Bill Jepps is 100 years old. He drives his own car, lives in his own house, cooks his own food and loves to play crib. He’s also a Second World War veteran.
Born in Redland, Alta., Jepps enlisted in the Royal Canadian Navy when he was just 17 years old, in 1943. He was underage, so he had to get his parents’ permission.
“Dad said, ‘Well, I have one son in service and I don’t want another one.’ And I told him, I said, ‘When I’m 18 next year, I’m gonna join up anyway,’ so he might as well sign it. So, he did.”
Jepps now resides in Didsbury, Alta., where he is an active member of the community north of Calgary.
“He is quite a famous fixture in town here,” said Dawn Stewart, manager of the Didsbury Museum.
“He was the person who dropped the puck at the last hockey game. Today he was at Westglen [School] talking to the kids. He gives a talk on Remembrance Day. I mean, for a 100-year-old he’s really in excellent shape, and his mind is very, very sharp.”
The HMCS Glace Bay, whose company Jepps joined upon reaching the East Coast from Calgary, is pictured on the St. Lawrence River. (Submitted by Bill Jepps)
Soon after he enlisted, Jepps found himself on a troop train east, where he joined the company of the HMCS Glace Bay, a River-class frigate. Then, it was down to Bermuda for training exercises.
After falling ill during training, Jepps had to spend a little over a week at a Bermudian hospital, during which his ship left without him. Undeterred, Jepps caught a ride back to Newfoundland on a minesweeper, a journey he does not remember fondly: “It was just like a cork.”
Jepps felt he was back where he belonged when he was reunited with his company on the Glace Bay, a group of young sailors he describes as “one big happy family.”
“A lot of crazy things happened down on the seamen’s mess. It was a lot of fun,” recalls Jepps.
During Jepps’ two years of service aboard the Glace Bay, the frigate took part in four round-trip convoy journeys across the North Atlantic between Newfoundland and Londonderry, Northern Ireland, escorting ally ships and working to deter U-boat attacks.
Second World War veteran Bill Jepps on a train platform outside Calgary. Jepps was 17 years old at the time and had just enlisted in the Royal Canadian Navy. (Submitted by Bill Jepps)
Convoy escorts, sometimes grouping together over 100 ships at a time, were an intrinsic part of the Allies’ anti-submarine warfare; Jepps said that by the time he joined up, the frequency of attacks from German submarines had slowed.
“It was just easy pickings for the subs for a long time … but in my days it wasn’t too bad that they were there — they weren’t so aggressive,” said Jepps.
Still, Jepps said he and his fellow sailors were called to their action stations by alarm bells many times, most often in the middle of the night.
“You’re just out of your hammock, pull on your pants and what we call sea boots. And we had to go up two gangways — all steel — and out you go and help.”
Despite knowing, at some level, the threats of service, Jepps said he doesn’t remember feeling afraid. It also never quite struck him that he was taking part in such a pivotal moment in history; he was just obeying orders.
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“I never thought about it at all. It was just a bunch of young kids together,” said Jepps.
“I didn’t think about that until years and years later. In my time I would say it was just an adventure, and I think that’s the way the other young sailors thought too. They never thought they were going out to save the country … It was just the thing to do I guess.”
That sense of humility and optimism is something Jepps carries with him even now, says Stewart, especially in how he shows up for the town of Didsbury, which he has called home since the 1980s.
Whether it’s shovelling his neighbour’s driveway in the early morning hours or sharing a laugh with a visitor at the Didsbury Museum, Stewart describes Jepps as unstoppable.
“He’s got more friends than most people half his age. His 100th birthday was huge,” she said.
Having a veteran so visible in the town has helped younger generations meaningfully connect with the past, Stewart said. It’s also brought a new layer of meaning to the present.
“I suppose seeing somebody who’s lived a life like Bill, you always wonder what that secret is … I guess leading by example is the best way to have a positive impact on your community.”
Veteran banners hang in Didsbury, Alta. Since starting the project in 2019, the central Alberta town has inspired other communities across the province to start their own veteran banner program. (Dave Gilson/CBC)
The Didsbury Legion closed in 1995. Jepps was its last president.
Since then, the memory of those who served has been given new life through the town’s veteran banner project, which Stewart has been involved with since its inception in 2019.
Every year around Remembrance Day, banners of Didsbury and area veterans are hung on lampposts throughout the town. At the Didsbury Museum, visitors can read more about their histories, which have all been collected in a book.
Stewart said being able to link a person’s image to their service has brought the stories of many veterans to light.
“Kids will see one of the banners and they’ll be like, ‘Oh, that’s my great-grandpa!’ Or it’ll trigger a memory in them that, you know, their great-grandfather fought in the war or something like that. So there is a connection when they see those faces.”
In speaking about Remembrance Day, Jepps momentarily loses his positive visage, calling it the “saddest day” of the year.
For his Remembrance Day speeches, Jepps says he always tries to find a fitting poem.
He wants those who hear him speak to take away a message of peace. He wishes for wars in other parts of the world to end, and hopes, above all, that people hold a moment of silence for those who never came home.
“And I hope that they think about what they did for the country.”
