I was going to submit a layout I created in the past using one of theStudio's collaborative kits from the early days, when it was Stone Accents Studio (if interested, you can view that layout here), but decided instead to create this new one. To be honest, I'm not sure which I like better. ;-)
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Background is a fusion of 2 papers by Cathy Ann Designs (Sonata kit)
Painted Edge created using FotoFusion (my preferred software for creating digital scrapbook layouts)
The following from from the Designer Survivor Contest Collaborative kit 'Keep Holding On'
-Hooked Ribbon and Camoflague Button by Simply Shelly
-Hero tag by Jacabean Designs
-Ship Shape by Charm City Scraps
Journaling Text is Myriad Condensed Web and reads as follows:
Britain declared war on Germany on September 3, 1939 and the very next day, my father and many of his friends enlisted in The Royal Canadian Army. My Dad was just 19 years old. He served for the duration of WWII - a full 6 years - receiving his liberation from the army on October 18, 1945, at the age of 25.

I have, among my possessions, a number of the letters my father wrote to his mother and father during the first 3 years of the war, a few photographs, his medals and some notes he wrote before he passed away in 1990. These are not enough to really grasp what the impact of these years in war, away from home, the years in which he became a man but I sometimes wonder about the intensity of emotions for all who lived and endured the hardships of those times... he often wrote about missing home and how he'd give anything (all his teeth) to be able to return to his home; he asked his mother to send him civies (civilian clothes) because "..imagine yourself how it is to wear the very same uniform for three years, so in order to get real comfort, during leaves, it takes civilian clothes." In one letter he writes, "The other night I was on Anti Aircraft duty, and during my shift I heard a plane coming back from France (Bomber) all searchlights lit up and tried to get it in their beams, the next thing I heard was an explosion, the Bomber crashed, it was damaged over occupied France, fortunately the Pilots and gunners were saved, at first I thought it was a [incendiary] bomb, -- -- some noise it made. A few days ago, a German Fighter flew over the town and machine gunned the streets - no one was hurt. - I saw when I happened to look out my window --- once in a while a lone raider might come around, but no damage is ever done."

The photographs on this page are of my father very near the beginning of his years of service (1939) and another when he returned home (1945). What a relief for my grandparents, and a feeling of elation it must have been for my father to finally have the war over and to be home again!

The other items on this page are a sample of one letter my father wrote to his mother and father, the telegram sent to my grandparents letting them know their son was wounded in action and my father's Certificate of Liberation. Also here are my father's Corporal stripes, his regiment patch and his medals bar (he received the Defense Medal, Canadian Volunteer Medal, War Medal 1939-45, The Italy Star and The 1939-45 Star).