We Remember - PGC 11.11.21

P R I N CE G E O R G E C I T I Z E N

THURSDAY NOVEMBER 11, 2021

11.11.21 REMEMBERING THOSE WHO sERVED

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P R I N CE G E O R G E C I T I Z E N

THURSDAY NOVEMBER 11, 2021

11.11.21 REMEMBERING THOSE WHO sERVED LETTERS FROM THE FRONT

Former P.G. postmaster wounded in Belgium Oct. 1. March to Basil Seely’s farmhouse and have tea, then travel (illegible) in the E.H. ‘Ernie’ Burden arrived in Fort tunnels up to the front line. #137 occuGeorge on March 16, 1910 as part of a pied by K.E.H. Germans nearly 300 yards 16-person survey party. in front. Only C.O. of ‘B’ Squadron pres“We came by B.C. Express to Quesnel,” ent. NCOs, bomb throwers, signaller and Burden said in an interview with the Prince scouts. Letters from K.B.S. and B.A. George Echo in 1962. “We crossed the river Oct. 2. On guard all night. Quite cold. at Quesnel and from there it took five days 2 hours on, 2 hours off. Several bursts on the Blackwater Road to Fort George.” of machinegun fire, no shells. Not much Burden, who was born in Fredericton, N.B. doing in morning. Returned to billets in in 1888, continued working as a surveyor in afternoon.

B.C. until 1914, when he enlisted with the Oct. 3. Slept late. No roll call. See Joe 2nd Canadian Mounted Rifles in Victoria. Mason and Billie Bush, both in the 16th He and his unit shipped out to France on (Battalion). Packs up at noon, whole Sept. 22, 1915, before moving to the front in regiment. (illegible). Long, hard march.

Belgium.

Enter front trenches at Dickebusch about He was wounded near the village of midnight.

Dickebusch (also spelled Dikkebus), near Oct. 4. Considerable firing all day.

Ypres, on Oct. 7, 1915 – only Oct. 5. Bill Woodward and four days after entering the I share a dugout. Cold and lines in Belgium. He surdamp. Go to farm at night vived and returned to active for sandbags, but none duty, fighting in the Battle of there.

Vimy Ridge. The following Oct. 6. Down to farm is an excerpt from Burden’s again in afternoon. Meet diary from his time on the M.M. Balsam with Machine front in 1915: Gun Section, R.C.D. Sgt. Diary from date of leavMajor Marshall takes us ing England, Sept. 22, 1915 down, and when returning, Sept. 22. Left Canadian a short distance behind us camp 5:30 p.m., marching is shot by a sniper and dies to boat with 90 lbs. packs. instantly. First casualty E.H. ‘ERNIE’ BURDEN Very hot. Boat sails at 8:45 in old B Squadron. Am p.m., reaching Boulogne back on (illegible) for four (Boulogne-sur-Mer, France) at 11 p.m. hours at night with D.T. (illegible). Quiet.

Marched two miles to St. Martins camp, Oct. 7. Slept until noon. Shell exploded where we slept in tents. overhead, hitting Bill Woodward and Sept. 23. Spent day in camp, drawing myself. 1:30. Stay in dugout until dark, rations, etc. Marched down to train at and then are taken BGMR dressing station four o’clock. Arrived at Bailleul about mid- (La Brasserie) by Ready, Nash, Hutchinnight, and were billeted in old dance hall, son, (illegible), Maitland, Sandy, Sullivan, formerly occupied by Germans.

Bond and (illegible). Very painful journey.

Sept. 24. Spent most of day in billets. (illegible) Shipped immediately to another Nothing to do. Third day of eating biscuits dressing station (St. Eloi) by motor ambuand bully beef. lance, where are invalided. Poor old Bill Sept. 25. Heavy artillery fire all night, dies during the night. until 8 a.m. Saw several ambulance loads Oct. 8. Moved to Bailleul and wound of wounded today. Mounted guard at 3 dressed. Compound fracture of bone in p.m. for 24 hours. Biscuit and bully beef. right leg below knee. In afternoon taken to Most of squadron on fatigue from mid- train and sent off to (illegible). Ms. Perry of Vancouver in charge. night until 5 a.m.

Oct. 9. X-ray of leg taken. Operation in Sept. 26. Still in Bailleul. Nothing doing. afternoon. Feeling pretty rotten.

Numbers of wounded passing.

On Oct. 21, 1915 Burden was sent back to Sept. 27. Got paid in morning. Met F.C. Swannell in street and have lunch with England, where he spent 18 months recovhim, but have to pack up immediately. ering from his injury. He returned to active March six miles, in the dark, with ninety duty in time to take part in the Battle of Vimy pound pack to farm (illegible) Chateau, Ridge in April 1917.

Early in 1918 he joined the flying corps, one hour from firing line. Sleep in wine cellar. Write Kate and Margo, but believe the Echo reported in 1962. letter not mailed.

“I came back to Prince George in 1920 and Sept. 28. Have lunch at farmhouse. I’ve been here ever since,” Burden told the Omelette, coffee, bread, 1 Franc. Packs up Echo. “I practised as a land surveyor until at four p.m. and march two miles to billets 1935. Times got pretty tough, so I became in huts. Meet a number of the old 30th postmaster until 1953.”

(Battalion).

One of his sons, Robert Burden, was killed Sept. 29. In huts. Very little to eat. in action during the Second World War on Rain most of day. Talk of pulling out for Aug. 15, 1944. His grandson, Ernest Kimtrenches. Send cards to F.P.A., Kate and berly ‘Kim’ Choquette lived in Prince George Margo. until his death on Jan. 2, 2020.

