Montreal

Tennis

A Real Canuk

GRANDAD

This is a transcript of Jennifer's memorial given at the chapel.

When I first mentioned to Grandad that I was playing a musical instrument, he was overjoyed, and so when I went on to tell him it was the tenor saxophone, he was exuberant! Grandad loved the fact that both his grandaughters were playing big band jazz, blues, instruments, and deeply enrolled in the music scene. The music never failed to bring an endless, glowing smile upon him, when either of us would play.

During the last two years, I received many jazz, blues, and big band recordings of famous musicians from him. It was just that extra bit of encouragement I needed to push myself and realize my true potential. The encouragement, support, and energy attributed to my music is something that was greatly appreciated and something that I must definitely, will not forget -- ever!

On The Beach

Farewells

Dancing Lambs

From the second I was born, there was never a missed birthday or forgotten Christmas, and I'm glad now that I did remain in contact with my Grandad.

I had a school assignment last year in History -- to interview a survivor from WWII, and instantly I thought of the perfect candidate -- who else but Grandad. Of course, he was more than happy to help me out. I learned of all the happy and hard times he went through; the airforce, being a best man, getting married, having two unique but beautiful children. I'm glad I had the chance to interview Grandad and find out all I did about him. It gave me a chance to know the man he truly was, and the complete life he was so proud to lead.


RAYMOND -- A REAL LIFE WAR HERO

I NEVER REALIZED HOW TERRIBLE

WORLD WARS WERE UNTIL…

I realized that after interviewing my grandfather, Raymond, about his life during World War Two, I have a lot to learn about life in general. It always occurred to me that after university you could easily obtain a reasonable job, raise a family somewhere during this time, and be thoroughly established by the time you were approximately 30 years old. My grandfather was probably established by the age of thirty, with a stable job, a family, and lived in an average size dwelling. The only exception being that prior to him settling down, he served as a proud air force lieutenant, from the time he was 19 in 1940, until the age of 25 in 1945, in the ever so popular WWII.

My grandfather, who was born in Newcastle, England, was, and still is, the type of man who would be more than proud to represent his country defending Britain in it's war against the powerful and conceited Germany, even if it meant risking his life. He was always more of a leader, than a follower, and to prove it he volunteered at the naïve and innocent age of eighteen, to join the Royal Air Force, but was immediately rejected because he worked in a "reserved occupation", Smith's Clock's, located in Hendon London. After the disappointment of being rejected by the Air Force in 1939, he left the "reserved occupation" to work as an electrician building touring buses at "Duple Coach Works", in Hendon London. He basically left his "reserved occupation" to work as an electrician with the knowledge that if he did this, he could re-apply to the air force with hopes of acceptance. Sure enough, he was accepted into the Air Force as "trainee, air crew, and wireless operator".

If you are going to serve in a war, any war, it is necessary that you are tested with medicals and basic drill training. My grandfather went through "Morse Code" training in the city of Blackpool. It took place in the empty "train sheds" on the Blackpool waterfront. Training lasted 16 weeks, and by the end of his training he was able to send and receive morse code at a minimum of 20 words per minute. My grandfather did see and hear about some pretty shocking news during the time he was doing his morse code training, as he describes, "All the while I was on the Blackpool waterfront, on the sea front promenade, I actually witnessed the only German bomber to fly over Blackpool, overhead, said to have bombed the Blackpool railway station."

As well as training in morse code in Blackpool, it was essential that members of the Air Force went through strict physical examinations for air crew, and it was there that it was discovered he had a perforated eardrum in his left ear. This type of physical discomfort would not allow him to continue in the air crew, so he was immediately taken off and sent to study radar and ordered not to fly (during test flights) higher then 10,000 feet. The radar training was at an engineering college in Birmingham, when Germany bombed the bailey of Birmingham with incendiary bombs and he was used to rescue people and put out fires. The city was badly burned by bombing during this period while he was visiting Coventry, just after the raid.

The termination of radar training sent my grandfather out to Northern Ireland to "Nuts Corner", 14 miles from Belfast, "I joined the 120 squadron on active service with a big 4-engined Liberator bomber." "The planes had big bomb bays under the belly, and, for coastal command, huge "depth charges" that were used to kill any German submarines found around Irish coastlines to the "Bay of Biscay". In order to facilitate big planes, the village of Nuts Corner had to be "razed to the ground" to build extra longs runways. My grandfather managed to get three weeks leave after serving nine months at Nuts Corner, so he made the decision to go home to Burnt Oak (suburb of London), to re-unite with his family and his "so called" fiancee, only to find that she had selfishly backstabbed him, and married another while he was gone.

Subsequent to his leave, my grandfather was sent back to the Air Force training base called Hooten Park, near Liverpool, for the following three years, helping train air crews to operate and maintain the latest secret radar equipment. During this time he was flying almost three times a day. The planes he used to fly were on their first air tests after being serviced by highly trained mechanics, "A risky operation, not knowing whether or not the plane would take off from the ground, never mind landing." "The test pilots were wild, but it proved to be exciting back then, I was at the age where almost everything could be made exciting, and I absolutely loved it." "I was also sent to do a radar course with the Royal Navy, and it was quite easy. You couldn't take notes because radar was top secret, studying was not essential, and the ability to concentrate was not important."

It was surprisingly sudden, when in 1945, my grandfather was taken down to Leon Wall where they lived under tents for many weeks, then sent to the East Coast and then across the English Channel and over to the vessels that were being attacked by German "E" boats. He finally ended up in Belgium, in Knocke, living in a private house.

The squadron's job from Knocke was to seek out "one-man German submarines", trying to escape from the Canadian army who were advancing northwards (3 miles ahead of them) destroying German VII rocket bases. This required very slow aircraft, so they were reduced from the "sublime to the ridiculous", using two winged aircraft called Fairey Swordfish. (maximum speed of 139 mph.).

The infamous war against Germany ended when he was in Belgium. He was sent home to work as an electrician helping rebuild homes around London.

His class of release was "Class B". On being discharged, he received £60 and a gray pinstripe suit.

In the 120 squadron, out of 20 radar mechanics, 19 were Canadian. My grandfather was the only non-Canadian, except for the officer in charge who was originally from New Zealand.

"Iwas dumbfounded when I returned home, to find that my parents moved back to Newcastle, so I lived with my sister Doris and her husband until I discovered my future wife, a youthful 18 year old (I was 26). I got married quite abruptly, within six months of meeting the woman who turned out to be my wife of 35 years, the mother of my two children, and the grandmother of my four grandchildren".

"Iam presently 76 years old, live in a one bedroom apartment in Scarborough. Unfortunately divorced 14 years ago, but living a very active and comfortable life. I have two great musical granddaughters, Jennifer (15 years), and Carol (14 years), and two grandsons, Charlie (19 years), and Michael (16 years)."

If you ask me, I am honoured to tell the stories of my grandfather's life during this War that was thought to be never ending. Fortunately, with the help of people like my grandfather, who independently volunteered to defend his country, Britain and it's friends won the war that will always be remembered by the citizens who so proudly fought in it.

Written by: Jennifer

Date: April 28/1997

The Annual Terry Fox Run

Ray was an enthusiastic participant in the annual Terry Fox 10 km Run for The Marathon of Hope. Starting in 1981, he never missed a year!


Sympathy from George & Ethel

To: Jean, Alan, Janet & all the Children over there & Friends. Please accept our sympathy in this sad and unexpected loss of Raymond.
May 'God rest his soul in peace'.
We trust all goes well
Love to all.

From: George & Ethel
And all the Family over here.