My great-uncle William was killed in the attack on Regina Trench Harvey Doane, my great-uncle, was a noted engineer, a celebrated yachtsman, a captivating storyteller and a veteran of the Great War. In short, he was a family icon whose name still floats and dances among us more than three decades after he died. An elegant, old-world gentleman in a pencil moustache and yacht-club blazer, he and his wife, my Aunt Mildred, whom he called “Skinny,” used to come with Mildred’s sister, Aunt Dot, for Sunday dinners at my parents’ home in Halifax. Wielding a loaded cigarette holder in one hand and a scotch in the other, my great-uncle would regale us. These sessions with the senior generation of the family were generally not much fun for a young boy who was expected to dress up, sit st...