Right on, You Got the Elbow Out!: Wartime Memories of the Rcaf

"Right On, You Got the Elbow Out!" Wartime Memories of the R.C.A.F.

This page intentionally left blank

"RIGHT ON, You GOT THE ELBOW OUT!" WARTIME MEMORIES OF THE R.C.A.F.

E R N E S T F. M O N N O N , RTO and MARY ANN M O N N O N

NATURAL H E R I T A G E / N A T U R A L HISTORY I N C .

Copyright © 1990 by Mary Ann Monnon All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher, Natural Heritage/Natural History Inc., P.O. Box 69, Station H, Toronto, Ontario M4C 5H7. Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data Monnon, Ernest F. (Ernest Fernand), 1915-1989. Right on, you got your elbow out Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 0-920474-63-2 1. Monnon, Ernest F. (Ernest Fernand), 1915-1989. 2. World War, 1939-1945 - Personal narratives, Canadian. 3. World War, 1939-1945 - Aerial operations, Canadian. 4. Canada. Royal Canadian Air Force - Biography. I. Monnon, Mary Ann Morrison. II. Title. D811.A3M65 1990

940.54'4971'092

C91-093034-1

Design and typesetting: Robin Brass Studio Printed and bound in Canada by Hignell Printing Limited

Dedicated to the memory of my beloved husband, Ernest F. Monnon (1915-1989), and for our grandchildren, Bryan, Iain and Calum Mary Ann Monnon

This page intentionally left blank

CONTENTS

FOREWORD 9 INTRODUCTION 11 CHAPTER ONE

Responding to the Call 15 CHAPTER TWO

Back to School: RTO Training 24 CHAPTER THREE

First Stop: England 30 CHAPTER FOUR

Holland 37 CHAPTER FIVE

Into Germany 56 CHAPTER SIX

Flensburg Viki and Home 77 GLOSSARY 93 BIBLIOGRAPHY 95

This page intentionally left blank

FOREWORD

IN THE SUMMER of 1985, my husband Ernest and I were driving down the Annapolis Valley near the Armed Forces Base at Greenwood, Nova Scotia. It was a beautiful day with only an occasional white fluffy cloud to be seen. Everything was very green, and here and there you would see an orchard with still tiny fruit. It was the growing season in the valley. Everything was very quiet and peaceful when suddenly we heard a plane approaching, flying low - very low - from th sound. I instinctively ducked my head as a dark shadow fell on the highway. Ernest laughed and said, "How would you like to see a sky full of planes like that? That's what happened to us when we were stationed in Eindhoven, Holland. We were inside when we heard the sound of many, many approaching planes. We ran outside and within minutes the sky was completely covered and everything was enveloped in an eerie light. It was very frightening because for a minute we didn't know whose they were. Suddenly, one of the men shouted: They're ours, they're

9

"RIGHT ON, YOU GOT THE ELBOW OUT!"

ours/ He was so overcome by emotion he fell to the ground. That was the beginning of the Rhine Offensive." That day I decided to write this. MARY ANN MONNON

10

INTRODUCTION

DNG THE SECOND WORLD WAR, thousands of young men went overseas to fight. My late husband was one of those. He was a member of the Royal Canadian Air Force, and this is his story as he told it to me. The many pictures contained in the book are due to the fact that my husband was an amateur photographer. He used to exchange his cigarettes for cameras and film. Those photographs not taken by my husband were issued by the R.C.A.F. and related to his work. Many Canadians had seen service in the Royal Naval Air Service, Royal Flying Corps, and the Royal Air Force. Many, reluctant to leave, stayed on and the Royal Air Force became the Royal Canadian Air Force (R.C.A.F.) in April 1926. For many years there was little activity within its ranks, partly due to lack of interest and also due to poor economic conditions. It was not until 1938 when the European situation could no longer be ignored that reality separated it from the Navy. A Chief of Air Staff 11

" R I G H T ON, Y O U G O T T H E E L B O W O U T ! "

was appointed responsible to the Minister of Defence. Up until this time, Canada had had little interest in World Affairs. On the home front a Depression enveloped the entire country. We had high unemployment, soup kitchens, etc. "In the summer of 1939, my brother Henry was home on leave. He had recently graduated from Technical College in Halifax (now the Technical University of Nova Scotia) as an engineer and had then joined the R.C.A.F. I told him that I was saving money to take a trip to Europe and he said, 'Don't worry, you'll be getting a free trip over there soon enough/ On that warm day in the quiet mining town of Inverness, Cape Breton, war seemed a very remote possibility to me. In a few months that changed. At the outbreak of war in September 1939, Canada could only muster a handful of trained officers and men and a small number of outmoded aircraft said to be obsolete even before they had been purchased. Canada had little to offer, but did not hesitate in her willingness to help. There were not even any operational aircraft available at this late date. On December 17, 1939, the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (B.C.A.TP.) was signed. It was the beginning of a triumphant victory brought about by the B.C.A.T.P. The R.C.A.E not only fulfilled every obligation required, it even took on some added responsibilities. It was necessary for Canada to have a completely trained and fully efficient instructional force, airdrome development and building project, 12

INTRODUCTION

and all of this in the fastest possible time. It was decided that the overseas representative would be limited to one army cooperative squadron to work with the Canadian Active Service Force, part of which was already in England. This move allowed the full efforts of the R.C.A.E to center upon the training of the aircrew, the ultimate objective of the B.C.A.T.P. The expanding British training facilities would be needing reinforcements. Experienced aircrew was essential if air traffic was to reach an all-time high. The goal set by the B.C.A.T.P. was appalling to say the least: the training of 25,000 aircrew personnel per annum (the majority of those would be Canadians), the construction of 60 airfields, and the enlargement of the 20 existing ones, the establishment of 70 schools and depots, and the training of nearly 40,000 officers and men to operate them. All this was to be accomplished over a three-year period at a cost of $600,000. Canada's share was $350,000. In spite of many adjustments, the original plans were realized and the success of the venture far surpassed the hopes of those who had conceived it. Now, the United Kingdom and other theatres of war had fully organized R.C.A.F. units which were able to undertake all the varied duties of an air force at war. By 1940, the R.C.A.F Squadrons manned by Canadian personnel and maintained completely by the Dominion of Canada were now operating units in the larger plan of the Royal Air Force. On February 25,1940, an organized unit, No. 110, of 13

"RIGHT ON, YOU GOT THE ELBOW OUT!"

the Force (Army Cooperation) squadron landed in the United Kingdom. Note: The statistical information provided here was obtained from The RCAF Overseas, The First Four Years and The Aerodrome of Democracy (see bibliography).

14

CHAPTER ONE

RESPONDING TO THE CALL

"I THE WINTER OF 40-41,I went to Montreal for a few months to take some courses and there decided to join the R.C.A.F. My preference was to be a FT Instructor, but apparently they had enough in that category because I was never called up. In the fall of '41, I heard they were calling up men for one month basic training in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia, so I applied. I arrived there in January, and I will never forget how cold it was. We spent most of the time outdoors marching and drilling. After a few days of this, one of the men in our barracks developed a high fever which was diagnosed as being Spinal Meningitis and highly contagious. All the men in the surrounding beds were quarantined, myself included. We were all sent to an adjoining building and put in isolation for nine days. "One of the men, Charles MacKinnon from Sydney, would play his guitar and sing. His favorite song was the "Alamo" and he would play that over and over. Somehow, we never got tired of hearing him play. The men were doing a lot of swearing, so we 15

"RIGHT ON, YOU GOT THE ELBOW

At New Glasgow, Nova Scotia.

16

OUT!"

