| Bert Thompson |
| Interview With Bert Thompson When did you join the forces? - November 2, 1943 - at the age of 18 - joined at the same time as Jim Richards - Bert's Service Number - R2720403 - Jim's Service Number - R2720402 Why did you join the forces? - it seemed like a good thing to do. - I had a brother and sister in the forces. - Brother Gordon was in the Air Force, he was a Navigator - it was something you had to do. Where did you serve? - Mani Depot - Edmonton - we learned to march, and how to keep our mouths shut - Calgary - Wireless School - Lethbridge - Bombing and Gunnery School - Regina - 175th - we focussed on our maths and on training - Dafoe - Bombing and Gunnery School - Winnipeg - Navigation School, Graduated - went to Kansas City for a holiday with a friend from Winnipeg What rank did you reach? - Sergeant - finished as a Navigator Bombadier How long were you in the service? - November 2, 1943 - June 15, 1945 What kinds of planes did you fly? - Twin engines - 3 or 4 different kinds. Did you train overseas? - No Why didn't you serve overseas? - By the time I finished training, the war was almost over. What were your experiences like? - Mostly good, met a lot of good guys, met a lot of guys from all sorts of places. If you had the chance, would you do it again? - Oh, yes. I think that all kids should join the forces, it teaches discipline and acceptance of other people, especially people you don't get along with. Some stories - There was a guy from Edmonton, bad attitude, and God's gift to everything. One night I heard the Sergeant giving someone heck, the next thing I saw was this guy rolling a stone across the bridge with his nose. - At Dafoe, one of the drills for the pilots was to lie in the bombing compartment on your belly. One day, Taffy Thomas, an excitable Welshman was in the bombing compartment. My friends and I decided to play a trick on Taffy. They started yelling and saying that they were on fire, to get ready to evacuate. Somebody went back to tell Taffy they were only joking, he had his parachute on and was getting ready to jump. They had to act quckly to stop him from jumping. - Also at Dafoe, one of the drills was to fill up with bombs, take off and drop them, then land and repeat the whole thing. It was especially foggy one particular night, so he had to land his plane during the second run. When he and co-pilot Gerry Beacham heard a plane flying over them, they followed the sound only to find that the plane had crashed into some trees, all the people on board were dead. - When I served in Edmonton, there was a young man, with a great sense of humour, who had silky, pink pajamas. Every night when he went to bed he would put on his pajamas, very loudly saying how soft they were and how much he loved them. One night he came in, ready to go to bed, but when he went to put on his pajamas, they weren't there. He searched for his precious pajamas, but could not find them. He eventually gave up and went to bed. When he laid down, he looked up and saw his pajamas nailed to the roof. - It was a daily drill to go for a run around the lake. Quite often they would make arrangements to meet their girlfriends. Eventually their commanding officer took note of how longit was taking them to do their run. The result was having to run under supervision. |