In Perfect Harmony
Albert at the piano with Perley Health Music Therapist, Tim Cote. Albert loved singing and was a member of the Perley Health choir.Notes on a Lifetime of Service to Community and Country
Like many of his generation, Albert Richardson devoted much of his life to serving his family and his community. Part of what made him remarkable, though, is an exceptional ability to adapt—to set aside carefully laid plans when faced with changing circumstances. He also had a lifelong passion for singing.
“I’ve sung in choirs since I was a teenager,” he said with a smile. “One of my schoolteachers was so impressed by my singing that I was hired to sing The Whiffenpoof Song at a convention. I earned $15 in my only professional gig.”
Albert was born in Toronto in 1931, a few years after his parents and older brother emigrated from the Caribbean island of St. Lucia. The family’s strong tradition of military service began with Albert’s father, who had served as a machine gunner in World War I. Albert’s older twin brothers—Arthur and Sidney—fought in the Second World War. The family received a telegram that Sidney had gone missing in action during the Liberation of Belgium in September, 1944. Months later, a ham radio operator contacted the family with news that Sidney was in a POW camp; he eventually returned home safe and sound. Younger brother Donald served in Germany for NATO and Albert’s daughter Maureen served in Haiti for the United Nations. And while Albert would eventually serve more than 43 years in uniform, his military career got off to a rocky start.
“I enlisted in the army at age 18,” recalls Albert. “I hated it so much that I quit after six months—there was no penalty for doing that in those days. I got a job with a surveying crew and joined the artillery reserve to make a bit of extra money on the side.”
In 1951, Albert learned that the Canadian Forces were recruiting and re-enlisted. While serving as a Lance Bombadier at Canadian Forces Base Shilo (Manitoba), he transferred to the Provost Corps—the military police. Albert’s life soon took another unexpected turn.
“The Canadian Forces were looking for Service Police to volunteer for postings abroad,” he recalled. “I stepped up, thinking that I’d be posted to Germany. Instead, I was sent to Kure, Japan, an important supply base during the Korean War.”
Given his artillery training, Albert was soon dispatched to the front lines. He served as a gunner for approximately six months and participated in the Second Battle of the Hook. While in Korea, Albert contracted dysentery and suffered a couple of injuries, including partial deafness from artillery operations.
When the armistice brought an end to active fighting, Albert earned an honourable discharge and returned to Toronto. After working a series of odd jobs, he joined Canada Post, where his father worked, and married a woman he had first met while in his teens. Albert wasn’t happy, though; he didn’t care much for Toronto winters and came up with a plan that he hoped would take him abroad again.
“I knew that the Canadian Forces Postal Corps operated in other countries and decided that would be a good career path,” he said.
When he applied, however, there were no openings in the Postal Corps. Instead, he was offered another position with the Provost Corps. The position meant that he’d have to repeat the training he’d completed a few years earlier. It also meant a series of two-year postings to various locations, something his wife did not look forward to. When he was posted to Fort Churchill, Manitoba, she stayed in Montreal. They reunited a year later, as Albert was unexpectedly transferred to the same city, although their marriage was not destined to last.
Albert’s assignment involved protecting various military installations in and around Montreal, and supervising junior Provost Corps members. One day, a man under Albert’s charge posted to Farnham, Quebec asked him to deliver some money to his wife, Pauline Tourangeau, who lived in downtown Montreal.
“When I delivered the money, I felt a spark between us,” recalled Albert. “What makes it strange is that I couldn’t speak French and Pauline couldn’t speak English. And both of us were married at the time.”
Albert and Pauline married in Montreal, QC , August 1965Both marriages, however, soon fell apart. Pauline’s husband abandoned her and their two children. And when Albert was posted to Gagetown, New Brunswick, his wife filed for divorce. Albert and Pauline began to exchange letters and met whenever he could get to Montreal. By the time they decided to marry, Albert had been posted to Egypt as part of the United Nations Emergency Force.
“To marry, I had to get permission from both my base commander and from the UN commander,” says Albert with a laugh. “Fortunately, they said yes. Because of the limited availability of military flights, though, it proved to be quite a long journey: nearly 10 days of travel for less than three days in Montreal.”
Pauline’s daughters took to Albert immediately and he thrived in the new role of capable, loving father. Upon his return from Egypt, the family lived briefly in Montreal before two postings in Ontario: first in Belleville, then in Camp Borden, near Barrie.
“For us, we were living an adventure,” says Pauline Richardson. “Albert and the girls loved to play board games together. Years later, when the girls got married, they insisted that Albert legally adopt them.”
Albert was granted a medical discharge from the Canadian Forces in 1971 and the family moved to Toronto. Pauline got a job at the University of Toronto’s Scarborough Campus and Albert eventually became a Special Constable with the Ontario Provincial Police, a position he held for more than 20 years. The daughters soon started families of their own. Today, Pauline and Albert have 5 grandchildren, 5 great-grandchildren and one great-great granddaughter.
In 2018, the couple moved into an independent-living apartment at Perley Health. Albert joined two choirs: one at Perley Health and one at nearby Emmanuel United Church. When his care needs increased a few months ago, Albert moved into the Rideau Veterans Residence, where Pauline visited him regularly.
Sadly, Albert passed away in August 2024. His memory will forever be cherished by all who had the honour of knowing him.
In Loving Memory of Albert Richardson, Korean War Veteran