Who Was in Joe's Place?



Of the seven crew members flying February14/15, 1945, five were regulars, and two were stand-ins. One of the stand-ins was replacing Joe who was away at a Bomb Leader's Course. One was replacing "Glen" who was sick. Even though R A Thorne was qualified as a Bomb Aimer, he is the only crew member also qualified as a Navigator.  Robert John McCallum was probably acting as Bomb Aimer that night in Joe's place.

Who was standing in for Glen? We know four of the regular crew members because three are mentioned in the log (Ross, Barney and Wally) and a fourth (Keith Rainford) is commemorated in the name of Joe's eldest son. I can't be sure, but I would speculate it might have been R A Thorne. Even though his body was recovered in Sweden and would therefore have been reported promptly, Joe doesn't mention him in his note.

Name	Trade	Buried	Mentioned
Charlton	Pilot	Palsjo, Sweden	"Ross"
Thorne	Navigator/Bomb Aimer	Malmo, Sweden
Rainford	Wireless/AirGunner	Karlsund	Ross "Keith" Colquhoun
Fedorchuk	Flt Eng	Palsjo, Sweden	"Wally"
McCallum	Bomb Aimer
Bostwick	AirGunner	Langeland
Barnes	Wireless/AirGunner	Palsjo, Sweden	"Barney"

The Answers!
On 29 Dec. 2003 , I stumbled on an excellent web site on #429 Squadron that included a Personnel file covering the time Joe and his crew served there. From this file it was possible to find the date each crew member joined #429. Since Joe and his crew "crewed-up" at OTU, they all arrived at #429 on 25-Oct-1944. R A Thorne and R J  McCallum arrived 29-Jul-1944 confirming my previous conclusion that these were the unfortunate stand-ins.

I then searched for other sqadron members who arrived at the same date as Joe and his other known crew members.  There were two with "G"  as first initial: G F Bren, Air Gunner, and G M Campbell, Navigator. Since it is a Navigator we are looking for, it looks like Campbell is the other crew member spared by fate. Checking with the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, I found no entries for G M Campbell, so it would appear he survived the war.

New 11 November 2005! Indeed he did survive ... until 2005. I managed to find his son who confirmed my conclusions. From the attached obituary, it his clear he made good use of the extra time fate offered him.

Published: 02/03/2005 Regina, SK CAMPBELL_With deep sorrow, we announce the death of Glen Miller Campbell on February 1st, 2005 in Regina. Born on September 23, 1916 in Avonlea, SK, he was the third of seven children born to Sandy and Eva Campbell. He grew up on the family farm and attended Sunshine School. Glen was a natural athlete throughout his entire life, playing ball, rugby, hockey, curling, golf, shuffleboard and tennis. After Grade 12, Glen went to the University of Saskatchewan obtaining his Accounting Degree and Chartered Accountant's Designation in 1942. With the outbreak of World War II, Glen navigated RCAF bombers stationed in York, England and Aberdeen, Scotland. He met his sweetie, Fern Hagerty, farm daughter and Registered Nurse on the ice skating rink in Moose Jaw. They married in April 1946. Shortly after, Glen and his brothers led a team of 21 young men who custom combined wheat harvests from Texas to the Dakotas. In the spring of 1947 Glen attended his first of six Canadian Curling Championships, winning the MacDonald Brier in 1955 with brothers Garnet, Lloyd and Don. Over the years, his other curling mates were father Sandy, brother Gordon, Jack Keys and Bob Pickering. Glen was a 25-year Registered Seed Grower in the Pense district from 1950-1995 and a Founding Director of the Palliser Wheat Growers Assocation. He and Fern moved permanently to Regina in 1975 and started wintering in Texas. Glen lost Fern in 1985. He was blessed to have two special women in his life when he met Elsie Teulon. They continued to winter in Texas together, collecting many shuffleboard and golf trophies. He continued ""balancing the books"" for his relatives until his 88th birthday. Glen was predeceased by wife Fern, parents Sandy and Eva, brother Don, sister Verna and her husband Bill Evans, and Lloyd's wife, Wilma Campbell. Poppa will be sorely missed by children Doug (Irene) Campbell, Cochrane, AB; Glenys (Rand) McIntyre, Regina; James Campbell (Steve Stellenwerf), Houston, TX; and his loving companion Elsie Teulon; brothers Lloyd, Pense, Garnet (Deverne) and Gordon, Avonlea; sister Margaret (Archie) Smith, Boulder, CO; sister-in-law Grace Campbell, Toronto; and brotherand sisterin-law Ray and Anna Hagerty, Moose Jaw, as well as numerous nieces and nephews; Grandchildren Keith, Ross and Jennifer Campbell, Lindsay and Brandon McIntyre. Heartfelt thanks go out to Dr. Abdulhadi, Dr. Gorman, Dr. Bradel, Dr. Clein, staff of the Renal and CRI Unit, Palliative Home Care and William Booth Palliative Wing Staff. Funeral Services will be held at Speers Funeral Chapel, 2136 College Avenue, Regina on Saturday, February 5, 2005 at 11:00 a.m. Flowers gratefully declined. Those wishing to do so, may give to the Kidney Foundation of Canada-Regina Chapter, or William Booth Wascana Grace Hospice. A brief memorial service will take place in Avonlea, SK in July as part of the 50th Miller Family Reunion