GRANDFATHER         UNCLE                      FATHER                           SON      

                
              Joseph  Pappin     Peter   Pappin         Roland  Pappin      Ray Pappin CD SRR    
                           (CEF)                   (2RCR)                  (RCOC/PPCLI)           (RMR / ATC / CE)          

         My grandfather Joseph told me many times, when I was very young, that I was indian. I
       knew my uncle Peter briefly before he passed away in 1964. He was indian and spent a
           great deal of time at the Algonquin reservation at Golden Lake (Pikwakanagan). I learned
          over the years that my father Roland had to make the choice to provide for his family in a
   society that prejudiced indians from obtaining any civilian employment of substance.
        Being non-status and off reservation he chose a military career as they did not prejudice
     anyone from service. Unlike his father and older brother, who served when called and
     returned  to civilian life when the need to fight no longer was paramount, he served in
       peacetime capacity to provide for family. My father taught me the way of the hunter, the
       skills of the trapper, the patience of the fisherman and I grew up on the harvested fauna
             the land provided - muskrat, beaver, bear, deer, rabbit, grouse, fishes and frogs, wild garlic,
             fiddleheads and berries. He provided these traditions to me even though we were far down 
             the river in Montreal. When it was time we would head back to Muskrat Lake and harvest in
             our traditional hunting, fishing and general harvesting area to which I am returned to today.

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