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THURSDAY NOVEMBER 11, 2021

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11.11.21 REMEMBERING THOSE WHO sERVED

Rocky Mountain Rangers mark 10 years in city MARK NIELSEN

Local Journalism Intiative reporter

Ten years after it was revived in Prince George, the Rocky Mountain Rangers light infantry army reserve is still going strong – and so are Rob Pears and Eamon McArthur.

The two were among the nearly 40 recruits who made up the RMR’s B Company when it was resurrected in 2011 after a more-than 40-year hiatus in the city.

Both had previous stints in the military, and jumped at the opportunity to get back into a vocation for which they still had a passion while still holding down civilian day jobs. Pears is a firefighter and McArthur a conservation officer.

“We started doing drill in the back of the ICBC building, in their parking lot in the back there,” Pears remarked.

Within a year, the unit had been given the all-clear to move into the old Meadow elementary school on Dornbrier Crescent.

To use a military term, the building was then “kitted out” to meet the unit’s needs – from bunk rooms to offices to a laserbased indoor shooting range.

But it’s what members of the Rangers have been able to do outside the compound that have kept Pears and McArthur coming back.

“I like doing army stuff. I like sneaking around in the bush, I like pushing myself, I like the challenge,” Pears said. “When we go out in the bush, it’s not just camping.”

It’s not just about crawling around in the mud either. McArthur pointed to the camaraderie as part of the appeal.

“We’re a team on and off the battlefield,” he said.

Being a member can open doors to experiences many probably otherwise would never have had, like going to France in 2019 to commemorate a First World War battle in which Canadian soldiers played a dominant role.

The Rangers, whose A company is based in Kamloops, has seen members serve in Kuwait, Latvia, Iraq and Ukraine in the last year alone largely to help with training of troops in those countries.

CITIZEN STAFF PHOTO

Rocky Mountain Rangers Cpl. Rob Pears and Cpl. Eamon McArthur stand near a bell with their names etched on it. All the members who joined the infantry reserve when it was established in Prince George in 2011 have their names on the bell.

Closer to home, they have also become a routine presence for communities in need of help to deal with wildfires and floods.

Being a member can also be a great resume builder, particularly when it comes to developing leadership skills, and all on a paid-to-train basis with new recruits starting at $100 per day.

B Company in Prince George is currently at 60 members and would like to see it rise to 100.

The commitment starts with a boot camp and further training on a part-time basis spread over a year. From January to May, training occurs over two to three weekends a month while the infantry course is full-time during the summer.

After that, the commitment is a weekend once a month and training every Wednesday evening for three hours.

Not everyone makes it through the training but, by the same token, recruits are not set up to fail.

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“It’s challenging but it’s designed to be achievable,” said Sgt. Adam Davey.

Anyone interested in becoming a Rocky

Mountain Ranger is welcome to email Sgt. Kevin Gaiesky at Recruiting.RMRang@ forces.gc.ca.

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P R I N CE G E O R G E C I T I Z E N

THURSDAY NOVEMBER 11, 2021

11.11.21 REMEMBERING THOSE WHO sERVED LETTERS FROM THE FRONT

Sole survivor tells tale of fatal bombing mission

This letter, written on Oct. 14, 1945 (just after the end of the Second World War), gives an account of Flying Officer DeVoe Woolf’s final flight. Lloyd ‘Curly’ Woolf met with Ken Mason, the sole survivor from his older brother’s seven-man Halifax bomber crew.

DeVoe Woolf’s bomber was shot down over Belgium on Dec. 26, 1944 during the Battle of the Bulge (December 1944 to January 1945). According to CanadianFallen.ca, Woolf is interred at Hotton War Cemetery in Belgium.

Because the letter was written after the war, Lloyd Woolf was able to pass on Mason’s detailed account of DeVoe’s final mission without being censored.

The Woolfs were from Hillspring, Alta., but DeVoe and Curly’s niece, Arlene Dyer, now lives in Prince George.

Dear Dad, Verna and all, I sure wish you could have met Kenneth Mason, here like I did. What he said would have made you really proud!

When I was with Lynn I got the address of one of the boys of DeVoe’s (squadron) and asked him to get the addresses of all the boys in his crew. When Mable told me Ken Mason was the survivor I looked up his address. It was at Chippawa, Ontario. I have been asking about it or had been with no results, but the other day when waiting at a bus station I heard it called out. So I looked it up and phoned. His mother was the one to answer the phone. She said Kenneth had married the day before and was in Toronto, and that she’d tell him I phoned and I gave her my address. He came up to see me and I was with him for about four hours.

He’s a swell kid, and when he speaks of DeVoe he just seems to be talking of his perfect ideal – and not without cause either I guess.

He said, “Once we were going (down) the Ruhr at about 23,000 (feet) and were attacked by two ‘squirt’ jobs. He said DeVoe was quite a big fellow, had grown a lot in England, said he kept in good shape playing ball and everything. He called him D.V. He said, “D.V. threw that Halifax around like it was a tiger, and in the middle of some steep turn a burst of flak hit near and turned us over and in a spin, going straight down.” He said DeVoe just braced and about broke the controls off, but it kept right on going down. At last D.V. said,

BOMBER COMMAND MUSEUM OF CANADA HANDOUT IMAGE

Flying Officer DeVoe ‘D.V.’ Woolf and gunner Ken Mason were shot down over Belgium on Dec.26, 1944 in a Halifax bomber similar to the one pictured here. Mason was the only crew member to survive.

“Get ready to get out,” but he kept right on trying to recover, all the time going down at near 350 to 400 miles per hour. Every few seconds he’d say, “Get ready” and at last they suddenly heard “Okay, I’ve got it.” And they were below 1,700 ft. when he finally pulled out.

Another time he said they had 265 holes in the aircraft – no one hurt, but flak had knocked out the windshield right in front of D.V.’s face.

He said DeVoe had never said a word – probably missed a chew on his gun – just right on like nothing had happened – didn’t even tell the crew.

