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Red Deer Advocate MONDAY, NOV. 9, 2015
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Local vet earns France’s highest honour When you talk about the Second World War with 97-year-old veteran Victor Mulhall, it’s not the easiest interview. “I try to think as little as possible about the war. … It’s not pleasant. Why spend your time thinking about something that drives you nuts sometimes.” The Red Deer senior seems to prefer focusing on the accomplishments of others, and not so much on himself. But this rather spry gentleman does admit how pleased he is about recently receiving MARY-ANN France’s greatest honour — BARR the National Order of the LeBARRSIDE gion of Honour, established by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1802. “I felt very proud. Actually I was very, very proud, yes. It’s their highest decoration, and it’s a beautiful medal by the way.” Mulhall, a Royal Canadian Air Force navigator during the war, received the award, along with two other veterans, at a ceremony in Calgary in October. There are five degrees of distinction for the award. They received the Knight (Chevalier) degree. France is giving the award to former Canadian soldiers who helped free the country from the Germans between D-Day (June 6, 1944) and Aug. 31 of the same year. But this is not the first time Mulhall has been honoured for his war service. On Dec. 7, 1943, he was presented with the Distinguished Flying Cross at Buckingham Palace. That year is important, said Mulhall, who was stationed in England then, because there were far fewer DFCs being awarded in the early war years. When I talked to him last week, he chuckled a bit when asked how he was. ”I’m fed up. I went to the Golden Circle and I had the beef meal. It was good.” One wonders if that dry sense of humour helped get him through the war. He said the other two veterans who received the French award included a man who went ashore on D-Day and on “D-Day plus one” was seriously wounded and a fighter pilot who had survived a serious flying accident. “The only thing he mentioned about me,” he says laughing “was Vic Mulhall flew a lot of bombing missions. And he had a second tour.” In fact, Mulhall, who enlisted in 1940 after three years with the RCMP, flew two tours with Bomber Command, surviving an incredible 55 sorties. The
“IT’S THEIR HIGHEST DECORATION, AND IT’S A BEAUTIFUL MEDAL BY THE WAY” 97-YEAR-OLD VETERAN VICTOR MULHALL,
Photos by ASHLI BARRETT /Advocate staff
ABOVE: WWII veteran Victor Mulhall, 97, poses with French Legion of Honour medal, at his home Wednesday. LEFT: Mulhall shares a picture taken during the ceremony where he was awarded the French Legion of Honour medal. survival rate for those in Bomber Command squadrons was only about 40 per cent. In his profile with The Memory Project, which shares veterans’ stories: “Regardless of the terrible odds, bomber crews buckled on their parachutes and began each mission with determination. They fell prey to the hazards of fog, icing and lightning, and they perished amongst the bursting shells of anti-aircraft guns. However the greatest number died in the desperately unequal combat and the overwhelming firepower of tenacious German night fighter defenders. Over 9,900 Canadians in Bomber Command died.” He tells me, “You come back from very few bombing operations without holes in the aircraft … Those are pretty big shells and they’re bursting not too far from you. It’s quite normal that some shrapnel will reach your aircraft.” On one sortie when they were dropping mines into
the water at the French seaport of Lorient, they sustained 104 holes in their heavy bomber Stirling. On a different bombing run to Italy they were struck with shrapnel over France. Unbeknownst to the crew, the shrapnel had severed the lead connections to the bombs on the plane. Only two bombs dropped despite the efforts of the pilot who “threw the aircraft around the sky” trying to get the bombs to release. In the end they couldn’t get back to base and had to land at a short runway airdrome with almost a full bomb load. Mulhall said later they made two more sorties in the plane and each time the bombs would not drop. He was being blamed for the failure because when the plane was tested on the ground, the bombs released.
Please see MEDAL on Page A2
Towers an expert in investigating fires BY MARY-ANN BARR ADVOCATE STAFF If there’s one thing Joe Towers knows, it’s that every fire is different. Towers, who owns Global Forensics Inc. based in Red Deer, travels throughout Western Canada and the three northern territories investigating fires and explosions. A lot of his work is for insurance companies. “I like to say we get paid by the insurance companies but we work for the evidence.” But he also does work for municipalities and police departments. In the past he’s been called in to investigate fires tied to homicides or suspicious deaths. He will often work a parallel investigation alongside a local fire department. Last week Towers was busy investigating an injury fire in Red Deer, working parallel to the city’s Emergency Services. Recently he was called in by police to investigate two fires in Lacombe. He can’t talk about the details as investigations often end up in court and are confidential. In 2009, Towers left his 13-year job with the City of Red Deer Emergency
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Services Department’s fire prevention office to start his business. Towers, whose father was once fire chief for Red Deer County, took his first fire investigation course in 1986. When he was with the city, he became a safety codes officer and was certified as a fire investigator. He also became certified as a forensic photographer. The job of fire and explosive investigation is all scientifically based, said Towers, 54. It’s a constantly evolving process that has changed a lot, even in the last few years, he said. All fires have to be investigated using a systematic approach. The process involves data collection, examining the scene, interviewing witnesses, photography, understanding fire dynamics, what type of loss is it. “And once we’ve collected all the data then we have to analyze that data. … Then you have to build some theories as to why it happened.” There are always multiple theories, “You just can’t base it on one thing otherwise you’re in a lot of trouble.” “Then you come up with some potential causes. Then you rule those out, and then your conclusion is your final opinion about exactly what happened. “Everything is all fact-driven now.
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File photo by JEFF STOKOE/Advocate staff
Joe Towers, left, and Mike Noblett of Global Forensics, piece together a refrigerator where a explosion took place at the Canadian University College in Lacombe. The explosion that originated in a chemistry lab in the Chan Shun Science Centre caused an estimated $500,000 damage. You can’t say it is so because I say it is so.” There are international standards for fire and explosion investigations, and a court-sanctioned guide, which
is a “living document” updated every three years.
Please see FIRES on Page A2
Wartime morale boosting art on display A new silkscreen exhibit in Calgary features art meant to boost morale during WWII. Story on PAGE A11
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