RESPONDING TO THE CALL

decided to put up a chart with our names on it. An V would be put down by your name every time you swore. One of the men, a big Frenchman, never spoke a word so naturally he never swore. One day the Medical Officer came in and seeing the chart wanted to know what it was for. When we told him, he looked at the chart and seeing one name without an 'x' asked: Who's the virgin?' "Our only entertainment was to go to town and sit around a restaurant and talk. We were all anxious to get basic training over with. My worst problem at the time was an ingrown toenail. The Army doctor took a pair of pliers and pretended to pull it out. Of course, he was only trying to scare me; he sure as hell did. It bothered me til I got home and our family doctor fixed it up. "Finally, our training period was over and we could go home. First we all had to line up for inspection. I had a small suitcase, another chap had a trunk. I guess he thought he was going to a resort. Another had only a toothbrush which he carried in his pocket. "When I got home, I applied for an I.C.A. course in Radio and Wireless - a subject I was interested in and wanted to learn more about. I reapplied to the R.C.A.F. but still no word. That fall, I was called up to do four months Basic Army Training. A friend, Ernest Daigle, also got his call so we travelled to Halifax together. He went to the Army Depot and ended up in the Army Tank Corp. I decided to try the R.C.A.F. one more time and went 17

"RIGHT ON, YOU GOT THE ELBOW OUT!"

to the Air Force depot. The man in charge said he couldn't do anything, but when I told him I had previously signed up for the Air Force, he looked up some records and found my name. My persistence paid off! I was finally in the Air Force. "It had become a personal matter with me. I already had two brothers in the R.C.A.F. - Henry, a pilot, and George, a Wireless W.C.M. My youngest brother, Richard, also joined the Air Force when he finished school, but that was in 1947 and the war was over. He served for five years and then joined the staff of the National Research Council in Ottawa. "I was sent to No. 1 Manning Depot in Toronto to be Indoctrinated' into service life. Manning Depot was situated on the Exhibition Grounds in Toronto. They called our barracks the 'bull pen' probably because it had housed bulls at one time. It was a huge room, holding probably 1200 men with stacked double bunks four or five feet apart. Life at Manning Depot, where the recruits usually spent four or five weeks, was fairly strenuous; when not interviewed, tested, or lectured to, the would-be airman spent long hours drilling on the parade square.1

"It was summertime in Toronto and it was hot. Where we had suffered from cold in New Glasgow, here it was the heat and 1. F.J. Hatch, Aerodrome of Democracy: Canada and the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan, 1939-1945, Ottawa, 1983, p. 125.

18

RESPONDING TO THE CALL

the uniform we had to wear. Our first day there we were put in quarantine, very boring but essential. They did try to provide some entertainment for us to help pass the time. The highlight of that time was a concert put on by Bert Niosi and his band. The hall must have held 1200 and it was packed. It was difficult to hear because they clapped at every note he played. The announcer from the CBC had to cover one ear in order to speak into the microphone. Later, when we were allowed off base we went to dances and parties. I remember going to a doctor's home one night to a party they were giving for their daughter who was in the R.C.A.F. and stationed in Montreal. They had a large rec room in the basement and the walls were covered with pictures of beautiful girls. 'There was a rule that when you were not on duty you kept your rifle at the head of your bunk with the bolt removed. This was in case of enemy attack when it might be stolen. However, several of us were not aware of this rule and we were put on charge. I blurted out: We weren't aware of that rule/ Immediately the Sergeant was called in and we were cleared. With the constant coming and going of troops, it was no wonder there were slip-ups. "We had to walk through a long barracks to get to our mess hall, and we were instructed to report anything we saw that was out of the ordinary. There was an unusual amount of pilfering going on. Our Sergeant told us that if we caught anyone at it to, 19

"RIGHT ON, YOU GOT THE ELBOW OUT!"

and I use his words, 'Beat him up and send for the S.P.s and make sure they go in the wrong direction/ 'Toward the end of our training period, they speeded up our inoculation program. I remember one day I had been given a shot for Scarlet Fever and had a bad reaction. By night, I was so sick I could scarcely crawl into my bunk. Then I realized my head was where my feet should be but I didn't have the strength to move. As luck would have it, the next day we were going to have our drilling tests and then we would be given a 72-hour pass to go to Montreal. Next morning I felt awful but I had no intention of reporting to Sick Bay and missing out on my pass. I did make the Parade Grounds but I passed out twice. One time the Sergeant caught me before I hit the ground. Eventually, I did pass the tests and was given my pass. "Montreal was like home to me, having spent considerable time there over the years. The morning after I arrived, I was having breakfast in a downtown restaurant when I noticed the CBC announcer we had met in Toronto at the next table. I went over to speak to him and we ended up having breakfast together. He then took me on a tour of the CBC studio on St. Catherine Street. "We learned a lot at Manning Depot but for us it was only a stepping stone; we wanted 'to get on with it/ "During the course of our training, we were given aptitude tests. Our Sergeant told us not to accept anything we felt we 20

RESPONDING TO THE CALL

wouldn't like, so when I was told that I should become an armourer, I told them that I had some previous experience in Wireless and would prefer that, so that's how I got into Wireless. "They had four Wireless Schools in Canada, located in Montreal, Calgary, Winnipeg, and Guelph. These schools produced more than 130,000 trained aircrew for the Allies in the Second World War; training was all done in Canada under the R.C.A.F and was part of the British Commonwealth Plan. I was to be sent to Montreal, but due to overcrowding at the schools, we had to wait our turn. "As things turned out we were sent to Trenton, Ontario, and put on 'useful duties' that meant anything and everything. I was put in the kitchen peeling potatoes, only you didn't peel them the conventional way. You put them in a big machine like a washing machine and that did part of the job. You then had to remove all the eyes and specks by hand. We also had to peel two bushels of carrots for a meal, and the mess provided meals for 900 men. I was next put on dishes. The silverware was then sorted and passed to civilians who cleaned it. My next move was to the cafeteria where I was put on the food serving tables. I found the aroma of the food took my appetite away. After an hour of that, I couldn't eat anything but survived anyway. "I remember walking downtown with the boys. I had never seen such beautiful orchards - every tree laden with golden red apples. For someone from a mining town in Cape Breton, it was 21

"RIGHT ON, YOU GOT THE ELBOW OUT!"

a sight I'll never forget. Even now, after living in the Annapolis Valley in Nova Scotia for almost thirty years, I have never seen anything to compare with the beautiful orchards in Trenton. Some of the boys would go out picking apples; trucks would call for them in the morning and return with them at night. They earned extra money this way and the farmers were glad of their help. "One day I was out with a friend in a canoe. Lake Ontario was near our Depot and it was a good place to cool off on a hot day. This day I had a surprise; the canoe overturned and I landed in the water. Since I couldn't swim, I was sure I was going to drown. My companion shouted to me to climb on the overturned canoe, and I did that only to find myself in the water again. Guess it was too much weight. I was going down for the second time when suddenly an airman in a motor launch came to my rescue and plucked me out of the water. That was my last canoe ride. I can still remember looking at the beautiful white buildings in the distance and thinking how young I was to die, and I felt very sad. I never thanked that airman who rescued me, but I am sure he was rewarded; perhaps he will read this and know how grateful I am. 'Within a few days, our postings came through and I went to Montreal. It was lucky for me because I was told I was going to be put on charge for not telling the officer in charge that I couldn't swim when we were given permission to take out the 22

RESPONDING TO THE CALL

canoe. What they didn't know was that the officer in charge was not at his post, and all we did was pay the airman the required rental of ten cents. So much for rules and regulations."

23

CHAPTER TWO

BACK TO SCHOOL; RTO TRAINING I

AN MONTREAL, our school was in a building that had been built as a school for the blind. It was a tall building with a basement and a sub-basement. Our living quarters were low one-story buildings called 'H-Block'. Each room contained about a dozen bunks on one side. It was new, nice, and warm. We spent most of our time in classes which were long and tedious. Our group was divided into two classes: one class, 9-3, and the other, 2-9, five days a week. We had ten pieces of radio equipment (all different) to study, plus transmitters, receivers, and directional finding equipment. All wartime courses were concentrated and lasted from 3 to 12 months. We always had an hour of drill before we started our classes. There was a small parade ground behind the school and the W.D/s1 would be drilling at the same time. They always looked so much better than we did, a fact our Sergeant never failed to point out to us. 1. Women's Division

24

BACK TO SCHOOL: RTO TRAINING

"We were only there a short time when we found out that we could get light blue shirts to wear. They were not Air Force issue, and we had to be careful to hide the collar when we went out; we had a dark blue collar for this purpose. One evening when I came in, there was a W.D.S.P on duty but all she said was, Watch that collar/ "Entertainment was similar to what we had in Toronto. There was a large bulletin board in the rec room, and usually there would be invitations to different dances and parties. The room also had a long bar and a piano. Mel MacLean from Sydney provided us with great music. One of the boys had a local girlfriend and he was the envy of us all. She had money and would always pass him $30 or $35 when they went out; that was a month's pay for us. We had the weekends off so we had a lot of time to take in the sights and meet the girls. "One night I had a headache so I thought I would visit the Sick Bay and get a couple of aspirins. That proved to be a big mistake. The orderly took my temperature and ordered me to bed where I stayed for several days. While I was in the hospital I met an interesting man whose name was Eugene White. He was also attending Wireless School but he was in another class. It appeared he had been an Instructor in Wireless and Morse Code, and a Flying Instructor for the Norwegian pilots who were trained on Toronto Island. It was then known as 'Little Norway/ One day he had an accident while flying and crashed into a 25

"RIGHT ON, YOU GOT THE ELBOW OUT!"

concrete embankment. After he recovered from his accident, he decided to join the R.C.A.F This I didn't understand since he qualified as an officer, but he assured me he wanted to 'start at the bottom/ "He did have an edge over all the other men. One day the instructor asked him why he wasn't taking down the messages and was he going too fast, to which Eugene replied, 'No, you're going too slow/ Then the instructor asked him, 'How fast do you want me to send?' Eugene replied, 'How fast can you send?' He ended up sending at 28 w.p.m. You may be sure he wasn't the most popular student. "At the completion of our course, we were sent to an Air Force base to await our overseas posting. EASTERN PASSAGE, DARTMOUTH, N.S.

