share much with his family about the 11-month ordeal he suffered at a German prisoner-of-war camp during the Second World War.

"Our mother gave us snippets but it wasn't discussed freely. We didn't know much about it and quite frankly, my dad never talked about it...ever," Ken's son, Barry Irwin, told CBC News.

But Ken kept a log of his time as a Royal Canadian Air Forces (RCAF) flight officer and his incarceration at theStalag Luft 7in what's now Bkw, Poland, in a 150-page journal that his family learned of shortly before the London, Ont., resident died from cancer in 1976.

His memories will come to life at this year's Amabile Choirs London'sRemembrance Day concerton Nov. 11, when 86 boys and men will pay tribute to the war veteran using excerpts from his diary at the St. Peter's Cathedral Basilica.

"In those circumstances, being able to write this down was probably the only way he was able to process all this and put it together," said Carol Beynon, the choir's senior artistic director.

WWII prisoner of war's journal honoured by London choir

12 months ago

Duration 3:00

Kenneth Irwin's wartime log will come to life at this year's Amabile Choirs London's Remembrance Day concert on Nov. 11, 2023.

Ken, originally from Toronto, enlisted in RCAF at the age of 30 in 1942, as a bomb aimer. One evening, his plane was shot down by German fighters, so Ken and his comrades had to abandon the plane.

"He landed on a river bank about 68 kilometres from the Swiss border and as he was on his way there, he was captured and interrogated for a few weeks before he was sent to a camp. He was there through the summer, fall, and into the winter," said Beynon.

Around Easter in 1945, German forces moved prisoners to the Stalag Luft III in a "torture march" forcing them to walk 500 kilometres in -17 C with barely any clothing on. 75 prisoners of war were put in a box car with no air, no toilets, and left there for 72 hours, she added.

Ken was at the camp until it was liberated by Allied troops including Canadian, British, and American soldiers. He then returned home to his wife and son, Kenneth Jr, who was born while he was overseas.

'It was a living hell'

Watching his father be honoured through the concert will be a memorable moment for the Irwin family, said Ken's second son, Barry, who will lay a wreath at the end of the performance.

Irwin believes Ken didn't share wartime memories because of how traumatic they were.

"What he went through was near-death situations every day. It was a living hell," said Irwin. "He lost a lot of buddies who were his teammates and they trained together, so I think those memories were so deep and that's why we never knew about it."

Although he learned how mentally strong Ken was, what stood out to Irwin was the daily suffering of not knowing if his dad and his comrades would survive or not, he said.

"He would see his buddies falling by the wayside and there were times in that diary where he didn't think he was going to make it another step, that's how close he came to death," he said.

Jordan Campbell is playing Ken in Saturday's performance and said getting into character has been an "interesting experience."

"I keep having to remind myself this is the real experience of somebody and to imagine myself in that situation is difficult because it's so different from the lives we lead today," said Campbell.

It was an eye-opening experience for Campbell to learn how resilient and optimistic Ken was, he said.

"There may have been times when things were very dark and all hope seemed lost, but in his writings, it seemed like he was able to keep his hope alive that he would be able to break free and get home to see his family."

The choir's team hopes audiences can appreciate the bravery and sacrifices soldiers had to make for Canadians to live the free lives they do today, they said.