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LaSalle man reunites with Windsor streetcar that nearly killed him

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Ninety-one-year-old Gerry Meloche took a special tour Thursday of the newly restored Windsor streetcar that almost claimed his life 90 years ago.

On July 31, 1931, then 15-month-old Eugene “Gerry” Meloche was struck by Streetcar No. 351 after somehow crawling onto the tracks.

“You can't believe how much I enjoyed this,” Meloche said following the tour with his family. “It brought back so many memories. And, regardless of how I started out life, I'm finishing life in real good shape.”

Meloche lost his right leg below the knee after surviving the ordeal, explaining he’ll never forget certain events from the day despite his young age.

“My dad helped me a whole lot. I mean a lot. And my mother she's a saint bless her. How she carried that leg in her lap on the way to the hospital. I never couldn't forget that. That was one thing that I always, always remembered,” he said.

Eugene 'Gerry' Meloche has a special tour of the streetcar which nearly killed him 90 years ago in Windsor, Ont. on Thursday, April 7, 2022. (Chris Campbell/CTV Windsor)

Today, Meloche is hopeful the streetcar’s eventual relocation to Windsor’s waterfront will help him learn who the driver was after all these decades.

“I tried for years to find out,” Meloche said. “But I'd like to know who he was and I'd like to know who his kids are because I can imagine what they're thinking at this stage of life. You know, my dad ran over a kid!”

Streetcar No. 351 currently sits in a City of Windsor storage facility two years after its restoration. Officials expect it to be housed in its Legacy Beacon at the foot of Caron Avenue by summer 2023.

Windsor mayor Drew Dilkens tells CTV News the streetcar represents a major part of local history.

“We were so lucky to be the first community in all of Canada to have an electric streetcar system that started operations in 1886,” Dilkens explains. “There are thousands of different stories, thousands of people that have connections in the community with this system and it's something to be proud of.”

Dilkens tells CTV News he’s confident residents and visitors will be as impressed as Meloche when the streetcar is in place.

“It's really quite impressive and to know that we've moved from being the first city in Canada that had an electric streetcar system to now the first city in Canada that's going to host an electric vehicle battery manufacturing plant,” he said. “It really is amazing. It's the culmination of history playing out together.”

Eugene 'Gerry' Meloche has a special tour of the streetcar which nearly killed him 90 years ago in Windsor, Ont. on Thursday, April 7, 2022. (Chris Campbell/CTV Windsor)

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