Steve Makarenko

Steve Makarenko was born on December 6, 1921 in Craigellachie, BC.  Steve married his sweetheart, Coral Fern Mary Lybarger on August 21, 1948.  They went on to have 7 children.

In 1942 Steve received his High School Diploma along with a great recommendation from his teacher. He was encouraged to make application to teach school, however, the war was in progress and this became a priority for Steve and his buddies. Steve and about half a dozen of the other grade 12 boys were determined that they would be conscripted, so they decided to apply for military duty. They heard stories about the miserable, gruelling army life, and reasoning that airmen had little choice of survival if a plane went down, Steve chose to go with the Navy. The boys scurried off to Edmonton to apply and were told the complement was full and to return in a month.

Back to farm life for Steve until he was recalled to H.M.C.S Nonsuch on December 18, 1942. Steve endured basic training in Edmonton and then was off to Esquimalt, BC. He was to go to  H.M.C.S.  Naden for further training with more drills, seamanship, and some gunnery. Near the end of his training, Steve choose a trade with an emphasis on Radar Operator, a new technology just evolving. He was shipped off to Halifax, NS to H.M.C.S. Cornwallis on May 18, 1943. Steve went on to fight for our country for the next 2 years, through extreme storms, and volatile battles; memories that as Steve shares, tears roll down his face.

I asked Steve, where he was when the war ended. His replied with tenderness, I was at a dance in Glasgow, and all of a sudden we heard a voice that came over the radio, “the war has ended”. So after a heartfelt battle of blood, sweat, and tears, Steve was discharged from the Naval Forces of Canada on October 19, 1945. Steve earned several medals throughout his career in the Military, but other than reading them in a book his wife had wrote, Steve never mentioned a word.

Thank you Steve Makarenko for your service to our country, thank you for our lives.