{"id":6409,"date":"2020-11-13T19:55:09","date_gmt":"2020-11-14T00:55:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=6409"},"modified":"2020-11-13T19:59:37","modified_gmt":"2020-11-14T00:59:37","slug":"episode-166-victor-poppa-reconsidered-nov-13-2020-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=6409","title":{"rendered":"EPISODE 166 VICTOR POPPA RECONSIDERED NOV. 13, 2020 (Part 1)"},"content":{"rendered":"
EPISODE 166    VICTOR POPPA RECONSIDERED<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
alan skeoch<\/div>\n
Nov 13, 2020<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
VICTOR POPPA is a familiar name to some of you.  To others, Victor Poppa is a stranger.<\/div>\n
In the next Five episodes I will re-tell  his story and then tie the story fragments together<\/div>\n
using two startling events that came to me via the Internet. <\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
 One story came from Belgium<\/div>\n
where I was  surprised to find out that the crash of HX 313, The Blonde Bomber, has been<\/div>\n
recently memorialized.   HX 313 was a Halifax Bomber crewed by Canadians as  part of Bomber <\/div>\n
Command in World War II.  Victor was the Tail<\/div>\n
gunner.  The mid upper gunner was my cousin George Freeman, a young  man I would<\/div>\n
never meet. He was killed  in the crash on the evening of May 27, 1944.  Up until his<\/div>\n
death he and Victor tried to cram a lifetime into a few months for they were both sure<\/div>\n
they would soon be dead.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
The second story arrived in my email yesterday,  Nov 12, 2020. A note sent to me by<\/div>\n
Victor Poppa\u2019s grandson, ADAM GARNIER, born in 1982 and fascinated  by the fragments of<\/div>\n
Victors life he was able to assemble. Victor was never boring.  Adam was two years old<\/div>\n
when Victor wrote his journal.  Now he is trying to piece his grandfathers life together.<\/div>\n
It is  one massive jigsaw puzzle.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Victor Poppa lived his life intensely.  He was a gregarious person full of piss and vinegar.<\/div>\n
His life was one long adventure.  His war years diary was sent to me 40 years ago\u2026amusing, <\/div>\n
profane,  terrifying, earthy, freewheeling.   For some reason I decided to transcribe his<\/div>\n
diary in the fall of 2019.   Several months before our world  was turned upside down<\/div>\n
by the Covid 19 Pandemic.  <\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
NOTE:  Victor\u2019s story was the beginning of a whole series  of  diverse stories sent to friends at <\/div>\n
the rate of one story every day beginning when we all went into semi and total isolation<\/div>\n
lest the virus kill us.  Victors Story was not initially numbered but is now numbered<\/div>\n
Episodes 166, 167, 168, 169, 170.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
To understand the life of  Victor Poppa I suggest you read my beginning Episode #166<\/div>\n
which is included  below.  If you have already read these stories you might enjoy<\/div>\n
re-reading them.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
alan skeoch<\/div>\n
Nov. 13,2020<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
\n

<\/p>\n
\n
Begin forwarded message:<\/div>\n


<\/p>\n

From: <\/b><\/span>SKEOCH <alan.skeoch@rogers.com<\/a><\/a>>
<\/span><\/div>\n
Subject: <\/b><\/span>PART 1: VICTOR POPPA STORY…YOU WILL LAUGH, CRY OR BE OFFENDED<\/b>
<\/span><\/div>\n
Date: <\/b><\/span>October 25, 2019 at 2:49:39 PM EDT
<\/span><\/div>\n
To: <\/b><\/span>Marjorie Skeoch <marjorieskeoch@gmail.com<\/a><\/a>>
<\/span><\/div>\n


<\/p>\n

\n




<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n

\"\"<\/a>
\ndefault icon5faf2bd6eccb7<\/a>
\ndefault icon5faf2bd860e5e<\/a>
\n\"\"<\/a>
\ndefault icon5faf2bd9d93fe<\/a>
\n\"\"<\/a>
\ndefault icon5faf2bdb5d981<\/a>
\n\"\"<\/a>
\ndefault icon5faf2bdcd88ae<\/a>
\n\"\"<\/a>
\ndefault icon5faf2bde65208<\/a>
\n\"\"<\/a>
\ndefault icon5faf2bdfebccc<\/a>
\n\"\"<\/a>
\ndefault icon5faf2be17dd33<\/a>
\n\"\"<\/a>
\ndefault icon5faf2be30997a<\/a>
\n\"\"<\/a>
\ndefault icon5faf2be48fca1<\/a>
\n\"\"<\/a>
\ndefault icon5faf2be61ea96<\/a>
\n\"\"<\/a>
\ndefault icon5faf2be7a114f<\/a>
\n\"\"<\/a>
\ndefault icon5faf2be9358c3<\/a>
\n\"\"<\/a>
\ndefault icon5faf2beab21a9<\/a>
\n\"\"<\/a>
\ndefault icon5faf2bec3977c<\/a>
\n\"\"<\/a>
\ndefault icon5faf2bedb13a7<\/a>
\n\"\"<\/a>
\ndefault icon5faf2bef32a33<\/a>
\ndefault icon5faf2bf096efa<\/a>
\n\"\"<\/a>
\ndefault icon5faf2bf218f54<\/a>
\n\"\"<\/a>
\ndefault icon5faf2bf391c7e<\/a>
\n\"\"<\/a>
\ndefault icon5faf2bf517f90<\/a>
\n\"\"<\/a>
\ndefault icon5faf2bf68fb18<\/a>
\n\"\"<\/a>
\ndefault icon5faf2bf81299c<\/a>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

EPISODE 166    VICTOR POPPA RECONSIDERED alan skeoch Nov 13, 2020 VICTOR POPPA is a familiar name to some of you.  To others, Victor Poppa is a stranger. In the next Five episodes I will re-tell  his story and then tie the story fragments together using two startling events that came to me via the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6409","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6409","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6409"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6409\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6409"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6409"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6409"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}