This week the National Post newspaper published an obituary of Geoffrey Dewis, a man who died in Vancouver at the age of 69. Mr. Dewis was not a famous person himself, but he was part of a remarkable event in Canadian history.

In 1939, the Second World War began in Europe and England. Geoffrey Dewis was then nine. His parents feared that Geoffrey and his older sister would be killed in the Nazi bombing of England. But there was a way to keep the kids safe. They took advantage of the Commonwealth child evacuation program. Over 2,600 British children were sent to live with families in other Commonwealth countries where the war was not raging. Over half of those children -- 1530 of them -- came to live in Canada as guests. Some, like Geoffrey Dewis, returned to Canada to spend the rest of their lives.

During the war, the trip to Canada was not easy. German submarines lurked in the North Atlantic sea where the boats traveled. They fired torpedoes at British and Allied ships. Geoffrey Dewis's ship was the last to arrive safely at its destination. The next boatload of British kids, on a ship called The City of Benares, was torpedoed and sank. Seventy-seven children on board died. Tragically, that was the end of the "guest child" program.

During their stay in Canada, CBC Radio produced a program called ``Canada Calling'' so that the British kids who were separated from their families could speak to their parents and friends back home over the airwaves.

1. Who began in Europe and England?