DEVOE Kenneth said DeVoe was the WOOLF “gen” man of the (squadron). He said they all, even the commanding officer, took his word as final.

If they were going on a raid, DeVoe “briefed” the whole (squadron) even if the C.O. was there. He’d tell them what to look for, (where) the target was, how to get through the defence area, etc. And when they had been out on a raid the C.O. would wait for D.V. to come in, then he’d rush to him, slap him on the back and get his story – and his story was the official story.

If he said the “The flak was moderate,”

then it was moderate, no matter who said anything else.

Ken said, “D.V. used to keep us in our places – made us daily inspect our guns, do link training and keep in shape.

He said DeVoe had to do a belly landing or two too and had done perfect ones every time. Once he landed through a fog with no beam or any aids and made a perfect landing.

His navigator was good too and the bomb aimer bet some big shots that he could hit more accurately by applying his own winds on (the) bomb-sight, and he went up and proved it. More than once they were the only crew to hit a hard target out of the whole squadron.

On his last flight, Dec. 26, they were suddenly hit on the nose of the aircraft.

Three were killed outright. Ken ran up to the front of the aircraft to see if D.V. was OK. He wasn’t. He was hit very badly in the chest and body and could only live a few minutes at most, but wasn’t in pain at all – he was numb. Ken said, “I’ll hold it.

You get out.” But DeVoe said as calm as anything, “No. I’m alright. You jump.“ Ken then went back and jumped and

DeVoe followed, but Ken said he knew DeVoe was dead the second he hit the chute, because he was near.

The Germans opened the flak guns on them as they came down and Ken thinks he was the only one to get down alive. He says he knows DeVoe didn’t suffer and he knows he was dead when he landed, but he tried to find his body for four days – then he had to give up to search for food.

He tried to get through the lines but was caught and taken prisoner.

He had pneumonia seven times, was beaten, and worked hard 16-18 (hours) a day. He’s a great kid.

He said DeVoe surely had a lot of admirers. (Women’s Auxilery Air Force members) used to try to get him to dance with them – with no success. So they used to say to the other boys of his crew “Say, get me a date with that captain of yours.” But DeVoe wasn’t interested in anything but “Ops” and getting ready to go again. He said the ground crew really worshipped him too.

I may go down to Niagara to see Ken again. He invited me down and it’s only 90-100 miles and I’ll have a 48 (hour leave) in two weeks.

Curly

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Prince George • Vanderhoof • Quesnel • Terrace • Burns Lake • Fort St. James • Houston • Fraser Lake • McBride • Valemount • 100 Mile House

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THURSDAY NOVEMBER 11, 2021

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11.11.21 REMEMBERING THOSE WHO sERVED

PGSS grad keeping Canada’s fighter jets flying CANADIAN ARMED FORCES SUBMITTED STORY

Mihail Kogalniceanu Air Base, Romania – Sgt. Kelly Press is a long way from home. Again.

A graduate of Prince George Secondary School, and daughter of a member of the Royal Navy, Press always wanted to join the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF).

In 2008, she did just that, signing up as an Aircraft Structures Technician (ACS Tech) in the Royal Canadian Air Force.

After completing Basic Military Qualification Training – more familiarly known as Boot Camp – at Canadian Forces Base (CFB) Borden, ON, then-Private Press remained at CFB Borden for the ten month ACS Tech course.

This multi-faceted trade has three main parts.

The core part is metal work, fabricating and refinishing aircraft.

In recent years, the trade has acquired Life Saving Systems, which entails maintaining equipment critical to keeping aircrew safe, such as ejection seats, parachutes, and survival kits.

The third part is Aviation Life Support Equipment, which consists of maintaining equipment that is worn by aircrew, such as helmets, oxygen masks, and life

CANADIAN ARMED FORCES HANDOUT PHOTO

Sgt. Kelly Press, who grew up in Prince George, is helping keep Canada’s fighter jets flying in Romania, as part of Operation REASSURANCE.

preservers.

As an ACS Tech in the CAF, Press has

had many unique opportunities.

Two that stand out in her mind are the

time she was selected to stand guard on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier for a month in 2012.

Press says it was both a great experience, and a great honour.

The second is her month in Japan as part of Operation DRIFTNET. The operation’s aim is to aide in efforts to protect wild fish stocks world-wide from the threat of illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing.

Press found the work very rewarding, and being able to experience the culture of Japan was a life-long dream.

Travel is something Sgt Press enjoys, and as a CAF member, she has been fortunate to travel all over the U.S., including Alaska and Hawaii.

She has deployed to Curacao as part of Operation CARRIBE and to Kuwait as part of Operation IMPACT. Currently, Press is deployed from 4 Wing Cold Lake to Mihail Kogalniceanu Air Base as part of Air Task Force – Romania in support of Operation REASSURANCE. This operation is Canada’s contribution to NATO assurance and deterrence measures, demonstrating Canada’s ability and willingness to react rapidly to international crises and to work side by side with its NATO allies to reinforce NATO’s collective security.

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THURSDAY NOVEMBER 11, 2021

11.11.21 REMEMBERING THOSE WHO sERVED

‘That was the worst time of all of our lives’

Local 92-year-old woman recalls wartime efforts on the home front during the Second World War CHRISTINE HINZMANN Citizen staff

Painting her legs and using a marker to draw the seam up the back so it looked like she had nylons on, hunting for cigarette and gum wrappers made of tin foil and offering comfort when neighbours got the dreaded visit from the telegram man are all part of 92-year-old Doreen Denicola’s recollections of wartime efforts at home when she was a young lady growing up in small-town Manitoba during the Second World War. Family has always been the priority for Mrs. Denicola whose address hasn’t changed since 1964 when she married decorated veteran Armand Denicola.

She was raised in a world where the strong family ties that bind were of the utmost importance.

