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Newfoundland, Winter of 1941 |
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During the winter of 1941, "D" Company and "A" Company, which had shared duties in Botwood, exchanged places with "B" Company and "C" Company in Gander.
Life in Gander was dull with not much to do while off duty. I got a job answering the telephone in the contriol tower at the airport. That helped pass the time, and was rather interesting, because it was at that time that the Ferry Command was in full swing, with planes landing and taking-off for England at all hours of the night and day.
The job kept me off the bone chilling Guard Duty on the runways, a job which Lloyd Doull, then my Platoon Sergeant, still reminds me. |
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Home |
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Disclaimer |
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I Join the Army |
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Page 4 |
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Crash Site of Sir Frederick Banting's Last Flight |
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Page 5 |
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Page 6 |
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Page 7 |
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Page 8 |
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Page 9 |
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Page 10 |
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Page 11 |
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Page 12 |
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Page 13 |
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Page 14 |
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Picture not to be copied without permission |
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Page 15 |
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While on duty at the control tower I witnessed the takeoff of the plane which bore Sir Frederick Banting, discoverer of insulin, to his death in the wilds of Newfoundland on February 27, 1941. |
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Page 16 |
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Page 17 |
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In the spring of 1941, after spending the winter in Botwood and Gander, we were loaded onto the Newfie Bullet and moved to Lester's Field Barracks in St. John's. Quite a change, with the whole Regiment together again after being split up ever since leaving Sussex in November of 1940. The excitement of being in a big town after Botwood and then a few months at Gander Airport, was something we found no trouble taking advantage of, because there was no town at Gander, only the airport, the army barracks, the railroad, a few service personnel, and some RCAF people. |
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Page 18 |
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In My Memory |
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Photo Gallery |
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St. John's, and Edgar |
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Many stories can be told of our stay in St. John's, so I'll begin with the one that occurred shortly after we arrived. This concerns a fabulous character by the name of Edgar. Edgar was from a tiny hamlet known then as little Montreal. What travelling he had done before joining the Army I do not know. He was a little older than most of us. He had the art of story telling and a sense of humour to set them off, sometimes crude, sometimes witty, but always attention-getting. |
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Sir Frederick Banting |
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Click Here To Go To Part One
Home |
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Edgar was in "B" Company. He was in Botwood just before we moved to the city. He showed up on Parade one day needing a haircut. Lieutenant Woodside* who was Orderly Officer that day, told him to make the neccessary adjustments. Sure enough, Edgar went out on Parade the next day with a new haircut. Woodside bawled him out and told him to get a real haircut. The following day Edgar showed up with his scalp shaved clean. |
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In the prison camp,I shared a room with Edgar and some others for a while. He kept us amused with recitations of Drummond's poetry, and tales of his early days in Beau Glen. His humour and up-beat attitude during our days as POW's helped me to forget my miseries and to survuve until 1945. Edgar also made it back home but he died many years ago. |
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Click Here
To Go To
Part Two
Home |
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We Move to St. John's |
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Soon after we arrived the good ladies of St. John's sought to welcome us by inviting us to afternoon tea at the "Caribou Hut", the St. John's YMCA. Imagine the scene. Dainty, sophisticated ladies, from the goodness of their hearts, attempting to entertain us, serving tea and cakes to a group of soldiers who were fresh from the boondocks, semi-literate, and certainly devoid of social graces. |
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Links |
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The tinkling of the piano rendering such classics as "In An English Country Garden", soon bored the audience, whose musical tastes favoured the songs of Hank Snow, and Wilf Carter. Someone shouted, "Labrecque! We Want Labreque!" Now Labraque was good, nay, he was expert at reciting the poems of Henry Drummond, "Leetle Bateese, The Stovepipe Hole, and especially, Jean-Batiste Trudeau, and had amused us on many an occasion.
After much catcalling and shouts of "C'mon, Edgar," he finally got up on the stage. He began by rubbing his cleanly-clipped head and apologizing for his lack of hair. Then he said, "I'm not in the mood to recite Jean-Batiste Trudeau today, but I'll tell you a story." What follows is the story he told .... |
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* Woodside, Arnold, Lt. kia.Dec. 19/41 |
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Please mail me |
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Please View My Guestbook |
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