TORONTO local identity Verdun Hiles has one of Australia's strangest names for good reason.
People normally call him "Verdon", but he's actually named after one of World War 1's most ghastly, costliest battles in northern France. And he's not even French.
Ver-dun means "strong fort" and it was here in WW1 (1914-1918) that a horrific battle of attrition was fought between the invading Germans, the French people and their allies, including the British empire, and Australia, whose troops rapidly enlisted to fight overseas.
Overall, there were about 800,000 casualties. The aim of the German offensive was to bleed France to death, but this eventually failed.
And such was the patriotic fervour of the era to free the French from the yoke of tyranny that the war's final, hard-won victory was celebrated world-wide.
In Australia, the Promenade outside Toronto's waterfront hotel was renamed Victory Parade. And years later, the Port Stephens suburb of Tanilba was specially created by selling blocks in a "patriotic sub-division". It was a different era.
"My dad was born in 1916, about the time of the battle of Verdun, and was so named by my grandfather," Verdun Hiles, now 83, told Weekender.
"My father's full name was Verdun Anzac (after Gallipoli) Hiles and he came from Kurri Kurri. He later served as an RAAF pilot in World War 11. His twin brother, a miner, was called Victor (as in Victory)."
In fact, Verdun Hiles continued the family tradition by calling one of his four sons Verdun. He in turn then had a son who he called Verdun. So, the family name has continued for four generations!
But Verdun Hiles the younger, one of nature's true gentlemen, has other claims to fame. He started sailing VJs when he was 14 years old and became a champion Lake Macquarie sailor, travelling the world. At one stage, he even sold his sailing craft to pay for his honeymoon.
Verdun called all his boats Liberator, with the sail sign being B24 after the Liberator bomber his father once piloted.
Meanwhile, Verdun has worked in the same Toronto retail job for a remarkable 67 years with no plans for retirement.
Verdun started work aged 16 years in November 1955 in a Toronto clothing store started by his late, industrious father. Here, despite changing fashions, the landmark Verdun Hiles menswear store - at 88 The Boulevarde - has always survived.
Verdun Hiles runs the men's clothing side of the business while his wife Val operates the adjoining ladieswear store where they pride themselves on quality and old-fashioned service. And a nicer couple you wouldn't hope to meet, which probably explains their longevity in the fickle world of business today.
The duo are sort of retail royalty in Toronto where the Verdun Hiles shops (four in all) opened in 1955 as menswear, ladieswear, materials and childrenswear outlets. At that stage, 16 staff were employed.
And Verdun remembers how it all started.
In 1948, his mum had started a clothes shop called Janelle's (now Service NSW) in The Boulevarde. Opposite, a "spec" building was being erected and Verdun's dad knew the builders. He and his father climbed up ladders and sat on beams to negotiate with the builders. Soon a deal was struck and the rest is retail history.
But Verdun's dad, Verdun Anzac Hiles, knew success always meant hard work. While Verdun Jnr was in the clothing shop, his former RAAF pilot father continued to hawk, or sell clothes, around the Westlakes area in his old blue truck with pull-down canvas sides. Sometimes his neighbours would see him coming home at 10 o'clock at night.
And when the same vehicle, an old "fruito" truck, once appeared in a Toronto anniversary street parade, a sign on it advertised it had travelled 300,000 miles (482,800 kilometres) selling all sorts of clothes door-to-door to customers.
"Dad went everywhere in his 1936 Dodge truck. It was amazing," son Verdun said.
"And I've still got it at home under the house. And you know what? After more than 80 years, there's no rust on it.
"Dad drove everywhere from Cardiff to West Wallsend, out to Morisset, Wakefield to Cooranbong and Wangi and everywhere in between to sell clothes.
"And when dad was discharged from the RAAF in 1946 and petrol was still scarce with rationing, he'd walk around instead with two suitcases full of clothes to sell."
In 1969 though, Verdun Anzac Hiles was killed in a car accident while on holidays in Russia and his son kept running the family clothing store.
Here, he's seen the passing parade of fashion, from selling bell bottom pants and safari suits to an emphasis more now on casual wear. He's also seen the demise of the once familiar men's tie and also seen the death of cravats, which were once very popular with pucka RAAF officers.
He's also seen the decline of menswear stores generally.
And all the while, he's been selling jeans and school uniforms, although his market is now suffering from various factors, including online sales.
"The biggest clothing fad I've seen was the Elvis Presley craze, like selling his socks, shirts and trousers, especially if they were purple! Ten of my mates once got fitted out with the lot for a lark and went out parading on The Boulevarde," Verdun said laughing.
Earlier, young Verdun had an idyllic, carefree life growing up at the family home living in a room built on top of a Kilaben Bay boat shed and watching his dad fly in on wartime Catalina flying boats.
"In those days you made your own fun and had no pocket money," he said.
"I used to return cordial bottles for that. And I remember building a canoe when aged about seven. I used a sheet of corrugated iron full of nail holes, folded it and nailed on wood from two banana boxes from the grocer.
"As our streets were all gravel, I dug up tar from a Toronto paved street and melted it in our backyard to cork the holes.
"And when I was 12, I'd ride my bike to the Watagans at weekends to set up traps for my bird aviary.
"I'd camp out there under the stars and always carry three boxes of matches. One was to light my fire and the other two to burn off leeches. I never carried food but carried a bit of meat and string to catch crawchies (yabbies) in the creek. If you didn't catch anything, you didn't eat."
But one Hiles secret remains. While his dad Verdun Anzac once piloted Catalinas and four-engine American bombers at Rathmines wartime RAAF base, he's remembered instead by his family for the time he sank a Sikorsky flying boat there.
"It was a single-engine amphibian. You had to turn a cock to let the accumulated water out on taking off, but on landing this particular time, no one could shut it and the flying boat went straight to the bottom."
The final irony is that son Verdun Hiles, after a lifetime in the clothing industry, never originally intended to go into retail. After leaving high school in 1955 he had a scholarship to go to teachers' college, but he never went.
"I was the wrong temperament. I would have murdered the kids. I made the right decision to be in clothing all my life," he said.
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