“We’ve always been a very close-knit family and now I am the only one left of the original family and it’s lonely out there – lonely without my siblings – it’s a funny feeling to be left behind – especially when there was nine of you,” Denicola said.

She was a young girl when the Second World War started in 1939 and it was a difficult time.

“The thing we noticed quite suddenly was that our little town was empty of all the older boys, a lot of the fathers were gone, a lot of the other kids’ older brothers I went to school with were gone,” Denicola recalled. “And then all of a sudden my older siblings were gone, too.”

At that time there were about 1,200 people in Virden, a small prairie farming community, in southwest Manitoba.

“It left a big hole in all of our lives when all these young men left our town, especially the young fathers,” Denicola said.

“As you can imagine kids were distraught when their fathers had to go away.

All those distraught mothers didn’t know where to turn. Luckily back in those days we helped each other to fill the gaps.”

Everyone would go out to the fields and help the farmers stook their fields. Grain would be harvested with machines that tied the grain into bundles.

“And then we’d follow the machine and stand the stooks up in groups of five or six so that they would dry,” Denicola said.

“The mothers and the kids went out and did that for the farmers because there

CITIZEN PHOTO BY JAMES DOYLE/LOCAL JOURNALISM INITIATIVE

Doreen Denicola looks through one of her family’s Second World War-era ration books on Oct. 24.

were no young boys to hire any more.” telegrams would come.

This type of thing was another reminder “Those telegrams would say that sometheir beloved young men had gone to war, body’s son had been killed or somebody’s she added. father had been killed or somebody’s “We had to take husband had been their place and I killed and everybody As you can remember doing that – everybody – lived in many times at harvest dread of having one of imagine time during the war,” those telegrams come kids were Denicola said. to their homes,” she “That feeling is distraught when their said. something I wish peo“Mother would take ple could get again fathers had to go us girls and we would – doing something away. go to the family that a man used to do to had been affected and help keep life going, try to comfort them keep production going – because if those and offer help in any way we could. It was farmers wouldn’t have been able to har- dreadful. That was the worst time of all of vest their crops how would the army ever our lives – this waiting and hoping that the eat? It was a funny circle of events.” telegraph man wouldn’t come to our door.

The most dreadful part that truly meant That’s what the war meant to me – those war to Denicola was when those terrible people were never going to see their loved

FOREVER LOST. FOREVER CHANGED. WE CARE. SO WE REMEMBER.

ones again and that, in a small town, was very significant because how you looked at it was more like family – everybody knows everybody – you’re all neighbours, you’re all the same. Life was so different for us than children today, we depended on each other.”

Denicola won’t ever forget the telegram that came to their door.

That terrible telegram came when older brother Richard was wounded in the war.

Her third older brother Richard was injured during the 1944 D-Day invasion on the beaches of Normandy. He was a transport driver and his vehicle filled with soldiers was bombed by German aircraft as the convoy tried to make it inland.

“These convoys were filled with drivers transporting equipment or men and that’s why they were targets of the German aircraft,” Denicola explained. see GOD IS GOOD, page 21

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11.11.21 REMEMBERING THOSE WHO sERVED

‘God is good and Harry regained his eyesight’ Continued from page 20

As a result of the bombing, Richard’s entire left side was filled of schrapnel and metal with extensive injuries to his legs and feet. He remained stationed in London after being sent there to recover from his injuries. Richard continued to serve afterwards as a driver to officials.

“Even in his 70s Richard could still shave his face and out would come a piece of that metal,” she said.

Harry, her second older brother, was terribly injured during his training at Camp Shiloh in Manitoba.

During a training exercise, a Thunderflash, like a long stick of dynamite, was thrown by an officer which was meant to go off well past the men taking cover in the forest. It fell short landing in the midst of the young men who were in deep snow.

“When the officer gave the order to take cover the young men were sprawled about like a bunch of puppies,” Denicola said. “The explosive landed beside one man’s head, another man’s feet, another man’s chest, with them all scattered on the ground. It was February and there was deep snow. Harry was the only one that had not taken cover.”

Trying to kick it away from all the other boys was of no use so Harry picked up the Thunderflash, she added.

“Just as he got it up over his head to

CITIZEN PHOTO BY JAMES DOYLE/LOCAL JOURNALISM INITIATIVE

Doreen Denicola’s family didn’t have a car during the Second World War, so they didn’t use the coupons for gasoline in their ration book.

throw it, it exploded and took his right hand off above the wrist,” Denicola said.

“So that ended his army career and made a drastic change in his entire life.

You know you have to be grateful and thank God that it wasn’t any worse than it was because he was blind for the first two weeks because of the powder burns to his eyes and he thought he was going to stay blind as well but you know God is good and Harry regained his eyesight.”

Harry always made the best of every situation, Mrs. Denicola was proud to say.

“He determined that the loss of his hand was never going to bother him,” Denicola said. “Harry became a very successful businessman and father and an incredible brother – it’s a strange feeling because I was 13 or 14 when that happened and I tell you it made an impact on me – it made me realize all about strength and courage and I have to say that I am very proud to have

had him as a brother.”

Her two older brothers went to war while her youngest brother, Charles, who was 11, joined the home protection force called the Manitoba Dragoons.

Denicola’s oldest brother Cyril was blind in one eye and Victor had hip issues that resulted in major surgery when he was a child, so neither of them could serve in combat overseas which really didn’t sit well with either one of them, she said.

Victor did serve during the war at the Quartermaster Stores in Winnipeg from which war time supplies were distributed all over the country.

Back home there was a lighter side to things during the war.

“As kids we all tried to do funny little things for the war effort,” Denicola said.

“We were all put to work. We did everything. We searched for tin foil – can you imagine? It wasn’t very prevalent in those days... and we’d roll it all into a ball and when we had a big enough ball we’d send it away to be melted down into metal again. Isn’t that weird that we’d think that was important? But it was important – they were searching for metal everywhere to make ammunition for the war.”

