The odds were against Hubert Bruns making it to age 80, but he did. Incredible luck prevailed throughout his life.

As a youngster, he absconded with a bobsled and raced it down the mountain. As a teenager, he looked down through cracks in some scaffolding straight at Hitler without being shot. At 18 as a German soldier, he left the Front only hours before the Russians counter-attacked late in 1941. At 21, as a veteran, he was buried alive and almost died in Munich.

Less dramatic happenings followed, but his luck continued. Two university degrees were acquired and Canadian immigration approved him for citizenship without delay. At 65, he survived a stroke and slowly regained the ability to think, talk and write. Quite a life. Quite a story.