"My trade was now radio telephone operator, R.T.O. Eastern Passage was not only an airfield, it was also a sea base where Cansos and other seaplanes landed. TCA also had a hangar there. It was a busy place, and I was able to practice what I had learned. I enjoyed my stay; there were lots of places to go in my time off - downtown or over to Halifax on the ferry. "My brother Henry was also there at that time. He was Adjutant with the Canso Squadron. I was able to take several trips to Moncton on a Canso aircraft and I can still remember how

26

BACK TO SCHOOL: RTO T R A I N I N G

Our truck, Eastern Passage, N.S.

At work.

27

"RIGHT ON, YOU GOT THE ELBOW OUT!"

rough it was. Service planes were not noted for their comfort. "We lived in barracks and it was very cold, especially when the fire would go out. It was a large building to be heated by one stove. Every morning after breakfast, trucks would take us to the fields where our equipment was set up in trailers - transmitters and receivers in one, and directional finding equipment in the other. The trailers were small and overcrowded with four people working. Later, they built a place for our transmitters and receivers, and a large silo-shaped building for our directional finding equipment. It was roomier and easier to work in. "We had a lot of snow that winter. The ploughs had cleared the field but left the snow piled up around. That was the day Buzz Beurling came to visit. [F/OG.F. Beurling, D.S.O., D.F.C., D.F.C., and Bar; former member of the R.A.F., he transferred to the R.C.A.F. in 1942.] He was flying a Mosquito and that was something to see. A Canso was taking off loaded with depth charges when something happened to it. Suddenly, it turned and the wing tip hit a snow bank. Within a few minutes, black smoke could be seen billowing up from the plane and the crew left in one great hurry. In a minute, the whole thing went up in flames. That was another day I'll never forget. "After about seven months of routine duties, we were posted overseas. But first we were given a short leave to visit our families. After that, we were sent to the Air Force Disembarkment Depot in Lachine, Quebec. Later, we returned to Halifax to await 28

BACK TO SCHOOL: RTO TRAINING

passage overseas. Instead of travelling in convoy, we travelled on the luxury liner 'The New Amsterdam." The weather was nice and we enjoyed sitting around the decks in the warm sun. Our passage was uneventful except for one scare. Then we were forced to change our course and ended up in the North Atlantic. It was very cold - so cold we were forced to put on our warmest clothes. Eventually, we landed in Scotland and there was no dock large enough to accommodate the ship so we were taken ashore in small boats. We had travelled up the Firth of Clyde, our destination being Greenock, a tiny hamlet not far from Glasgow."

29

CHAPTER THREE

FIRST STOP: ENGLAND

"MY BIGGEST FEAR was not an enemy attack, but seasickness. However, I was fine, although I did feel giddy at times. I tried to eat frequently, but in small portions. "It was good to be on dry land. We were put on trains and travelled for a long time. At stations there were always a crowd of people waiting so we would open the windows and wave and give the *V sign for victory. However, we soon got tired of that and our eyes had begun to 'smart' from the smoke and cinders. After many hours, we arrived at Cheltenham, England, a holding depot for the Air Force during the war. It was a nice town with beautiful homes and gardens. We walked a lot; one day I was walking behind two Air Force girls when one reached down over a low fence and picked a few flowers. Immediately, a man came out of the house and lit' into her. I found that very strange; to most people we were 'saviours/ to others, I guess, just intruders. "My daughter Debra and her husband Donald visited there about ten years ago. Debra had corresponded with a lady from 30

FIRST STOP: ENGLAND

Cheltenham for many years and was quite familiar with their cottage, garden, and cat. It was nice to share my memories of that place with her. "Our next move was to Leeming Bar, an airfield in North Yorkshire just south of the Scottish border. It was cold and damp there. In the morning our uniforms would be almost wet if we happened to hang them against the plaster wall. We did flying control duties but it was different from what we had done in Dartmouth. We had about 30 or 35 occupational planes there used for bombing runs over the continent. The armourers would load various kinds of bombs on them, some very large at 500 to 4,000 1b. Sometimes, when a plane would be ready to take off, a message would come in to scrap the mission and one of the officers would fire a flare. I remember one day in late summer, a flare landed in some dry hay and started a fire. That officer entered the episode in the log book as such: Tired flare, set fire in hay, put out fire/ He was a man of few words. Another time when the boys were returning from a successful run, one broke rank and flew low over the airdrome and mess hall with a deafening roar. The Control Officer asked me if I had seen the plane, and when I replied that I had, he wanted to know the letters and numbers. Naturally, I 'couldn't' remember; I knew he just wanted to give that pilot 'hell.' "After the Normandy Invasion, when a call came for 'bomber strike' many times the raid would be called off, the lines being 31

"RIGHT ON, YOU GOT THE ELBOW OUT!"

so fluid. Then they would de-bomb, and perhaps in an hour or so, another call would come in and they would have to reload again - with different bombs. This pattern might be repeated four or five times. There was always the risk of bombing our own lines; a place under fire could be captured and our troops move in within a matter of minutes. It was very tiring for the armourers and loaders and they complained until the Commanding Officer explained the reason to them. They never minded the work as long as the bombs were put to good use. "Flying Officer MacLean was in charge of Wireless Headquarters there. He had recently come over from Canada. We became good friends and often in our off-duty time toured the countryside. He was anxious for us to become more involved in Flying Control, while the English W.D.'s who were doing it worked on the sympathy of their officers. If we took over, they would likely be sent to Northern Scotland, where living conditions were said to be 'not too good/ "One of our men had a few days off so he went out to explore the country. It became late, and he was forced to look for lodging for the night. The only place available was a Y.W.C.A. What was he to do? He was desperate, and finally talked the woman in charge into letting him have a room. She did but he didn't sleep much; word got out that there was a man in the house, so every few minutes, the door would open and someone would say, 'Oh, excuse me/ When morning came, he wasted no time in getting 32

FIRST STOP: ENGLAND

out of there. He used to write to his wife using green ink and his writing was awful; we wondered how his letters ever used to reach her. I guess they knew. "It was difficult to look 'spic and span' living in this damp environment. Our uniforms always looked as if we had slept in them, and we had no iron. One day I decided to go into the village and see if I could get one. The manager of a small store told me that if I could get a 'chit' from our office, he would get me one. I did this and in a week or so I got the iron with the understanding that it would be used for the barracks. This worked out well and we managed to eliminate some of the wrinkles. "One day I was coming out of the mess hall and I saw someone up on a truck I recognized as Bobbie Maclsaac from my hometown of Inverness. It was nice to see a familiar face. SKIPTON-ON-SWALE

"Our next posting was Skipton-on-Swale. This time we only had a short way to go. Our destination was a small airfield, interlocked with Topcliffe, a small training field. When one field was operational, the other field would be closed down. Our circle went over theirs. It was very cold there and we lived in Nissen huts with concrete floors, metal roof and sides, and our only heat was a small stove. It would hold two handfuls of coke, and often we didn't even have that. We had to get dressed to go to shave. 33

