The End of Yet Another Chapter

May 24, 2019 - I have become concerned about what will happen to all the bits and pieces, which you will have read about on this blog, after I have gone. It has become quite a collection - telling a really good story of my parents. It becomes quite a responsibility for another family member to take it on.

Just when I think the final chapter has been written on this piece of work, something else happens. Fortunately, it is usually something really positive.

"My cousin Janet (Ade) Dewan who lives in Toronto, Canada is an avid supporter and contributor to the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library of the University of Toronto - https://fisher.library.utoronto.ca/.   Last October, she approached PJ Carefoote (head of the Fisher's Special Collections) to ask if he'd be receptive to having my material.  Because Janet has been connected with the Fisher for 30 years,  PJ knows her well and said Yes, so Janet wrote to me. I canvassed my siblings and Janet negotiated with PJ  - with emails and phone calls ongoing to clarify details both before and after after your decision to donate.

It was later in November that Danielle Van Wagner became involved.  To make material accessible to the public, a finding aid is created for a collection.  Danielle was already working on the finding aid for Janet's ongoing Tripe family donations and doing a terrific job, so she was the obvious choice to work on my parents' collection.

And so on with the story.

Over this past January, Danielle came to visit her mother and was able to drop in here to have a look at the collection. She was so positive and encouraging.

The UPS truck arrived on March 29, 2019 and took three boxes off to Toronto where they were received and the contents were being catalogued.

And the icing on the cake was a Spring Open House held at the Fisher Library and Danielle was able to put together a display of some of our items - see photos below.

My own thoughts on this part of the tale are mixed. From the time, all those years ago when I received Mom’s diaries from her and then when Dad’s Flight Logs were given to me by my brother for safe keeping, I have followed the story along. It has become my story too, of course.

It is the story of many Canadian families in the late 1930s and 1940s. While the details may vary, the times were such that one did one’s duty to King and country. And one did that especially if your parents were from England and they felt threatened even though England was an ocean away.

And so with the all the help and proddings and from my four cousins - David and John Hall, Dad's sister Margaret's sons; and Janet (Ade) Dewan and Barbara (Ade) Tangney, Dad's sister Marian's daughters along with all the other people in Canada and in Europe, this collection has found a perpetual home. All the folks above made this possible and I can't thank them enough.

It is very clear that my Dad wanted to fly. He must have loved going up in the Lazair Ultralight when he was in his 60s even if it wasn’t a Spitfire.

Of course, I have regrets too. The obvious one is that when one is a child/teenager/young adult, one is very self-absorbed, I find. I certainly was. I didn’t ask the questions and I should have. But I doubt that I am alone in this. A person does get wiser as one ages.

I hope I’ve done my parents proud with this project. It’s certainly been a labour of love and a wonderful adventure meeting my friends across the pond and here in my own country.

Here are some photos of the exhibition at the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library at the University of Toronto in March of this year.

Danielle Van Wagner and my cousin Janet Dewan.

Two of Elizabeth (Rannie) Tripe's diaries. The bottom one is open to D-Day and the scribblings are mine, I was 3 nearly 4!

Dad's Flight Book open to his last entry for WWII.

The Search Continues

April 24, 2019

A new friend has turned up some wonderful newspaper clippings from The Ottawa Journal about my Dad which I can share. These may have been submitted to the newspaper by my grandparents.

Here we go, starting with 1939.

Next we go to 1940, The Ottawa Journal -

And 1941, The Ottawa Journal -

And 1943, The Ottawa Journal -

And 1944, The Ottawa Journal -

And finally 1945, The Ottawa Journal -

There is still more to tell about this latest information but here are a couple of observations:

1. Don't you just love the tea? It's what they did back then.

2. I find the reference in the January 12, 1945 article to the people in India's Punjab very interesting. The "sponsoring" of an RAF squadron seems rather quaint these days but that's what happened.

3. I would love to hear that radio interview done in Belgium which was aired on the Ottawa radio station CKCO. I wonder how the station got the recording? How was it recorded?

More as we move along. 

Mapping a wartime journey

March 15, 2019

I have been doing an inventory of all the material I have dealing with Dad's WWII time. In doing so, I thought it might be interesting to do a map of all the bases he was stationed at from 1939 to 1945. Here is the result - .

2018 Addition

November 25, 2018

I think it would be a good idea to add 2 more blog addresses to this one. The first one is about my daughter Holly and my trip to Luxembourg to see old friends. Here is the URL for that blog - http://2013anne.blogspot.com.

And the second trip was to As and to Luxembourg with my sister Louise on the occasion of the launch of a book written by our friends Karel and Willem about WWII. Here is the URL for that blog - https://memoire2014.blogspot.com.

Anne

After All This Time

June 7, 2016 - A small package of documents arrived this week, sent by my sister Louise, to my great delight. I am putting a couple of them here along with a couple of comments.

First - these two photos were carried in my Dad's wallet for many years. One is of me in Chester at Deva Terrace and the other is of Mom. I'm not sure where it was taken but it's a beauty. I do remember he still my picture in his wallet in the late 50s as I saw it there once by accident. I believe these photos went to war with him.

And then there is a letter Dad wrote in answer to author Martin Middlebrook. Middlebrook was doing research for his book The Schweinfurt-Regensburg Mission published in 1983.





Middlebrook quoted Dad in the book and used some of this letter verbatim - pages 184, 186.

So even as the years roll on, more bits and pieces of our family's history continue to arrive on my desk. I am grateful for it all.

