Red Deer 1913 — 2013 Create Celebrate Commemorate
COURAGE REMEMBERED
COLD, HARD, FLUFFY
SNOW FACTS
The Advocate honours Central Alberta’s veterans
Columnist Harley Hay shares a few fun factoids — PAGE A6
Red Deer Advocate WEEKEND EDITION SATURDAY, NOV. 9, 2013
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‘WE WERE ALL SCARED’
There’s nothing funny or charming or anything like that about war. All it does is break up families.
BY MYLES FISH ADVOCATE STAFF
Danny Murray does not classify himself a hero, just a once-eager airman who was “very, very very lucky” to come out of the Second World War alive. The 90-year-old Red Deerian was once a teenaged Red Deerian who “like every red-blooded boy wanted to be a pilot.” After enlisting in 1942, though, the Royal Canadian Air Force decided Murray’s small frame would make him a perfect fit for the back of a plane, and a tail gunner he became. “It was small, small people that got that job,” said Murray from his Deer Park home. Although it was not the job he wanted, the position may have ultimately saved his life. On June 10, 1944, Murray’s big
WEATHER Sun and cloud. High -4, low -15.
FORECAST ON A2
bomber was an easy target as it flew low on a mission above a marshalling yard along the French-Belgian border. When enemy anti-aircraft fire hit the plane, Murray was able to bail out rather easily thanks to the fact that only two weeks before he was one of two tail gunners selected to test out a seatback parachute. Other gunners in a similar situation would have had to grab a parachute and strap it on before ditching a failing aircraft. Of the eight men in the bomber, Murray and four others survived the hit. But only Murray and one other crewman evaded capture once back on the ground. After coming down in a grain field in complete darkness with only a small survival kit, though, Murray was far from in the clear. Not only did he have to procure more food and water, he had to convince wary Frenchmen
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in the mostly-occupied country that he was not, in fact, a German agent — a challenge highlighted by an encounter one night in a small village when he was filling up a water bottle from a rain barrel. “The owner of the house came out and challenged me, and I finally explained to him I was a Canadian. So he took me, very reluctantly, into his house. He was very, very scared, which he should have been.” After being sent on his way with some bread, it was still a few days before he hid out in a graveyard and then put in contact with the French underground. He would spend 13 weeks with the group, being shuttled between safe houses before British soldiers liberated the area and celebrations broke out.
Please see WAR on Page A2
Rebels put Ice in deep freeze Bartosaok shuts out the Ice as the Rebels cruise to a 3 - 0 win in Kootenay.
Two Stylish Floor Plans to Choose From 1261 - 1348 sq. ft. Choice Lots Still Available +40 Community
Story on PAGE B4
NO PAPER MONDAY The Advocate will not publish on Monday, Remembrance Day, and all offices will be closed. Normal publishing and business hours resume on Tuesday.
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Canadian war veteran Danny Murray of Red Deer enlisted in 1942 through the Royal Canadian Airforce.