" R I G H T O N , Y O U G O T T H E E L B O W OUT!'7

That building was about 40 feet away, and the windows were all broken. The water was cold, and I wonder now why it didn't freeze. Later, I found a place nearby where they did have hot water, but that place also had no heat and the windows all broken. Your face would be warm and the rest of your body would be freezing. "Our working quarters were also very cold; it was a large building with many windows. We drank countless cups of tea and that helped. We worked long shifts and when we had the required number of hours in, we were given time off. I became ill with the flu while there and developed a bronchial condition with asthma that has bothered me all my life. I landed in the hospital; there, at least, it was warm. "One day I was up on the road waiting for a bus. There was a crowd of civilians waiting, also some officers. I recognized someone from home - a Chaplain in the R.C.A.E, Ian MacKay. But imagine my surprise when I spoke to him and he said he didn't know me. I felt a bit foolish. War did strange things to people. "We were near Harrogate, which was a beautiful tourist resort in peace time. The Air Force had an old hotel there where we could go for rest and relaxation. It was warm, and they had lots of hot water. What a treat to have a nice hot bath! We became acquainted with some of the hostesses there. One was from England and another was from Toronto. They were nice girls 34

FIRST STOP: ENGLAND

and used to invite us to their quarters. I met a friend from home there, Fred King. He had been our station master. After the war, he returned home and married a local girl and went to live in Oxford, Nova Scotia. "While at Skipton-on-Swale I was given a ten-day pass. A friend of mine had given me the address of a pen pal whom she had corresponded with for years, who lived near Bath in the South of England. I travelled in that direction, and did manage to make contact with her. She was in the army and we had a nice visit. "While in Bath, I stayed with two elderly spinsters who ran a sort of bed and breakfast. They were reluctant to give me a key, but they eventually did. For breakfast they gave me fried tomatoes (a first for me) which were tasty served with biscuits and tea. Speaking of tea, I searched for that pot and finally found it under this thing I had never seen before, which turned out to be what the English called a 'cosy/ "It was nice to be able to see the famous Roman Baths. You went down some steps to a basement-like structure held up by large pillars. The floor area had many rectangular baths, level with the floor. I felt the water and it was warm. Although they were no longer used, they were still a tourist attraction. "One day I was downtown window shopping when a nicelooking lady came out of a store and asked me if I would help her choose a hat. She wanted a man's opinion. She was with an eld35

"RIGHT ON, YOU GOT THE ELBOW OUT!"

erly lady, and they couldn't decide which hat to buy. One was small, and the other was a large picture hat. I asked the price of each and she said, 'Never mind the price/ The picture hat looked the best, and when I told her she was delighted. Hats were the only form of clothing that were not rationed in England during the war. Is it any wonder that even buying a hat was a big thing! "I went to dances and met some local people. There was a 'Y' down the street and I used to spend some time there. There was a man there who used to play the piano all day, and all you could hear in the barber shop downstairs was 'pound, pound, pound' all day, which was very annoying to the men there. 'The cars there had a large tank on the back that burnt coke which supplied the fuel they needed in order to run. It gave off a dark smoke that polluted the air, and it caused a recurrence of that bronchial condition I had suffered in Leeming Bar and I ended up with a bad case of asthma. "Shortly after I returned to my station, my orders came through. Next stop, the Continent!"

36

CHAPTER FOUR

HOLLAND

"WE WERE SENT to a place near London. It was a busy depot with troops coming and going all the time. The crossings were always done under cover of darkness which assured them a measure of safety. A group of us were called in to make sandwiches for some troops that were leaving to cross the Channel. It was a long journey in small boats to the Belgian border. Some of the boys were spreading the filling on the sandwiches very thin so I said to them, 'Let's not spare the filling, we'll be going over there ourselves pretty soon/ After that they were more generous. 'While there I was able to visit London a few times and saw some of the local attractions. The Canadian Club and Knightsbridge were two places I remember. "When we got our call, we marched down to the wharf. A small boat was there waiting. We used our kit bags for pillows and relaxed as best we could. The crossing took four hours or more, and then we landed in Oosterde, Belgium. It was an un37

"RIGHT ON, YOU GOT THE ELBOW OUT!"

eventful trip, and we were not prepared for the sight that met our eyes. It was my first look at the devastation of war - ships half sunk in the harbour and lots of evidence of heavy bombing along the coast They had to bulldoze a driving lane out of there. They billeted us outside the city, and next morning we were sent to Eindhoven, Holland. EINDHOVEN

"We were travelling in a 3/4 ton truck with canvas sides. We had two drivers and a Sergeant with us. He could have sat in the front with the drivers but he stayed in the back with us. It was extremely cold and it took 13 hours to get to Eindhoven. We left before dawn and had an early breakfast. We were supposed to pick up food along the way but that was not easy to do. We did have a few tins of meat in the truck and that helped. After a few hours, the cold began to get to us, especially our feet; some were crying. Some of the boys removed their boots and rubbed their toes, but I was afraid that if I took mine off, I'd never get them on again. "Our Sergeant had a small thermos of tea and he passed that around. A mouthful of hot tea - how good it tasted! There were fourteen of us, and he passed it around twice. Now when I think of it, I wonder how that could have been. We stopped at a small restaurant, but they had no food. They did have milk for tea and

38

HOLLAND

Corporal Chuck on the left, me on the right.

Aircrew, 143 Wing. (Canadian Forces Photo)

39

" R I G H T O N , Y O U G O T T H E E L B O W OO U T ! '

Aircrew, 143 Wing (Canadian Forces Photo)

40

HOLLAND

the Sergeant had soup so they warmed these up for us and we each had a little. We moved around as much as we could to improve our circulation. We moved on and had one more short stop before we arrived in Eindhoven. 'They billeted us in Nissen huts. It was warmer there, and I had an upper bunk. The mess hall was one that the local people had put together of rough boards they had scrounged. Heat was provided by large oil drums cut down to resemble a chair, and they used airplane high octane gas for fuel. They had special burners and they cooked on them. It was very noisy. One day the kitchen caught fire. They called the Air Force fire trucks over, sprayed it with foam, and soon put it out. "Eindhoven was just recovering from a surprise air raid which had taken place on New Year's Day. At Eindhoven, where the R.C.A.F. Fighter Reconnaissance and Typhoon Wings were stationed on New Year's Day, routine work was being carried on ... .The time was 0920 hours. Suddenly two waves of FW.190s and ME. 109s together with some jet-propelled aircraft, filled the sky, one flying out of the sun from east to west and the other strafing the runway from north l to south The Wing Medical Officer reported: ... in a few minutes the floors of our large ward and of the cor1. The R.C.A.F. Overseas, The Sixth Year, Toronto 1949, pp. 234-5.

41

"RIGHT ON, YOU GOT THE ELBOW OUT!"

ridors were literally covered with a mass of gaping wounds and bloody uniforms. One airman in the corner was screaming and waving in the air two mangled hands that hardly seemed attached at all to his arms.2 The rest of the wounded seemed surprised to find themselves there; they were silent and patient, waiting for someone to take care of them. One chap, who had had trouble with varicose veins, looked at his shattered leg and said, They sure fixed my veins for me.' He died the next day.. .. The staff worked hard. The drivers were right on the bit, (so were the vehicles), we got help from the outside and every patient had left within an hour and a half. In that time we handled 63 patients and evacuated 49.3

"When I reported for duty, I was put in a Directional Finding Truck instead of Flying Control. When the Signal Officer asked me if I had any experience with directional finding equipment and I said yes, he said, Thank God, they finally sent me someone who knows/ Our truck was just on the edge of the runway where we were in contact with the Airfield Flying Control; it was a busy place. When the pilots would ask us for a 'fix' we would pass it on to Flying Control. This was to prevent the enemy from communicating with our lines, and our pilots would know it was an authentic fix. They had special codes for this purpose. "In our truck we had three working shifts (broken). We 2.1 was his replacement. 3. Ibid., page 238.