As, Belgium Revisited

August 20, 2013 - When Bill and I went to As and Opglabbeek in Belgium three and a half years ago to see the place where Dad had bailed out of his plane, I wasn’t sure if I’d ever get back. But I did and my daughter Holly did too. An old friend of mine from the 1950s in Echternach, Luxembourg and his wife were our hosts during our wonderful visit back in time. Jemp Friedrich and Lony Hansen drove us to the Mardaga on Monday, August 5, 2013 where we met our old friend Karel. Jemp told us that my Dad was his first hero – how about that! He said that Dad didn’t say very much about his being wounded and shot down but I guess that was enough for a teenager who had read all about the Spitfire pilots.

We walked in the hotel and there was the plaque that my cousin John had designed and had made hanging on the wall in the lobby. And Karel had arranged to have two pieces of the plane framed to hang beside the plaque. It was quite moving to see it again.

 

 

We met Karel who took us to all the spots – Y32-Ophoven airfield, the school where the officers and pilots stayed and where the hospital was that treated the wound in Dad’s right arm. And then we went up behind the Mardaga to see the crash site of Dad’s Spitfire. I had seen the area very briefly in the winter of 2010 and did not walk in but did this time. I felt kind of odd and awed by it. There’s nothing to see on the ground. There are trees now, there weren’t any back then. It’s very peaceful now. 

 

 

We all went out to supper as the Mardaga’s restaurant was closed on Mondays. Karel told us that his and William’s book on the war will be coming out in 2016. They are finishing up some interviews and the mayor has most generously agreed to pay for the publishing. This book was started, in part, as a result of our visit three years ago. People have just now started talking about what happened in their community all those years ago.

Since Lony and Jemp had not heard all the details that Karel had been sending to us, they asked lots of questions and it was good to hear it all again.

 

 

Karel had brought 3 pieces of the plane with him for me to take home. There is a pump, an exploded piece of ammo and a piece of aluminum which could have come from the body or the wing. I will be bringing these back to Canada.

 

 

There are not enough words to thank Karel and all the other people who have helped me and my family understand and know more about who our Dad was in a vital part of his life.

And for those who might be interested in this 2013 trip to Europe, please go to http://2013anne.blogspot.ca/.

First Flight of Phil's Model - June 23, 2012

Dad's model Spitfire took flight! While it wasn't a total success, it flew long enough for those of us on the ground to cheer. I am putting in the comments below that came after Gord sent out the video. Rob edited the video somewhat as well.

It looks like the video will have to go on YouTube and here's the link to the edited version - http://youtu.be/fKDs_0E0nTI. And here is the unedited version - http://youtu.be/HkjV5DFPdTc. You'll have to copy and paste the links.

Here's the first message that came from Gord - "The good news is the plane flew, the bad news is the crash into the trees. One of the aileron linkages let go, and Brian could not recover - he's an excellent pilot. The video isn't great but you get the idea. And for full disclosure, I'm sending a picture of the wing damage. There wasn't much other damage, as the trees broke the fall a bit. I'll take some time to let this all settle in before I decide what to do next. Gord"



From Cousin David Hall - "Never mind, Gord. just to see it in the air was wonderful after all that work and testing. And you might reference your Dad's flight log, after all the flying he had done, when taking off for Belgium in late 1944, he 'pranged' his Spitfire. Now, for me a little considered part of of warfare has always been the mechanical failures-things wear out and break or don't perform as expected. One has to weave all that into the experience. And it makes it more real. Hell, if it was easy, everyone would do it. You are still da man for pursuing this. David"

From me - "It was wonderful to see it take off and listen to it. Congratulations for getting this plane so far along. And thanks to Brian for all his assistance. Love, Anne"

From sister Louise - "Oh SHIT is right! Too bad but hey- you will fly again, Gord!
Weese"

From brother Don - "Hey Gordini. That was absolutely, seriously, excellent!!! When I look at the freeze frame of the video right after the Spitfire takes off, I get a megabuzz of Dad taking off in the grass. What an image!! Brian was brilliant and I enjoyed the cinema verite classic ending, "Oh Shit!!!" Flying the Spitfire was SO 'the right thing to do' and the Spit looked AMAZING in the air; like it couldn't wait to get soaring and diving. So, fix it up (Epoxy Phil...) at your leisure and let's do this again; this time maybe those who want to could join in to watch, now that you've taken the hard knocks for us all by actually flying. Well done, good and faithful servant ("God", it's a good thing). Big D"

From brother Rob - "Hi all - I'm with you Don - the first few seconds as the plane was taxiing and taking off, the shadow underneath and the first banking turn are magnificent! I edited the start of the clip and slowed it down - see what I mean? Whatever else happens, Gordo, the effort was worth every second of the flight and, as the Aussies say, "Good on yer, mate!" We'll talk again about a North Bay fly-in this summer (after the shad flies and deer flies have settled). Rob"

From friend Karel - "Too bad the plane crashed but the damage looks repairable. It was very nice to see the spitfire getting airborn, could it be the CG was too far back, as the plane seemed to hang on its tail? it could just be an impression. I hope the repair will go well. kind regards, Karel"

And from friend Allan - "Hi All, Sorry for the late addition to the discussion, nice to see the little PVK XIV flying – IIRC wasn’t the engine changed on this one, if so is it the same weight as the original as my comments would match those of Karel otherwise? Hopefully the damage shown in the picture isn’t too hard to repair, and we will see it flying again soon – albeit from a distance for Karel and I!! Kind regards to you all. Allan"

And again from brother Gord - "Sister Anne suggested this after I told her of the cockpit damage. Seems the pilot has done a bit of a face plant into the dashboard after the crash. Gord"



Here are a couple of photos from the video of the flight.





This was a long journey as you can see earlier on this blog and I certainly count it as a huge success.

And the Good News from Gord is that the repair work has already started!