Wally poked me with a sword

One of my fondest memories was when Wally and I were co-Parade Marshall’s in the Ancaster Heritage Parade in July of 2019. I dressed Wally in one of my War of 1812 uniforms, including a sword; he loved history. We were running late getting there, but the parade would not leave without us. As I tried to get through the massive crowd of people that were surrounding Wally, I suddenly felt a pain in my backside. I initially thought it was a hornet that stung me, but as I turned around, I saw Wally standing there, holding my sword. He had this familiar twinkle in his eye and childlike, devilish smile. He poked me with the sword! We had such a great time in the parade and laughed the whole way through! Oh, and he stuck me one more time before the day was over, so I confiscated his sword.

I've known Wally for over 40 years. We shared 100's of events together in addition to just the two of us being alone talking. The last time I saw Wally was when in Oct. 2019 he was presented with the SPK Polish Gold Cross. I lobbied for the medal and the Polish Combatant's agreed to have Wally receive it, not just for Wally but his Polish family that endured hardships during WW1 and WW2. I had the honour of introducing my friend to a large crowd, the Polish Ambassador pinned it on Wally next to Wally's dad's medals from WW1. I will miss him dearly.