42

HOLLAND

worked from morning til noon, then noon til supper time (5 o'clock), then 5 p.m. until morning. We would work two or three shifts and then get some time off. The night shifts were long and we were never busy, but the day shifts made up for that. "When I arrived there, the boys used to brag that three out of four had gonorrhea in our truck. In the remaining trucks, 66 per cent had it. Of course, they were all supposed to be cured. We did have check-ups, and if you reported sick, you got the works. "During the foggy nights the field would close down, and the Germans, who were near us, would send off 'buzz bombs' which looked like miniature planes. They did this when the weather was bad and we couldn't trace them. They usually came over our field and you could hear the 'put-put' of the motor. We would listen, and if it stopped, we knew it would glide down and explode. Although they were aimed at England, many never reached there. Some malfunction of the motor, I suspect, caused them to land prematurely. When they landed near a building it would shake. They did a lot of damage when they landed in a populated area. "It was a frightening experience for the people of England; they came without warning. One day we were going to dinner and we saw one about one hundred feet above us; we watched it til it disappeared. "For months the Germans had been perfecting this new se43

" R I G H T ON, YOU GOT THE E L B O W OUT!"

cret weapon which made its appearance on the night of June 12, 1944. By the following year, people had become more or less used to them flying by. In London it was a different story; an estimated 24,000 homes were destroyed, 52,000 rendered uninhabitable, and 900,000 damaged. Casualties were also heavy 5,800 killed, 17,000 seriously injured, and 23,000 slightly injured.4 "We lived near a small town, and they had little cabarets there where you could go in and have a glass of wine or beer. There was usually someone playing an accordion and a saxophone but there never seemed to be people around. The doors would have a heavy black curtain over them so no light would escape. The store fronts would be empty, and there was no merchandise to be seen. It was very sad. There was one large building downtown, Philips Electrical radio and supplies. People were very ambitious and industrious. They made do with very little; give them a blanket and they would make a nice coat out of it. Not surprising, when you think that these people had had to live in an occupied country - their own - for years. "At the end of our air field, they had an air-evacuation embarkment depot. When the wounded from the front arrived there, they would be sent to the different hospitals in England, Canada, and the States. I never knew that depot was there 4. Statistical information was obtained from The R.C.A.F. Overseas, The Fifth Year (see Bibliography).

44

Eindhoven, Holland. Typhoons, rocket type, of 143 Wing. (Below: Canadian Forces Photo)

" R I G H T ON, Y O U G O T T H E E L B O W O U T ! "

(which gives you some idea of the size of the place) until I got home and found out that one of my friends, Jimmy Blair, had been stationed there for four or five months and we had never met. 'The Dutch people would come to our field and sell us 'sabots/ small wooden shoes. My grandparents had brought wooden shoes with them when they came to Canada from Belgium many years before. They wore them for many years when they went out, putting them on over their house slippers. When they wore out, they sent home to Belgium for replacements. It was a custom they found hard to give up. "Our fighter planes were large; they carried rockets under their wings which were used to bomb bridges, trains, and shoot up enemy tanks. Sometimes, they would be called in to defend our tanks and men. Anytime they needed help, we would send four or five planes and give assistance. "One day a few friends and I were taking a walk in the woods near the station when we heard planes coming. We looked up and saw five Mustangs approaching. We always landed our planes one at a time but when the Americans were given permission to land, they flew in all together which really upset our English C.O. And when they flew out, it was in formation, again all together. "One day Johnson, Fittsel and I walked out to the highway and got a ride in a military vehicle to Arnhem. That was where 46

HOLLAND

RTO Stevens of Truro, M.S. Fred Stevens and I attended Wireless School in Montreal, then went our separate ways. We met again in Eindhoven where this picture was taken. After the war he was sent back to England, where he was put in charge of the wireless station at Odiham. He earned his corporal stripes there and ended up doing a sergeant's job. However, it was too soon for him to get another promotion, a fact he regretted. Air Force Regiment guard duty. (Canadian Forces Photo)

' R I G H T ON, Y O U G O T T H E E L B O W O U T ! '

Arnhem, Holland. 10,000 American paratroopers landed in this heavily mined field.

48

Johnson, Fittsel and me with the German Tiger 88 tank.

"RIGHT ON, YOU GOT THE ELBOW OUT!"

the Americans had dropped 10,000 paratroopers. Due to some technical error in orders, they landed in a heavily mined field in an area surrounded by Germans. They were trapped for a week or more; many were killed and others taken prisoner. An English soldier got me a few pieces of a chute which was made of camouflaged silk, which I still have. We had a picture taken by a German tank with a dead soldier nearby. "Next we went to Cleve. We wanted to cross the river but the Sergeant said no, so we walked down to Nijmegen.* Many houses were damaged and the whole area had been heavily bombed. In some of the houses that were still standing you would see dishes on the table or in the sink, and drawers pulled out. Indeed, the place looked as if someone had just stepped out to visit a neighbour. "We travelled across a large bridge at Nijmegen. This bridge had been under fire for some time but was intact when we crossed it. Many years later the saving of this bridge from the Germans was the subject of a movie. We had just crossed when anticraft batteries began firing at German aircraft. One had to be careful of flying shrapnel. I saw a Dutch couple standing in their doorway looking toward the bridge. When Fittsel yelled, Take cover/ I stayed where I was, watching those two people. I felt that if they thought it was safe, then I would be okay too. * Some of the place names have variations in spelling.

50

G/C A.D. Nesbitt (second from right) and A/C Broadhurst (right). Below: Buying War Bonds. (Canadian Forces Photos)

" R I G H T ON, Y O U G O T T H E E L B O W O U T ! "

"One day when I was in the Directional Finding truck, a call came in for me to take a bearing on a flight of Typhoons returning from Germany. I asked them for a transmission so I could get a bearing on them. They had apparently crossed over the Rhine toward Holland, and the bearing I gave them a few minutes later was at the time they were crossing the Holland Canal. They thought they were going across the Rhine the wrong way so the Flight Leader called me and asked, 'Are you sending us over the River?' thinking I had made a mistake. By this time the Flying Control Officer was getting upset so I said, 'Continue on that bearing, it's all right/ In a few minutes the flight flew over the field and the Leader said, 'Right on, you got the elbow out!' VISITING RELATIONS

"I was given a 72 hour pass, and at the end of the pass, I had my day off. However, I neglected to get a pass for that day, something I lived to regret. I decided to go to visit my relatives in Belgium, and I had to hitchhike as that was the only way to go. I got a ride to Brussels. Going down the highway you would see the artillery shells stacked up like cordwood, 2 or 3 feet long, also other munition. From Brussels I got a ride in an American truck to Gilly where some of my relatives lived. One of my uncles had moved to Canada in 1905. After the First World War,

52

HOLLAND

he had returned to Belgium to do his compulsory military duty. He got married and never came back to Canada. He could speak English quite well and as he lived in the American sector, he got a job with them as a translator. He faired off better than most. He had an 'in' with the Americans and would often do favours for them such as guarding their trucks if they were travelling through and wanted to stop for the night. In turn they would share their rations with him. "During the Battle of the Bulge, when the Germans were advancing, they were nearing the sector where my uncle lived and he was forced to flee taking only what he could carry. He was a marked man having collaborated with the Allies, especially the Americans. Later, he was able to return to his home; by then the Allies had gained control. "I visited another uncle who owned a small corset factory. He had made a fortune before the First World War and lost it, only to build up another fortune and lose that too when the Second World War came. They didn't have any coffee to drink so they used chicory. He told me he felt better since he started to drink that. He took me to see more of my relatives. Everyone wanted to see the cousin from Canada. "In England it was the custom for youngsters to approach you in the street and ask, 'Any gum, chum?' Among my relatives were some children. One little fellow had his finger in his mouth and he kept looking at me. Someone said he wanted to ask me 53

" R I G H T ON, Y O U G O T T H E E L B O W O U T ! "

something. Since all my relatives were Walloons, I asked them in French what he wanted and they said 'gum/ I always carried a supply so I gave him four or five sticks and he started to cry. I asked them what was wrong with him, and they said it was because he was so happy. "Some of my relatives were very poor after five years' of occupation and they did well to survive, but they were anxious to share what they had with me. "I visited another cousin who was a pharmacist. He was all dressed up in a tuxedo and he gave me a drink of liqueur which he had hidden away from the Germans. It was the first time I had ever tasted anything like that! They had a nice home and were probably better off than most of my other relatives. "It was nice to be able to have seen my people. With the exception of that uncle who had lived in Canada, I had never met any of them before. "It was very difficult to travel during this time; trains were few and crowded and needless to say never on schedule. When I started back to my station I got a ride as far as Brussels. I was crossing the square when I was stopped by three English M.P.'s. They wanted to see my pass, but unfortunately, I was travelling on my day off for which I had no pass so they took my name and number. A few days later, I was called up on charge for being A.W.O.L. on my day off! I went to the C.O. and explained but he still gave me two weeks C.B. The English Officer asked me what 54

HOLLAND

I got, and when I said two weeks, he said, 'You should have gotten a month/ Nice guy! "Since I was working days, they got me to do my two weeks of 'joe jobs' at night, scrubbing floors, etc. It took me a month to clear that up and I was exhausted, having to work 18 hours a day. As a result of this, I became ill. Later, I found out that it was an error on their part, but it was too late then. "We were there a few months when the rumor started that we were going to be shipped out. The Rhine Offensive had started. The Group Captain always called a meeting before we moved out so we would know where we were going and what to expect. "A few days before we left, we heard the roar of approaching planes. We went out to see the whole sky filled with planes towing gliders filled with troops coming from England."

