FEATURE Past President | FeatureProfile | John K. Binninger John with wife Barbara Binninger, on a U.S.S.R cruise line in the summer of 1978 travelling from New Orleans to the Cayman Islands and Cuba, are seen with the cruise director, his wife and the captain of the M.S. Odessa.
John (left), on his birthday with his sister Irmgard, and brother George celebrated in his grandmother’s garden in the village of Dienheim in the late 1930s.
after that year and has no idea what happened to them, but will be forever grateful for their love and kindness. This is another example, John says, of the blessings that have come his way over the years. There have been difficult times, but there have been celebratory times. The year 1944 was one of those difficult times. John was drafted into the war at the age of 15. After a brief period of training, he and his young compatriots were given explosives and anti-tank weapons and commanded to stop the allied forces from advancing. The first day, when he was shot at, he threw away his weapons and headed home. It took him two weeks to make his way back to the familiar area of the Rhine, to the beautiful province of Rheinland-Platz and, finally, to his hometown.
In 1945, the war ended and it was a new era. John had apprenticed as a tool and die maker during the war. Afterward he had to train for another trade because tool and die makers were no longer needed. He pursued the sheet metal, plumbing and pipefitting trade. In 1948, he became a journeyman and found work for $1.20 per hour. There were no benefits; there was no holiday pay. The standard work week was 48 hours over six days. He got paid each Friday and by Monday was broke. Soon, he had an opportunity for a job at Linde with his father, who was the union boss there. He got a raise to $2 and entered a shift environment – two weeks of nights followed by two weeks of days. But life was tough in post-war Germany; communities were physically and
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psychologically devastated and trying to rebuild. This is when he decided to immigrate to Canada. He considered South Africa and Australia but got his papers to go to Edmonton, Alberta quickly so that is where he went. He took out a loan through the Catholic Church and boarded the Lord Beaverbrae, a small ship owned by Canadian Pacific and carrying 500 people. The seas were rough with waves up to 40 feet at times, but John didn’t get sick over the two-week voyage. He arrived in Quebec City on June 21, 1953, with $15 in his pocket. He hopped the train and took five long days across the vast prairies to get to Edmonton. His first job was as a plumber in Morinville, Alberta. Although his boss was a pleasant man, he never had enough money to pay the employees. John returned to Immigration Canada in Edmonton and was directed to the Sherritt Gordon Plant Expansion in Fort Saskatchewan, who were hiring insulator tradesmen. Remember, John was a plumber, steamfitter, and sheet metal worker by trade. But on his German certificate it read: “Installateur Journeyman.” The bosses at Sherritt Gordon understood that to mean “insulator” and John was hired. He was paid $3 each hour, double for overtime and there was plenty of that. It was a union environment, so he joined the union the second day on the job. Right away, he paid off his loan to the