Read full, unabridged story at

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THURSDAY NOVEMBER 11, 2021

11.11.21 REMEMBERING THOSE WHO sERVED LETTERS FROM THE FRONT

HISTORICAL PHOTO

Harold Dean and other members of the Mechanical Transport Army Service Corps, 648 Company, gathered for a photo in Vancouver in 1916, prior to shipping out.

Lions in the night: a soldier’s letter from Africa CITIZEN STAFF

Harold Adelbert Dean (April 7, 1894 to Jan. 9, 1984) was a Canadian volunteer serving as a driver with the Mechanical Transport Army Service Corps, 648 Company, during the First World War. Dean was from New Westminister, B.C. and his grandson, Gary Dean, now lives in Prince George.

Dean left Vancouver on Jan. 15, 1916, and after a brief stay in England, shipped out to what was than the British protectorate of East Africa (now Kenya) and joined the campaign against German East Africa (present-day Burundi, Rwanda and Tanzania).

During his time in Africa, Dean was hospitalized twice with malaria. He survived the war, and arrived back in Vancouver on April 2, 1919 – after more than three years away.

In other letters preserved by the Dean family, he mentioned that he couldn’t comment on the military aspects of his duties – including coming under sniper fire, and an attack on their camp in July 1916, facts disclosed to his family after the war. On Aug. 22, 1916, he took time to write a letter home to his family in B.C.: Dear Mother, As I am having a day’s rest I take the opportunity to of answering a few letters I have received during the last ten days. The mail took a jump during this period and I received thirty-two (32) letters and about 8 or 9 bundles of papers also 1 box of cake, nut-bars, pills, etc. We have been so busy lately I had to carry the letters on my car unread for a couple of days and that is going some for me.

I was shifted from the Daimler car to a 5 ton Packard and the mate the sergeant gave me went sick, so being short

LEST WE FORGET

On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month… ’Remember’

Councillor Murry Krause

I have seen lots of monkeys here as big as a man and the lions got such a bass tone to their voice they often disturb the slumberers of the camp at night. But these things are all right as long as they don’t get too close. of drivers I had to drive alone for two weeks and it is a very hard job on a heavy car in this country as the roads are so sandy and heavy going.

However the Packard was of that same of quality and I knew I could get through anything or up any hill anyone else could and that helped a little.

When I say that I might add that we have hills here a Ford can not climb so you can imagine us fellows on a big car with a heavy load getting along. Everybody gets out to push and they bring up a car at a time so you see driving isn’t the only exercise we get.

Well, on looking over these letters I see 8 from you and 6 from Mary, also an enclosure from Roberta. In one you mentioned the difference in time between home and here.

Although I can not say exactly it is nearly four hours ahead of England, making it altogether about twelve hours ahead of home, and the hottest weather is at Christmas instead of June. Of course it is summer the year round, that is as warm as Canadian summer.

The fact of all the boys joining up at home is the same all over Canada. I am living mostly with a boy from Perth, Ont. and another from near London, Ont. and they say that all of the boys are joining in that district. Also they tell me every letter they receive, some of the young girls are getting married and from home news. N.W. is in the swim in that line also. It sure surprised me to hear about Jamie and Roy. I didn’t think it possible they were that foolish although I know some funny things do happen.

I am glad to know my money matters are fixed up at last.

That news was one of discussion all the time among us Canadian boys, and most of them got results sooner than I did. However, that is fixed now so it is all right.

I see by your letters and the papers that a good many of the boys at the front will be missing at the last roll call.

It seems so sad after a fight of so many months to be

blotted out, but when a person thinks of the number of men engaged and the method used in this war it is a wonder that so many have lived this long.

I got a letter from Wally in this big bunch of mail and he reports things favourably. He mentioned some of the boys being wounded and killed, but said they came out all right in the scrap. He has been in good health all along and is still keeping it up.

Although I should cut this letter short and write one to Mary I think, as there only little news, it may as well all be in one envelope. But I must say here that it makes me feel proud of my sister for doing such a lot of splendid letter writing for my comfort. Mary’s letters are good and long and well written and there is a good time coming to her for the work she has done. She told me she got a new outfit on the strength of my salary, but I feel she has earned it so don’t be afraid of letting her have the money.

The time will not be long before Mary is earning her own and I am sure she will there to help any of us that happen to need it.

There are in your and Mary’s letters I have just received inquiries as to the country, climate and such things as these. I think I have explained most of it in previous letters. But if I haven’t I will tell you all about it when I get closer home. This portion we are working now is perhaps one of the most barren and uncivilized tracts in the world.

The large animals you read about are all over it, but they can’t bother us much except by their noise. I have seen lots of monkeys here as big as a man and the lions got such a bass tone to their voice they often disturb the slumberers of the camp at night. But these things are all right as long as they don’t get too close. There are plenty of animals dying about the country and the lions don’t have to look to a man to appease their appetite.

Well, Mother, I think I will close for now. I don’t expect to stay in this country very long now, as the campaign looks as if it were drawing near a close. If we should get back to England in the next month or two I will wire and let you know. Well, I think I will close for now with lots of love to all.

Your travelling son, Harold Dean would remain on duty in Africa until March 22, 1918 when he was put on medical leave during his second bout of malaria. He was transported by hospital ship to Cape Town, South Africa, before being sent back to England. It wouldn’t be until April 2, 1919 that he departed Liverpool aboard a ship headed back to Canada.

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11.11.21 REMEMBERING THOSE WHO sERVED

Three telegrams, three lost sons TED CLARKE Citizen staff

Editor’s note: This story was first published in the Citizen print edition in Nov. 10, 2001.