55

CHAPTER FIVE

INTO GERMANY

"W V THEN WE LEFT EINDHOVEN they divided our Air Field in half. Half of everything went, then the other half. This would give us ground protection at all times and someone had to be available to receive messages at all times. Our first stop was a days' ride into Germany. Wesil was an open grass field. We set up camp and the next day the rest of our unit joined us. The water was contaminated, and we all became very ill with diarrhea and severe stomach pains. It was so bad we had to sit on makeshift toilets while we did our work. Naturally we couldn't shave. One day we were stopped by an English Signal Officer who demanded to know why we hadn't shaved. We told him about the water and he told us to use tea. They tried to get milk for us to drink but even that was scarce. 'When we felt better, three of us had a day off so we decided to go up to the Rhine and cross it. We told our Sergeant but he said, 'Don't tell me, I don't want to know. You know you're not supposed to be there.' Nevertheless, we went. On the way, we 56

INTO GERMANY

met up with a column of British tanks. They too were going across but they had stopped for their tea. They cut a square hole in the ground and filled it with gas and set fire to it; then they set an oil can with the top cut off on the fire and made the tea in that. We had tea with them and would have travelled with them except that they were going very slowly, and we were anxious to get on our way. The regular bridge had been destroyed, and the engineers had put up a pontoon bridge further up the river. We did get a ride later on in a lorry but we walked across the bridge. It was quite a sensation, bobbing up and down. The bridge was made up of 20-ft. canoes put side by side and large partitions laid across them. On the other side was a village. It had been badly bombed and now there was not a living soul to be seen. We looked in some of the homes and everything was in a shambles. In one the floor was littered with pipe stems and bowls, some crooked and some straight, but nothing fit. We walked further into the country. It's a wonder we didn't get lost for there were many roads. We followed the transport signs and were able to find our way back to the station. OSNABRUCK

"Our next move was to Osnabriick well into the interior of Germany. We were part of the Tactical Air Force and in support of the front lines. The weather was beautiful which was a pleasant 57

" R I G H T ON, Y O U G O T T H E E L B O W

OUT!"

On convoy, through Germany after the Rhine offensive. Two views of "Sparrow" pontoon bridge over the Rhine at Xanten.

58

INTO GERMANY

Destruction! A bridge on the Rhine, Germany.

" R I G H T ON, Y O U G O T T H E E L B O W O U T ! "

surprise. Our tents were along the bank of a man-made canal. Someone had made a raft which was attached by a wire to the other side so we could pull ourselves back and forth. The canal was quite deep and about forty or fifty feet wide. We could shout across. "One day we went for a walk along the canal; there was a road on either side. The countryside was flat and green. No evidence of war could be seen in this area. We crossed over a bridge and then came up on the other side of the canal. When we came to the raft, three or four jumped on. I was the last one and that made it too heavy, and it began to sink. I was up to my knees in water when I had to jump for the bank being careful not to get my rifle wet. Luckily, it was nice and warm because I was very wet by this time. The next trip over, I went alone.
INTO G E R M A N Y

On convoy through Germany after the Rhine offensive. (Canadian Forces Photo)

61

More convoy scenes (Canadian Forces Photos)

62-

INTO GERMANY

"One evening we were sitting around talking when one of the men, Red Kirk, was telling the boys a story about this chap he had met when he was stationed in Trenton, Ontario. At first, I didn't pay much attention to what he was saying, then he said something and I perked up my ears; he was talking about 'Big AT, Alex LeMal, a friend of mine from home. Apparently, he was always coming in late and this time he was caught by the M.R's and sent up before the C.O. for punishment. The C.O. asked him some questions, where he was from, etc. It came out that he was from Inverness, Nova Scotia, of Belgian descent. Now it turned out that the C.O. had a similar background, so a bond was established and the charges were dropped. This happened many times, and the charges were dropped each time. The C.O. and Big Al became good friends and often went out on 'toots' together. If he was late for work and the S.P.'s went over to the barracks to get him, he would laugh at them. Often he wouldn't even bother going to work. This continued for some time, then the roof caved in. The C.O. was transferred and Big Al lost his protective umbrella. I think he got posted himself soon afterwards; perhaps that was a good thing. "After the war when I returned home, I saw Big Al in the post office talking to some of the boys and he was telling them some stories about his exploits. I don't think they were taking him seriously, so I said to him, 'What's this I heard about you when you were stationed in Trenton?' Then I repeated some of the 63

" R I G H T ON, Y O U G O T T H E E L B O W O U T ! ' 7

stories Red Kirk had told us. He said, Tou know Red Kirk?' and I said he was a friend of mine. After that the boys looked at him with new respect. HANNOVER

"Our next move was to Hannover. This time we travelled in convoy and we felt safer. When we travelled from Wesil to Osnabriick, we had had to stop overnight. I can still recall my relief when someone came to relieve me of my guard duty. We had been in a small valley, very quiet, but yet very scary. "On our way to Hannover, our sergeant became very ill. He had eaten some corned beef that was contaminated so the poor guy had to stand on the running board and was sick most of the way. When we arrived at our destination - a huge grassy field about the size of two or three football fields - it was to find a German farmer with a team of horses ploughing up the field. They didn't take long to get rid of him. Apparently we had been expected. "Our tents were all grouped together around the outside of the field; the planes always landed one way. One morning, we were awakened by German aircraft. They went up and down the field firing at the tank and anything else they could see. I pulled on my boots and ran into the woods. MacDonald from Antigonish had been sleeping in the truck. He jumped out, stepped 64

Above: Guiding in! Below: A repair job. (Canadian Forces Photos)

'RIGHT ON, YOU GOT THE ELBOW OUT!7

Snow!

66

INTO GERMANY

into his boots, lost one, went back for it, lost it again, and went back for it the second time. Then he turned and said, The hell with it/1 started to laugh even though I was scared. I think now that my biggest fear over there was that I would show fear. "Soon after, we had a visit from a travelling show and the C.O. requested a flight from a nearby fighter squadron for air protection in case of another air raid while the show was on. They had a stage with a canopy over it. It was a variety concert and a nice change for us. "Some of the mechanics picked up some motorcycles and started to fix them up. It got so they were spending more time on the motorcycles than on the planes so orders were 'no more motorcycles/ I picked up a woman's bicycle and with it I was able to see a lot of the countryside. "Our field was protected by antiaircraft guns. They had a special crew (khaki uniforms) to look after them called the Air Force Regiment. "One afternoon we went out into the countryside. The streets were made of cobblestones. There were few houses to be seen but we did see a long, low barracks so we went over to investigate. Some men and women lived there, Poles and Russians, and many were very elderly. It was a dirty, filthy place and the odour was awful. We came then to a small group of houses and we went in one. A young boy told us there was to be a dance that night. On the way over to where the dance was to be held, we met up 67

" R I G H T ON, Y O U G O T T H E E L B O W O U T ! "

with some pilots from our station going around in a jeep. "We ran into some S.P.'s, newly arrived from Canada, who informed us that we were not supposed to be there, that it was against D.RO.'s. Then the pilots called them to attention and said it wasn't on the D.RO.'s. The S.P.'s were undecided so they left. Shortly after, the pilots left too. The building where the dance was had a foul smell. It had bunks against the wall and a few elderly men were sitting around. There was one attractive girl, in a pretty dress, probably in her twenties; I danced with her quite a bit then decided to take her for a walk. We got as far as the door, and there was a line of men there. I changed my mind about the walk, and we went back and danced some more. "Some American soldiers came in. I was surprised to see them since I didn't know there were any in our sector. One was quite inebriated and he kept playing with his rifle. I was relieved when they left. "When it was time to leave, I couldn't find my friend. He had been going around with two Lutheran girls who lived across the river, and the bridge was damaged so it was a precarious journey. Therefore, I assumed he had volunteered to see them home, and I decided to go back on my own. I had my rifle strapped to my bike and it made a great noise clanging away. Although you couldn't see anyone you knew the Germans were hiding in the woods. It was a very spooky experience. I suddenly decided it was foolhardy to continue on my own at this late hour, 68

