Hi AA,
I saw your snow picture...WoW, that is quite a snowfall. When I saw you were in NFLD it brought back a lot of memories of what happened in Argentia. My Mom told me what happened up in Argentia before WW2 as follows...my Mom's family lived in Argentia until about Sept. 1940 when the Army came and put an eviction notice on everyone's doors....VACATE in two weeks!!! TWO WEEKS!!!! This action caused quite an uproar and the Monsigneur of the Parish had to go to the CO to tell him to stop burning down the homes in Argentia until the townspeople could be relocated to Marquise or wherever they wished to go.This action was the result of FDR and Churchill's secret meeting in Placentia Bay....the US gave Churchill 50 used destroyers and the US got Argentia and surrounding areas to build a Army Air Corps forward operating base as WW2 was on the horizon. My Grandfather Phillip O'Reilly owned the general store and livery service in Argentia and was somewhat compensated for his businesses and property by the US govt. He relocated the family to Valley Stream,NY (Long Island) and that's how my Mom and Dad met. Luckily my Dad made it off of IWO JIMA and stayed on Long Island eventually moving to East Meadow and buying a home to start a family. I still have cousins in Whitbourne and I believe their postal code is AOB 3KO. Thanks for letting me recount some of my families history.
All the Best,
Greg
