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From: "Veronica Higginbotham" <vhigginbotham2@...>

Hello,
Thanks very much for your quick reply.

I live in Toronto Canada.

I came here with my family from England.

Both my parents were deported as small children from different places in
Wolyn.

My father became a "junek', a child soldier.

My Grandfather died in Uzbekhistan.

Mother, her sister, little brother and my Grandmother spent the remainder of
the war in Africa. Her two teenage brothers went to fight at Monte Cassino.

Fathers' mother and sister went to India, while he, his Father and two young
brothers went to Palestine.

After the war they went to England where they faced new and difficult
challenges, including discrimination. They also had to sustain denial of the
horrors that they had endured.

This kind of trauma is shared by the children of the deported. Scattered
around the globe, we have all heard the agonizing memories of unbearable loss
and survival in the face of soul destroyng brutality.

I believe that it is a necessary part of the healing process to remember these
tragic events and honour those that so bravely survived them.

We must not allow this to be forgotten, painful as it is to open one's heart.

We must continue to speak of it and gather the memories not just for the sake
of dear family and friends, but for ourselves. For the suffering witnessed
first hand is also borne by the next and future generations, deeply held as
survivor guilt.

The truth of those events must known, the stories shared, over and over if
necessary.

I deeply appreciate the opportunity to be part of this very special group.

I am certain that everyone knows from experience exactly how I, my parents and
my three sisters and brother feel.

Again, thank you.