INTO G E R M A N Y

so I went back to the house and told them I would wait for my friend. I was given a straw pallet so I laid down on the floor but every time I moved something stuck in me, and the noise the straw made settling down kept me awake; I think I scratched all night. "I was up at first light and started back to camp, about a twomile ride. I arrived back in time for breakfast and found that my friend had come back by himself. When he told the sergeant he had been out all night, the sergeant wouldn't believe him, so when he saw me he said, 'Monnon, we were out all night, weren't we?' Of course, I said, 'No, we were here in camp/ Well, that was very upsetting because he wanted to brag about his exploits, and I thought I was just covering up for him. Later, I did admit that I had spent the night away from camp and that gave us 'respect/ How young we were! "Some of the boys used to go into German homes but they never gave them anything that was any good. One day they had a bottle of so-called German whisky that they were passing around. When I smelled it, I knew it was pure methyl alcohol. I was familiar with it because I used it at home in my Etna Burner. When I told the boys not to drink it, we poured some in a small container and set a match to it. It burnt with a blue flame and I knew it was very toxic. "Some of the boys had been going out to factories in the surrounding areas, and they brought back some beautiful 69

Mealtime

(Canadian Forces Photos)

INTO GERMANY

Someone did the washing! (Canadian Forces Photo)

71

" R I G H T ON, Y O U G O T T H E E L B O W O U T ! "

thread one time. I sent some home to my aunt and she made nice doilies with it. "There were two main roads, one on either side of the air field, but one day I decided to take a different route. I was alone but had my rifle with me; we were never supposed to leave camp without it. I met an elderly man and a young lad and they had a seedy-looking man walking between them. He was a German soldier they had captured in the woods. I started talking to the young lad; he could speak English and we had quite a conversation. The older man turned to him and told him to pay attention to the prisoner and not to talk. After that, we continued in silence. After awhile, we reached a big old farmhouse that had been used by the Polish underground. The boy turned to me and said, "When you finish fighting the Germans, you will stay here?' I said no, that I would be going home. He said, 'No, you will stay and fight the Russians. They are your enemy too/ He had been wearing a German Hitler Youth shirt which was a brownish color and had french cuffs. He took it off and gave it to me as well as a Hitler Youth knife, red with a black swastika on the side. I still have it. "One day when I was on duty in our truck (that's where you got all the signals coming in from the rear), I heard that the war was over. I was probably one of the first to hear that the Germans had surrendered. "In Hannover, we met up with victims of war from the pris72

INTO GERMANY

Groundcrew hard at work on aircraft engine.

73

" R I G H T ON, Y O U G O T T H E E L B O W O U T ! "

oner-of-war camps and concentration camps that the Germans had left when they retreated. Some were soldiers and service men, others were civilians. It was an eye-opener to see the results of war first hand. BELSEN

"We were not far from the concentration camp at Belsen and we were told we could visit it if we wanted to. [Belsen was located in Northwest Germany, on Lueneburger Heide; it was taken by the Allies on April 14, 1945, and later destroyed.] First, they stuck a gun down our front and back and squirted us with a disinfectant powder; when you came out you got the same treatment. Our squadron photographer took many pictures. They were digging trenches about 12 ft. wide and 7 or 8 ft. deep to bury the dead. They laid the bodies down, like cordwood, until the trench was filled. "In one building, a young woman was laying with her head on her dead grandmother. If you passed them a cigarette they ate it. They were literally starving to death. It is hard to imagine how thin and listless those poor people were. They had sent food over from our camp, but it took a long time to bring order to that scene. Some were beyond the suffering stage and were just slowly dying. The stench of the dead and dying would live with us for many days. It was a picture we would never forget. 74

Clean-up crew at work at Belsen. The photo shows a mass grave.

" R I G H T ON, YOU GOT THE E L B O W O U T ! "

"One day a couple of friends and I went exploring in a wooded area. We came to a high fence with a gate and a sign on it in German. We assumed it meant 'keep out' but the gate was partly open so we went in. There was a paved road about 200 yards long with a small locked building to our right. From the building out to the end of the road there was a pile of five or six inch shells, about three feet long, stacked five feet high. We soon found out they were gas artillery shells the Germans had left behind. Just then a jeep drove in, and we were asked what we were doing there and how we had gotten in. We told them we had come in through the gate; they then told us it was a restricted area and ordered us out. "One day a German woman was killed near our station and some witnesses asked our C.O. to investigate. We were all lined up on parade form, but the witnesses couldn't identify any of our boys."

76

CHAPTER SIX

FLENSBURG VIKI AND HOME

W WE

WERE NEXT sent to Flensburg Viki. It was a long way from Hannover, about 500 km, and it took us several days. It was a nice station with large clean washrooms and lots of hot water. They had German caretakers and they kept the place immaculate.
" R I G H T ON, Y O U G O T T H E E L B O W

OUT!"

Aligning our truck for directional finding in a field of rye.

F L E N S B U R G VIKI AND HOME

the ground. A few weeks later they were all taken down to Husum on the west coast where they had a detention camp. I met a German woman there whose husband had been an officer in the German Army; now he was a prisoner at Husum and she had applied for a pass to go down to visit him. She told me she had been with her husband when he was stationed in Poland. As the Russians were advancing into Poland, she was undecided as to what she should do so she asked her husband. She thought if she stayed the Russians would rape her and if she went back home the British would rape her. "Her husband told her, 'Go home to Germany, the British will be more gentle/ "One day a friend and I went to the large town of Flensburg near the Danish border. Since we were so near we decided to go into that country. We had our bicycles and we took a shortcut over a country road. We came to an outpost and there were two guards there. They were very friendly and showed us some German machine guns they had. We gave them some cigarettes and they told us we could go on. We soon arrived at a small village. Denmark was a dairy country and they always managed to have nice pastries and cream. I bought a small hotplate for myself at a little store there. Then I was able to cook myself some extra things to eat - things we had picked up around the country. We made several trips into Denmark always using the same route. One day while there, we saw this big English tank ap79

" R I G H T ON, Y O U G O T T H E E L B O W O U T ! "

preaching with the gun aimed at us. They stopped us and said this place was out of bounds. I think that they were looking for some donations which they did not get. "We used to get a ration of cigarettes from the Air Force every month, then they had a N.A.A.RI. there where we could pick up cigarettes, chocolate bars, etc. They made an agreement that they would pick up our cigarettes and take them to one of the larger cities in Denmark and exchange them for pastries of all kinds. Our mess sergeant did the same, and so we were often treated to great desserts. We practiced the barter system quite a bit. 'When we came out of our mess hall with our eating utensils, we scraped out plates clean in a barrel, washed them in another which held soapy water, then rinsed them in a third barrel which was placed over a fire and held boiling water. After meals the Germans and Poles who lived in the woods around the camp would come over and empty our garbage into pails and take it away. That was what they ate. "Coming down the road, you would often see this elderly man on a bicycle. He was well dressed and probably German. If he spied a cigarette butt, he would get off his bicycle, tear open the butt and empty the tobacco into a little can he carried. 'The C.O. of the station had a platoon of Germans come in every morning to work around the camp. They paraded in, every inch soldiers, and did a good day's work. I thought they were 80

Disabled German aircraft on the airfield. The one below is an Fwl90.

" R I G H T ON, Y O U G O T T H E E L B O W O U T ! "

a proud people, unlike some other people we met. I remember going into this small German home one day. There was a woman alone there and the place was so clean you could eat off the floor. "By this time we were able to pick up some cameras, and we enjoyed taking pictures. It was also easy to get film. One day when I was picking up some film in this little photo shop, the girl there said Canadians didn't know how to take pictures; they either underexposed them or overexposed them. 'There was a small swimming hole near the camp, a favourite place to go on a hot day. It was always filled with laughing happy children. It was good the war was over for them, as well as for us. "We spent a nice summer there, and the day it was announced that we could fraternize with the Germans was a happy one for us. Now at least, we could talk to them; up to this time, you were not supposed to talk to a German or go into their homes, a rule I am sure we all broke simply because we are a friendly people and used to speaking to everyone. I was riding my bicycle one day and I stopped to talk to two young Germans. Just then, I saw a jeep coming and started to pedal slowly away. They stopped me and told me to be careful. That was a close call. Some were sentenced up to two years for contact with a German. Hours later, when I went in to eat my supper, I found it difficult to hold my coffee cup; my hands were still shaking. 'There was a resort lake not far from the station and once 82

F L E N S B U R G V I K I AND HOME

At Flensburg, Germany, in 1945. Note false roof on building behind me.

