Remembrance Day: Lest We Forget.

[sumdumguy]

Dad was a 5'11, 22 year old. He first hitch hiked on the trains to Vancouver to join the navy. Due to a punctured ear drum he was rejected. He then took the train back to Yorkton where he trained as a Blenheim twin engine bomber pilot (because at 5'11 he was too tall to be a fighter pilot). After training he was posted to England. He was the lead plane for the squadron, usually ten fighters heading to North Africa. He made several trips leading fighters because they had no navigation. He flew from England to Gibralter to Malta, the island off the coast of Italy. He spent three years in India out of Calcutta, bombing the Burma Road. Much of the bombing was done at night without instruments or lights. His navigators and gunner were shot out a couple of times. He tells stories about staying up all night to keep dingos from chewing off the tires of the plane. These were harrowing times for a young farm boy being the only plane returning when five planes went out. He grieved his many friends who never made it. It affected his life forever. He was proud to serve but the loss of young life was horrendous. I think he considered those flights suicide missions - sending young guys out in planes that fly 200 miles an hour when the Germans had fighter planes like the Folker Wolfe and Mescherschmidt that flew 400 miles an hour. He was truly humbled and came back to live his dream as a kind and gentle grain farmer. He always had a plane parked at the farm and all of his grandsons have pilot's licenses. He lived to the ripe old age of 94 and did 100 push-ups a day until in his mid-eighties. Today we will go and take our grandchildren to his grave.

[therealnorthernf]

It is the VETERAN , not the preacher,
Who has given us freedom of religion.
It is the VETERAN , not the reporter,
Who has given us freedom of the press.
It is the VETERAN , not the poet,
Who has given us freedom of speech.
It is the VETERAN , not the campus organizer,
Who has given us freedom to assemble.
It is the VETERAN , not the lawyer,
Who has given us the right to a fair trial.
It is the VETERAN , not the politician,
Who has given us the right to vote.
It is the VETERAN , Who salutes the Flag,
It is the Veteran , Who serves under the Flag,
ETERNAL REST GRANT THEM O LORD, AND LET PERPETUAL LIGHT SHINE UPON THEM.
I don't usually suggest that many emails be forwarded, but I'd be EXTREMELY proud if this one reached as many as possible. We can be very proud of our young men and women in the service no matter where they serve.
God Bless them all!!!


Author Unknown to me