Alex Polowin joined the Second World War at the age of 17, later returning to Ottawa and launching a career in the insurance business.
Polowin lied about his age to enlist in the Royal Canadian Navy, fought in the Battle of the Atlantic, served on the destroyer HMCS Huron, survived six perilous convoy journeys to Murmansk, Russia, and took part in D-Day.Sign up to receive daily headline news from the Ottawa SUN, a division of Postmedia Network Inc.By clicking on the sign up button you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc.
File photo: Alex Polowin joined the Second World War at 17 by lying about his age, served on HMCS Huron, survived six perilous convoy journeys to Murmansk, and took part in D-Day. He talked about the war to more than 200 audiences during his lifetime.“He was a friendly, down-to-earth guy,” said his son, Cary Polowin. “He got along with everybody, and he talked to everybody.”This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.Polowin died last month at the age of 97.
In Ottawa, his father, Ben, sold fruit and vegetables door-to-door and often brought his son with him since he was so good with people. “I’m a person who learned practically from infancy to get along with people,” he once said. “I learned to adjust to the people I’m speaking to rather than expecting them to adjust to me.”
File photo: Veteran Alex Polowin was greeted by Elsa Lessard at the Anniversary of the Battle of the Atlantic Ceremony in May 2018, at the National War Memorial.While just 17, he convinced his father — he couldn’t read or write in English — to sign a legal letter, attesting to a falsified birth date: April 15, 1924. He used the letter to enlist in the Royal Canadian Navy in the spring of 1942, believing the navy would get him into action before the army.
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