The swimming hole.

83

"Ready for action/'

Johnson and I horsing around.

84

F L E N S B U R G V I K I AND HOME

the ban was lifted, it became a favourite place for the men to go. Very often a truck full of the boys would go in their 'off-duty'. It was a relief for them to sit around and talk. "I was travelling along on my bicycle one day when I noticed a barn with some activity around it so I went over for a closer look. When I entered, seven or eight Germans dropped down from the hayloft. I wondered then if it had been such a smart idea, but they were friendly and asked me if I had any pipe tobacco. One of them had a small camera which I thought was a toy so I wasn't interested. However, I told my roommate Murphy about it. He was an American who had joined our sector. The next day he went with some tobacco and got the camera. When I had a chance to examine it, I found out it was a 'spy' camera; it was a beautiful thing with a built-in filter and one thousandth-ofa-second speed. I regretted not giving it a closer look before. "Corporal George was a frail-looking chap but he was a wizard at radio repairs which he did in his spare time. The stations we wanted to be able to pick up were British ones, BL1, BL2, and BL3 which were transmitting in AM (amplitude modulation). However, the radios we had could receive only in shortwave so we couldn't pick up those stations. George got a pair of pliers and took a small radio and set about changing it to receive in AM. He took the radio apart and started pulling out blades on the tuning condenser. I said, 'George, what are you doing?' He said, Trying to make a radio out of this.' He put the back on and 85

"RIGHT ON, YOU GOT THE ELBOW OUT!"

sure enough, we could get two BL stations without shortwave. Another day I had seen him take apart a small radio and he had every part out on the table. I asked him what he was doing and he said, 'Cleaning up this radio/1 said, 'How do you know where to put everything?' and he replied, 'Only one place for them to go/ Sure enough, before long, he had that radio blasting away too. He really was a whiz. "Although our field was on occupational duties and the war was over, we still had work to do. Planes still continued to use the field and often we worked with a reduced staff. HEADING HOME

'Then it was our turn to ship out. We would be sent first to England to await our dispatch home. I believe we travelled by truck as far as Hamburg and then by train to Blankenberge, Belgium. I will never forget my first glimpse of Hamburg. That city had been heavily bombed, but by the time we arrived the debris had been swept clean. I remember a group of teenagers standing around watching us. One of our group was eating a candy bar and he broke off a piece and threw it at them. Immediately there was a pile-up on the floor. It reminded me of when you threw bait into a fishpond. "Blankenberge was a nice resort town on the coast of Belgium. The main street ran down by the waterfront and the beach 86

Scenes of destruction in Hamburg. By this time the streets had been swept clean.

" R I G H T ON, Y O U G O T T H E E L B O W O U T ! "

was lovely. It was nice and warm and everyone was anxious to get in the water. I went to a store and bought myself a pair of swimming trunks. The beach was crowded, but the water was calm and warm. "We then proceeded to Ostende, a few miles down the coast, and from there we were shipped to England. Our destination was Bournemouth, another beautiful resort. There, they put us up in some old hotels on the waterfront. They were very bare but they put in cots for us, and they were comfortable enough. Our hotel happened to be the farthest from the mess hall so we had quite a walk for our meals. The town was nice and clean and they had some dancing pavilions on the waterfront also. We were there about two or three weeks. "Unfortunately, I caught a bad cold and the Medical Officer issued an order for my immediate discharge. The damp weather had brought on that bronchial condition that had plagued me in Holland. Needless to say, I wasn't very popular with my friends; everyone wanted to go home. I was then sent down to Torquay, another beautiful spot. I stayed in a hotel there, bare but for our cots, but comfortable and only a short walk to the mess hall. I felt better and was able to get out and take some pictures. Once we had roll call, we were free to take off for the day and a week end pass could easily be arranged. I met a nice girl from near London and she invited me to her home for the weekend. Her father had a meat store and they raised rabbits. We went for a 88

F L E N S B U R 6 V I K I AND HOME

bicycle ride and on the way back it became dark and a policeman stopped me because I didn't have a light on my bike. The lights had come on in England again, as the song went. We went to see London Bridge and to St. James Park. There you could see no evidence of war; it was a peaceful scene. "In Torquay the streets bordered the waterfront and the sea was held back by a high wall. There was a promenade near the waterfront where we used to walk. At one part of the town, there was a small cove with a concrete wall on three sides. They had a beautiful pavilion there where we used to go dancing. I met a girl from home there. Her name was Mary Kennedy and she was a nurse in the American Army. I was walking down the street one day with a friend when I saw her coming toward us. I turned to my friend and said, That's a nice girl coming, I'll think 111 ask her for a date/ He said, Tou're crazy/ not realizing I knew her. So I just walked up to her and saluted; we had a nice chat. I also met Alex Rankin from home there. It was always a strange feeling to meet someone you knew, so far away from home. "We were shipped home in November and it was cold and miserable. I was seasick most of the way and had to stay in my cabin except when they cleaned the place, and then we had to go out on deck. It was good to be back in Halifax but we still could not go home. First, we had to go to Lachine, Quebec. There we were all sorted out, and everyone was sent to the station nearest his home-town. Mine happened to be Eastern Pas89

" R I G H T ON, Y O U G O T T H E E L B O W O U T ! '

Bournemouth, on the south coast of England.

90

Torquay, England, fall 1945.

Relaxing at Torquay. Next stop Nova Scotia and home

" R I G H T ON, Y O U G O T T H E E L B O W O U T ! "

sage. We were there only a few days. It was necessary to visit all the stores and establish that you didn't owe anything. Then you were given your official discharge with home the next stop. "While I was waiting for the train, I met Basil Skinner, a school chum of mine. It was December 23, 1945, and we were going home for Christmas. We got as far as Truro, and the train was so crowded, we decided to go to a hotel and take a train the next morning. In the meantime, my brother George who had also been on that train, found out I had gone to the hotel and came up too. We hadn't seen each other for four years or more. Next morning, the train was just as crowded. George had a sore knee so he sat on the toilet - the only seat available - most of the way. "At this time, we could only think of home. I think we would have walked if we had to."

92

GLOSSARY

A.W.O.L.

absent without leave

C.B.

confined to barracks

chicory

a European perennial, sometimes used as a coffee substitute

LAC

leading aircraftman

C.O.

Commanding Officer

fix

determination of position obtained by radio or wireless or by observation of stars or sun

M.P.

Military Police

N.A.A.F.I.

Navy, Army, Air Force Institute

Nissen hut a barrel-shaped prefabricated structure of corrugated iron with cement floor O.C.

officer commanding

93

" R I G H T ON, Y O U G O T T H E E L B O W O U T ! "

R.C.A.F.

Royal Canadian Air Force

R/T

radio telephone

S.P.

Service Police

Walloon

language, similar to French, spoken in part of Belgium

W.D.

Women's Division

W.D.S.P.

Women's Division Service Police

94

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Hatch, E J., The Aerodrome of Democracy: Canada and the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan, 1939-1945. Directorate of History, Department of National Defence, Ottawa, 1983. McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology, Vol. 4. McGraw-Hill, Toronto. The R.C.A.R Overseas, The First Four Years. Oxford University Press, Toronto, 1944. The R.C.A.F. Overseas, The Fifth Year. Oxford University Press, Toronto, 1945. The R.C.A.F. Overseas, The Sixth Year. Oxford University Press, Toronto, 1949.

95

-RIGHT ON, YOU GOT THE ELBOW OUT!"

SPECIAL THANKS To

The National Personnel Records Centre, National Archives, Ottawa, for supplying copies of my husband's R.C.A.E record cards. Mr. W. A. B. Douglas, Director, Directorate of History, National Defence Headquarters, Ottawa. Department of National Defence, Ottawa, for their permission to use pictures issued by the R.C.A.E Mr. Fred Stevens, Truro, N.S., for his corroboration. Mr. John Mercer, Library Reference Department, Acadia University, Wolfville, N.S.

96