I never knew my uncle Ted. Like so many thousands of Canadians who enlisted in the Second World War, the man I was named after was killed in action, long before I was born.

Samuel Edward (Ted) Clarke was the third oldest in a family of eight kids growing up on a farm in Parkside, Sask., a rural community of about 150 people located 50 kilometres west of Prince Albert.

Not long after the war broke out in 1939, the oldest boy in the family, my dad Jim, joined the Royal Canadian Air Force and Ted couldn’t wait to follow in his brother’s footsteps. He became an army cadet at age 17 and on Oct. 6, 1941, the day after his 18th birthday, he signed up for the air force.

After about of year of training as a pilot in Claresholm, Alta., Saskatoon and Prince Albert, Ted finally got his wings, graduating with the highest marks in his class.

Unlike my dad, who badly wanted to fly overseas but was more urgently needed in Canada to train more pilots, Ted was sent to Europe in January 1942, where he would join his best buddies from Parkside – Leon Roberts and David Olsvik. All three had enlisted in the air force within months of each other as soon as they were old enough. Leon was a few months older than the other two and was sent to England first.

Ted was popular with his fellow airmen in Moose Squadron 419 and in June 1943 he was promoted to flight sergeant. He loved flying but realized with every bombing mission the risk of being shot down was always there. In one of his letters home, he wrote: “Yesterday we had a horrible trip which lasted seven hours but the good old Wellington brought us home. Can you imagine flying 17 1/2 tons every day?

“I’m eagerly looking forward to the day when this is all over and people can live a normal happy life for another few years.”

Ted grew up in the depression years of the ‘30s when his family had very little money but, as cattle and grain farmers, always had plenty to eat. People arrived in Parkside on the train looking for work and Ted, with his gregarious and generous nature, had a knack for bringing home strangers whom his mother fed and boarded for the night. When they left, they’d always go carrying a loaf of freshbaked bread.

As a Boy Scout, Ted went out of his way to perform at least one good deed a day and he left his younger siblings in awe over his patriotism when he’d snap to attention whenever ‘O Canada’ or ‘God Save the King’ was broadcast over the battery-powered radio. He inherited his mother’s love for music and could sing any song.

While overseas, he always sent home half his wages and specified some of the

WWW.FLUGZEUGABSTUERZE-SAARLAND.DE ARCHIVE IMAGE

German soldiers survey the wreckage of the RCAF LW242 Halifax MK. II bomber piloted by Samuel Edward (Ted) Clarke after it was shot down over the town of St. Ingbert, Germany on the night of Nov. 26, 1943, killing all seven on board.

money be used for a family holiday at one for Parkside. Bob Roberts had just Emerald Lake, the place where he’d met returned from a wedding in Prince Albert his girlfriend Rita Wodlinger. He always when a station agent arrived at his door kept a photo of Rita in his left shirt pocket. and handed him a telegram which said Ted came home for the end of the Christ- his son Leon’s plane had been shot down mas holidays in 1942 and stayed until over Nettersheim, Germany on Oct. 22.

January, when he was sent off A few weeks later, on Nov. 26, to England. The entire school in a telegram arrived at the Clarke Parkside was there to see him off farm two miles west of Parkside. at the train station. It was the last Ted and his crew were missing in time they would ever see him. action and presumed dead followIn his last letter home, Ted tells ing a bombing raid over Stuttgart, of the joy he received when he Germany. The telegram gave the found 11 letters waiting for him at date the plane went down. It was the base. But his happiness soon SAMUEL ‘TED’ the night my grandmother heard CLARKE gave way to tears: Ted calling to her in her sleep.

“Isn’t it funny how in the quiet The Olsvik family received their of evening, especially, one becomes telegram which told of David’s death on very sentimental. I will tell you this Mum Feb. 20, 1944, when he had only one or because I know you will understand. I two missions left to fulfill his commitment have just been crying like a baby for the to the war effort. first time since I left Canada. I don’t exactly Three telegrams. Three lost 20-year-old know why, I think it was just to relieve sons. All killed within a few months of myself. Don’t you think a good cry once in each other, and the small community of a while does a person a world of good? I assure you when I come home there will be more crying — but of joy.

“We haven’t had much work lately due to rough weather. I become so depressed on the ground. It is a wonderful feeling to look out and see those four motors turning, the crew happy and confident and that every time we fly brings us that much closer to our folks.

“For Christmas the only thing I ask is I won’t have to spend my fourth one away from home. Besides that, I ask God that you will all be waiting for me when I come home.”

In one of his letters to my dad, Ted said he felt he was wasting the best years of his life and told Dad he should do whatever it takes to avoid seeing for himself the horrors of the war overseas.

The fall/winter of 1943-44 was a tragic

Parkside was left with just their memories.

My grandmother always hated Bing Crosby’s White Christmas because it reminded her of one of the last letters she received from Ted. The song had just come out and he told her they were playing it a lot on the radio.

In a letter my Aunt Betty (Toop) wrote to the Saskatoon Star-Phoenix she told of her mother’s grief in the years that followed the war: “My mother kept hoping he would be found. She couldn’t accept the fact he was dead. More letters from Ottawa confirmed the fact he wouldn’t be back. My mother was never the same after. She never let go of her grief.

“When she died, we found (Ted’s) letters and those from the War Department tied with a blue ribbon. The paper on those letters was soft from years of unfolding and refolding. How many times she read them over we will never know. They were all she had left of her beloved son.”

Take time on November 11 to remember those who paid the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom.

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11.11.21 REMEMBERING THOSE WHO sERVED

Indigenous D-Day veteran had a life of service

Former Cheslatta Carrier Nation chief Abel Peters survived being wounded by a German sniper HANNA PETERSEN Citizen staff

Abel Peters, of the Cheslatta Carrier Nation, was one of the many Indigenous people who answered the call of duty when the Second World War erupted.

