Charles ‘Gordon’ Erickson had already had a hard life when he enlisted in the Second World War.

Born on July 27, 1919, to Frank and Helen in Winnipeg, Erickson died at age 22 on Oct. 27, 1944, about three months after he was wounded, while serving in war-torn Europe with the Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders.

He and his sister, Nancy, were turned over for adoption and when that didn’t work out, were placed with the Children’s Aid Society in 1930.

Two years later, Erickson became a farmhand in the Manitoba community of Holland. He enlisted on Jan. 2, 1940.

He died while serving in the Netherlands and he is buried in the Canadian War Cemetery in Bergen Op Zoom, near where he was wounded.

There is no known photograph of Erickson — perhaps due to his childhood experiences — but a retired Du

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