Interview with Captain K. John Pickford (March 02, 2022)

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Interviewer: Katelyn Luymes Interviewee: Captain K. John Pickford An interview/narrative of K. John Pickford's experiences serving in the Canadian Armed Forces. Interview took place on March 2, 2022 over a video call. ABSTRACT: This interview covers Captain K. John Pickford’s experience growing up as a dependant and only child in a military family. The interview opens with a brief description of his father, Rear Admiral Reginald John “Pick” Pickford’s career, which began in 1936 as a Junior Officer in the Supplementary Reserve of the Royal Canadian Navy Volunteer Reserve and ended with his retirement in 1975. The majority of the interview focuses on the numerous relocations the Pickford family experienced, living in Halifax, Greenwich, Ottawa, and Victoria multiple times. Pickford also shares anecdotes about moving schools, mentions his own military career and communicating with his daughters when he was serving in the Royal Canadian Navy during the Gulf War, and features a visual of three generations of Navy memorabilia, showing his grandfather’s, father’s, and own Royal Canadian Navy Officer Swords and decorations. Pickford explains his volunteer work with HMCS Sackville and the Order of Saint George, and describes the Admiral’s House at CFB Esquimalt. He also reflects on his mother’s role as a military spouse and the changes to official supports for military families and compares it to his experiences growing up without official support programs. He also compares his experience as a military dependant to his daughters’ experiences and highlights both positive and negative aspects of growing up in a military family, citing relocations as both a drawback and an opportunity. The interview concludes with an anecdote about his time sailing to Europe on HMCS Protecteur as a teenager, and then returning to the vessel six years later as second in command. 0:58 – 4:10 – Brief overview of Rear Admiral Reginald John “Pick” Pickford’s career; highlights his father’s role as the youngest Commanding Officer of Allied Forces in the North Atlantic during the Second World War. 4:12 – 7:00 – Pickford’s early life and relocations to Halifax, Greenwich, Ottawa, and Victoria multiple times. 7:00 – 10:37 – The process of relocating, making new friends, and moving as an adult. 10:37 – 12:00 – Living in civilian and military housing, rental houses. 13:40 – 16:57 – A brief mention of Pickford’s military career and deployment during the Gulf War, mentions communication technologies and returning home, compares his deployment with how he experienced his father’s deployments and homecomings. 16:57 – 19:00 – Describes the Navy connections in his family, shows three generations of Royal Canadian Navy Officer Swords and decorations; Pickford’s grandfather served in the Royal Navy from 1885 until 1918. 19:00 – 24:25 – Mentions the presence of the Navy in his life and continued volunteer work with HMCS Sackville and the Order of Saint George. 21:59 – 31:00 – Describes post-secondary education, his career and decision to join the Royal Canadian Navy; anecdote about working with his father, and describes the Admiral’s House at CFB Esquimalt. 31:23 – 34:14 – Compares his own experiences with his daughters’ childhoods. 34:16 – 38:00 – Reflects on communities growing up in Oak Bay, Navy family friends, and the changes between support networks available (and not available) in his childhood, reflects on the growth of the Military Family Resource Centres. 38:16 – 42:29– Describes the positive and negative experiences of relocating, describes limited involvement in extra-curricular activities (including football), and the merging of Queen Elizabeth and Saint Patrick’s High Schools to form Citadel High School in Halifax, NS. 42:29 – 46:10 – Describes his daughters’ and grandchildren’s extra-curricular sports, including kayaking/paddling, volleyball, and swimming. 46:14 – 49:00 – Describes his mother’s role in the family and shows parents’ wedding photograph. 49:34 – 56:07 – Shares lessons learned in a military family, memories of cross-country train rides and travel stories, including an anecdote about travelling to Europe as a teenager aboard the HMCS Protecteur and returning six years later as the second in command.

In Collection:
Contributor Subject Language Identifier
  • Interview #SC141_PKJ_896
Keyword Date created Relation
  • Part of the Military Oral History Class collection of interviews (HIST 426, Spring 2022).
Resource type Rights statement Extent
  • 00:56:38
Alternative title
  • Relocating Expectations: The Impact of Military Life on Canadian Forces Dependants
Geographic coverage Coordinates
  • 44.6464, -63.57291
  • 48.4359, -123.35155
  • 45.41117, -75.69812
Physical repository Collection
  • Canadian Military Oral History Collection
Provider Genre Archival item identifier
  • Accession Number: 2022-020; Series: IV; Item: 896
Fonds title Fonds identifier Is referenced by Date digitized
  • March 2, 2022
Technical note
  • Interview done through a Zoom video call, MP4, 2.47 GB. Metadata by KD.
Rights
  • This interview has been posted with the understanding that it may be used for research purposes only. Should the interviewee or their heirs have any objections to this interview being accessible on the Internet, it will be removed promptly. Contact UVic Special Collections for permission if using for other than research purposes: speccoll@uvic.ca
DOI

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