 My name is Howard Anderson. My age is 83 years old, and I come from Gordon's First Nation. Can you please tell me your regiment on the town? I was in the Royal Canadian Army Service Corps, First Division, and I went into Second Corps after when I got old enough to be in the Army. How long were you in the Army? Five years. Were you engaged in active duty in battle or were you involved with peacekeeping? Yeah, I was in active duty. What was that experience like? It was something different, and there was a lot of good learning in it. For us people who went to residential school, we learned a lot of how to make a living for ourselves, a lot of us in the Army. What interest is you in joining the Army forces? Oh, Chief from the Reserve got about six other guys himself to join the Army, and they were doing that right in the little town upon which I was, the little town we live in, or go and shop in. So my cousin went, so I followed him. I was 16 years old at the time, so the guy said, you're too young to go anywhere. And the Chief said, oh, but he's strong. Oh, God, he took me right away. Nobody ever bothered me again. Where did you serve, and where did you go? I was overseas in France, Belgium, Holland, Germany. Did you live on the Reserve before you left? Oh, yeah. I lived on the Reserve. I lived in a residential school, really, because I was only out about six, seven or eight months, and I was in the Army. What was your report to France? It was quite different, you know, and it was a different life altogether. But you had to depend on the other veterans' soldiers to make sure that you made your way through. You weren't always alone. There was always other veterans around. In the sense of, as I say, learning. I learned how to look after myself and make my own way in the civilian life. I still don't know how to write, but things that I got, I was a stationary engineer, and I just talked, they asked me questions, and I answered them. And another guy wrote them down for me when I wrote it, when I answered them. So that's how I made it. I was just getting myself involved in stuff. What kind of benefits did you receive when you got back? Nothing. Very, very little. I got, I think a couple of thousand dollars. And then I got a quarter of a section around this. I got my dad's land that he got when he was in, when after he came back from the war. And we only had it for ten years. That's the, that's the, you know, so the kids had nothing. There was nothing left for anybody. That was the hard part of it. That's why I was Grand Chief, and I, we finally made, got a bit of money. But we had other people who got a lot more than we did, who were not veterans. What is the significance of First Nations people's involvement in war? The thing is you didn't have to, you didn't have to join. The First Nations people were never obligated to join in the war. Because it was our land and we didn't have to, we were not fighting with it. But a lot of us went in and, and I, I think it was a good serving purpose. Like our Chief was in the First World War. So he must have thought it was pretty good being the First World War. So he wanted to be in the Second World War. So he got a bunch of us to join. Like he never asked me because I was too young. But I snuck in with him anyway. Did any differently when you came back to Canada? Like when you were in uniform or you treated any different than if you were just in civilian clothes? Yep, we were treated like women. We couldn't go to the bar and drink. How did that make you feel? It was terrible, really. I was in, we done a November 11th deal in one of the little town that we lived here. And they went into the, the white guys all went to the bar and they made me come in. And they wouldn't serve me. So they all walked out and went to the next town down the road. And I got served there. So we were all right. But they all walked out to that little, that little bar and they wouldn't, they wouldn't, because they wouldn't serve me. What do you want the federal government to do to recognize veterans? I think they, I think something, they had something going. They were trying to work in the hundred thousand dollars, the progressive conservatives did. But the guy got beat and nothing ever happened about it. Nobody got anything, and neither did the women. See, the white women and the Métis women got about 70, 80 dollars a month when their husbands were overseas. And a lot of people don't realize that an Indian woman got 20 dollars a month. While their husbands were overseas. And it actually says in the archives that we've got, like I've got them at the house, that a woman, an Indian woman has no, doesn't know how to look after money. And that was the attitude they had. So they never got any money. Like I sent my mom 20 dollars a month out of my paycheck. But she never got any of it. Because my dad was getting a pension from the First World War. Memorial TV Committee? Pardon? Are you a member of the Veterans Memorial TV Committee? Yes, I am. What is the significance of the glass TV that they're making here? I think it's something that's good. I was hoping the names would go inside versus Scotsman. But I don't think, we have no control really of what the heck's going on with it. We're having meetings and they're just telling us nothing. And I'm very, it's very unfortunate. If the Veterans are having any say, who is, who has to say what's going on with the details? It seemed like it was before the university. The Veterans got the money, I got the money to do this thing. And they sent it to the university. They didn't want to send it to the FSIN. They didn't make a difference. It was used by somebody else anyway the first time. When the TV is completed, what do you hope this will bring for First Nations? What is the glass TV coming up? What does that mean to you? I'm hoping it'll mean a lot to all of us. And there are people who are not Veterans. I hope they come and be part of this. It's a university thing too, really born, you know. But the glass I think is going to be ideal to have there. And people can look inside. I mean, you're not going to be able to come in all the time. Because like it is now, the door will be locked, but everything is done. That's why I think they want to put the names outside so people can see them outside. Instead of having to come in. And the computer thing that they're putting up is going to be fabulous. The people are quite anxious to see it so they can tell lies about their family first.