'Dad would be proud': Four brothers follow in their father's footsteps by joining military

First at Five: The Call of Duty First at Five looks at the unwavering dedication and service of the Depuis family.

Paul Dupuis served in the military for 49 years.

“I started with the Cadet Corps, I lied about my age to get into the reserves. I did two tours in Germany in the Cold War. I’ve been stationed all over the place, thank God I have a loving wife. Fifty-four years and we’re still together,” he said.

He then went on to teach for 10 years at the Combat Information Centre (CIC) and is now a service officer, acting as a liaison between veterans and Veterans Affairs Canada.

“A service officer is the one that does all the research for veterans for Veterans Affairs so that they can have a better life. I do homeless vets, I do Aboriginal people, and I love what I do,” he said.

“They say a solider retires, he doesn’t retire, he only changes uniforms.”

Paul isn’t the only Dupuis member to serve his country. He followed in his father’s footsteps along with his three other brothers.

“My dad was in service, matter of fact he worked for the railway, and he went to Fredericton, and he was involved in basic training there,” said Robert Dupuis, the Branch 6 president.

“After the war, he decided he would go with the reserves and that was an incentive for the oldest boy to go and then my brother Frank and myself and Paul, when we came of age, we went in.”

Robert also has a history similar to his brother and father.

“I was in the cubs, scouts, cadets, reserves and I stayed in the reserves, but I took my apprentice with the railways. So, the reserves was part time, but it was a good experience,” he said.

“It was a challenge and mom had four boys and she knew what to do with them.”

He has been the president of Branch 6 for the last 11 years now.

“It was just a good thing to do in our minds. That’s all. No more than that. Dad was involved with the military, he involved us in it and we carried on,” he said.

All four brothers joined the military with one going on to join the RCMP. Paul was so eager to join, he lied about his age in order to get in early.

“I wanted to join. I wanted to be with my brothers,” he said.

“The reason I got caught is I was stationed in Gagetown and I was a truck driver and in the military if you have a military licence, there’s no problem. But if you go off the base, you need a civil licence and they kept saying go to Fredericton and I said ‘no, no’ and then my old sergeant came over and said ‘I want to see your licence,’ ‘I don’t have one’ and he said, ‘I knew you were underage,’ but they kept me.”

For Paul and Robert, Remembrance Day is a special ceremony and one that they will continue to honour each year.

“We never missed a Remembrance Day,” said Paul.

“It’s the sacrifice that people made and, in a war, nobody wins. Everybody loses and people don’t understand, it’s not just the soldier. It’s the women as well because war is in the home too. They have to pick up the pieces.”

With years of service behind them and generations of service within their family, two of the Dupuis brothers observed Remembrance Day together.

“Dad would be proud,” said Robert.

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