Peters was present at the largest amphibious military operation in history: Operation Overlord code-named ‘D-Day’, the allied invasion of northern France.

His friend and colleague Mike Robertson, senior policy advisor with the Cheslatta Nation, knew Peters well for over 40 years and worked to archive records and interviews from Peters’ life when he passed away in 2012.

Peters was born in Sept. of 1922 at Cheslatta Lake and was one of 10 children of Thomas Peter and Rose Louie, who was the daughter of legendary Chief Louie.

He also attended residential school at Lejac until he ran away when he was 13 years old.

“He always had an amazing inspiration to go see places,” Robertson recollects, explaining that’s what inspired Peters to travel to Prince George and enlist.

He enlisted in the army in 1943 in the 102nd Northern British Columbians and became part of the Winnipeg Rifles.

After enlisting, he trained in Alberta for two months and then travelled to Nova Scotia for final training. He went overseas in September 1943 and landed on Juno Beach on June 6, 1944, D-Day. “I remember sitting in the kitchen one day and he was talking to me about raising his rifle over his head and walking through that water,” said Robertson.

“He said, all he could hear was noise and bombs and bullets and he knew people were dying around him and just kept walking straight ahead and he didn’t know how he got to the beach without getting killed.”

Then on July 8, 1944, Peters was shot in the head by a German sniper at the Cannes Airfield. He received extensive head and arm injuries but miraculously survived.

“He said the next thing he remembers is he woke up in England and there he was in a hospital, and he’d always talk about how nice like nurses were and how they looked after him,” said Robertson.

Despitetheseverityofhisinjuries,Peters was eager to return to the battlefield.

“He was pretty badly wounded, but his

MIKE ROBERTSON HANDOUT PHOTO

D-Day veteran Abel Peters is seen at a Remembrance Day ceremony in 2010, before his death in 2012.

commander came to him and Able says blacked out a lot but when he did finally ‘I’m ready to go back. I want to go back,” make it back to Cheslatta, he recalls and the guy says ‘No, your war is over greatly the welcome that he got back, espeAbel.’” cially, from his mother. He really loved his His left arm ended mother,” remembers up being one inch Robertson. shorter than his right “He didn’t receive Native arm because of his a lot of the standard veterans were benefits that returning injuries and he had to have a steel plate put veterans got like offers not treated in his skull. He was in of education funding the battlefield for only on par with the white or land and all those 28 days before return- people or the nonkinds of rights, but ing to Canada. he always received a Peters ended up in native native people. pension and with that Vancouver and stayed money he bought a at a hospital for solsawmill.” diers to recover from his injuries. He then In April 1952, he also served as the transwent to Victoria to a convalescent facility lator for the Cheslatta Carrier Nation when and stayed for several months to regain Alcan and the Department of Indian Affairs use of his arm and strength in his legs. forced people to surrender their land.

Once he was discharged, he found his “He was always very angry about how way to Quesnel to work in a sawmill but a they treated the people and when we were workplace injury to his hands forced him researching the eviction and the relocaback to Vancouver for medical treatment. tion he was the prime witness we had.”

When he finally recovered, he went back Ultimately he had to relocate his sawmill to Cheslatta Lake and bought a truck and to Grassy Plains, where he spent the rest started a sawmill. of his life.

“He had a plate in his head, and he He married May Jack and together they

raised 12 children. He later became chief of the Cheslatta Carrier Nation from 19621964 and a Band Councillor from1966-1968 and again from 1985-1990.

“He would always very proudly go to the November 11 ceremony and as he got older, he got more involved,” said Robertson.

“Native veterans were not treated on par with the white people or the non-native native people. You know, we did some work here to get medals and recognition, but records were not well-kept for the Indigenous boys that fought. There was a lot that we didn’t know.”

Robertson also wrote a poem for Peters called The Cycle inspired by a conversation they had in 2007 while flying from Prince George to Victoria.

As the pair were flying over the mountains, Peters remarked that it looked like the mountains were poking holes into the clouds.

“He was a really romantic kind of thinker and speaker,” said Robertson. “He was always thinking and wondering.”

Abel Thomas Peters passed away from cancer peacefully on Aug. 15, 2012 just short of his 90th birthday.

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THURSDAY NOVEMBER 11, 2021

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11.11.21 REMEMBERING THOSE WHO sERVED

Military service is about more than combat duty that is the jump company in the Third Battalion.

“That’s when I officially got my maroon The Royal Canadian Legion’s definition beret and became a paratrooper. So any of a veteran is any person who is serv- kind of exercise I was doing with Bravo we ing or who has honorably served in were doing jumps.” the Canadian Armed Forces, the ComIn the military Durand had 40 jumps. monwealth or its wartime allies, or as a “So I spent a year in Charlie company, a Regular Member of the Royal Canadian year in Bravo company, and it took a year Mounted Police, or as a Peace Officer in to get to the unit,” Durand said. a Special Duty Area or on a Special Duty “So that’s three years of my career right Operation, or who has served in the Mer- there.” chant Navy or Ferry Command during After that, he got posted to ‘Niner’ Tac, wartime. a combat support company where he Nicolas Durand spent six years hon- worked directly for his commanding offiorably serving in the Canadian Armed cer and regimental sergeant major. He was Forces and never went overseas or into there for the rest of his Canadian Forces combat and he still deserves to be recog- career. nized as a veteran.

“Basically I was a modern-day squire,” He spent his years of service in training, Durand said. doing administrative duties and facilitatEverything to do with the logistics of any ing battles against wildfires – a formidable operation, Durand had to manage it, from foe that took a lot from British Columbians transportation to communications and in recent years. arranging for meals, he added.

