I had the wonderful opportunity to talk to Ken this morning. Grabbed my cell phone about 0900 and put in a call to Ottawa, Canada. What a pleasant man. Well-versed, gentle and instead of his 87 years, sounded much like a man of 60. 
We talked for almost 45 minutes, and we enjoyed every minute of it. He gave me a little more of his history with the 1st Canadian Division, which was under the excellent leadership of General Burns. Ken spoke very highly of the general and said he had many a great memory, working directly with him.
He joined at the tender age of 16, as a "Saturday night soldier", on 2, September, 1939. He was discharged from the army on 6, January, 1946, as served his country as a staff sergeant. He married an English war bride in 1943, and had three daughters with her before their divorce in 1957. He later remarried a woman from Germany and had a son and several more daughters, and is now a very happy grandfather, many times over.
He visited England again in the 80's, and was filled with many memories of the war. His first born moved to England, many, many moons ago, and they still keep in contact.
He was thrilled that I was going to get the blanket, and said my dad would be very proud of me. I know he would too.
He had a few very cute and funny stories, and promised me he would write some down and send them to me. We vowed to keep in contact and be pen-pals. Here's a few stories he related...
Once they were in a small town, with many bombed out buildings. They stopped for some R&R, and said they noticed a tank outside. Well lo and behold they couldn't locate the driver, so he decided to take 'er for a spin. Well... He got 'er started and said, "Good thing the turret was facing in the opposite direction." He then proceeded to get the thing moving and...well...the forces of momentum sort of took over and the lack of experience and kerpowee! Yup he wound up stopping (er...being stopped) by the bombed out building across the way.
A very short while later, the tank driver found him, and exclaimed, "Now how am I going to drive my tank?" 
Next story...
His colonel told him that he needed some R&R, and told him to go to a certain area where (I believe) the 24th Ambulance unit (not positive of exact unit designation) resided at the moment. When he got there, the officer in charge said, "You must have some beer!" Well sir he voiced, I've already had my daily allotment just a couple of hours ago. Well the officer would not take no for an answer, and after a few of the offerings, fell fast asleep in the back of one of the ambulances. Before he knew it, the ambulance had taken off with him in tow, unknowingly to the driver or himself. When he awoke he was in a nearby hospital with a doctor and nurses surrounding him and the doctor declaring, "There's nothing wrong with this man. Send him back to his unit!"
I just love these stories and can't wait to hear more!
Ken is going to mail the blanket to me on Monday, and I promised him I would call and let him know when it safely arrives on my doorstep. 
God bless you Ken. You are one hell of a man! 
Proud Daughter of Walter (Monday) Poniedzialek
540th Engineer Combat Regiment, 2833rd Bn, H&S Co, 4th Platoon
There's "No Bridge Too Far"