Durand joined the “It was about the army when he was logistics of getting What other just 21 years old on food to those 500 Feb. 13, 2013 and his people, getting ammukind of job release date was Feb. nition for those 500 gives you no 26, 2019. people, where to put “It was a job I felt I those 500 people that notice and could do for the rest of made tactical sense,” orders you to my life,” Durand said.

Durand said.

“At the time I chose go to a forest fire?

“So that’s what I the army because I That’s what I signed did.” was feeling goal-less.

During his service I wasn’t really sure up for and 16 to 24 time he was deployed where I wanted to weeks of my life were twice to B.C. wildfires, go in life, right? I felt the first time to Wilif I could just put my at those forest fires liams Lake and the eggs in that basket two years in a row. next time to Vernon.

I wouldn’t have to In Williams Lake worry about the rest the school was home of it – like where my next pay cheque is base. coming from.”

“We were also assisting the RCMP with Like everyone, when Durand joined the road blocks,” Durand said. army he went to basic training. He went to “It was a crazy time. What other kind of Quebec for the 13-week course. job gives you no notice and orders you to He then got sent to the PAT which is go to a forest fire? That’s what I signed up platoon awaiting training and spent a sum- for and 16 to 24 weeks of my life were at mer in Wainwright, AB. those forest fires two years in a row.”

“Then I got on my trades course, which Durand wants people to know that in Infantry is battle school,” Durand service in the Canadian Forces doesn’t explained. That was another 13-week always mean combat. course.

“Some people when they hear I was “That’s where you lose most of the peo- in the military – the first question ple,” he added. they ask is ‘have you ever killed any“We started battle school with 50 people body? Ever been to Afghanistan?’” and we graduated 16.” he said.

It was a winter battle school so it was “And it’s like if I haven’t done those really cold, Durand said. things clearly my service doesn’t count for “Once you got through battle school anything. If I haven’t done what they see in you are qualified in your trade,” he said. the movies it doesn’t count.”

“Then I got posted to Edmonton at the He finds that attitude frustrating.

3rd Battalion Princess Patricia’s Canadian “I still risked my life in training, I saw Light Infantry.” my friend get shot in a training accident, I He was posted to Charlie Company and jumped out of airplanes as part of my job he was rifleman number two. in the armed forces,” Durand said.

“I went on exercises to Wainwright, to He’s now focusing on a future getting his Hawaii to train for an international exer- education at the College of New Caledonia cise called RIMPAC,” Durand said. with the education benefit allotted to him “After Hawaii I came back and at some through Veteran Affairs. point I got posted to Bravo company He’s going to be a plumber.

CHRISTINE DALGLEISH Citizen staff

SUBMITTED PHOTO

Nicolas Durand spent his time in service to his country going to war against wildfires.

We Remember On Remembrance Day, and every day, we recognize the courage and sacrifice of those who served, and continue to serve, so that we all may have a safer future.

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THURSDAY NOVEMBER 11, 2021

11.11.21 REMEMBERING THOSE WHO sERVED LETTERS FROM THE FRONT

Lancaster tailgunner’s log book tells tale CITIZEN STAFF

In 1944, Warrant Officer Ted Studney was a rear gunner in Lancaster bombers flying out of RAF Wickenby, England with the 626 Squadron. The 18-year-old farmboy from Saskatchewan recorded the events of each flight in his Flying Log Book, which has been preserved by his son Shannon Studney who now lives in Prince George.

The following is a selection of excerpts from his flying log.

Oct. 7, 1944: (Ops.) Emmerich (well pranged) Hit by incendiaries over target, then hit by flak on the bombing run. All but one petrol tank holed. Both wings on fire.

Returned to base. Skipper was awarded the immediate D.F.C. (Distinguished Flying Cross).

Oct. 19, 1944: (Ops.) Stuttgart I was hit by flak before target. Just after bombing was attacked by a JU 188. Due to previous injury to left shoulder, was barely able to return fire. (Then) was hit by cannon shrapnel in right thigh. Hits were scored on our A.C. both times. Crashed near base over shooting. F.E. (flight engineer) was killed. Rest of the crew were badly injured.

After recovering, Studney began flying

STUDNEYFAMILY HANDOUTPHOTO

Shannon Studney keeps his father, Warrant Officer Ted Studney’s, photo, medals and flying log in a shadow box.

again in February, 1945, as the rear gunner of a Lancaster bomber nicknamed the Vicious Virgin.

Feb. 28, 1945: (Ops.) Gardening in Oslo fiord.

March 2, 1945: (Ops). Cologne.

We don’t know them all... but we owe them all.

Lest we forget

Well bombed. One Lanc crashed in bridge.

March 7, 1945: (Ops.) Dessau.

Heavy flak and search lights. Bombed from 27,000 ft.

March 12, 1945: (Ops.) Kassel.

Flak and searchlight with fighter activity.

March 25, 1945: (Ops) Henover (likely Hanover) Was attacked by jet fighter ME 262. I fired 200 per gun and fighter was seen to explode in mid-air. One certain.

March 27, 1945: (Ops.) Paderborn Well bombed.

April 5, 1945: (Ops). Walcheron Island Strafed Jerries.

April 14, 1945: (Ops) Potsdam Heavy flak.

April 21, 1945: (ops) Bremen Fighter activity.

April 25, 1945: (ops) Bertesgaden (likely Berchtesgaden) Hit barracks with rookie.

Germany surrendered on May 8, 1945, making April 25 Studney’s last operational flight.

If Studney did indeed shoot down a German Messerschmitt 262 jet fighter on March 25, 1945 he joins the very elite ranks of Allied airmen, including Chuck Yeager, who can claim to have done so.

A40

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2021

P R I N CE G EO RG E C IT I Z E N

FOR THOSE WHO LEAVE NEVER TO RETURN. FOR THOSE WHO RETURN BUT ARE NEVER THE SAME. WE WILL

REMEMBER NORTHLAND DODGE