FREEDOM Stories of South Pickering Seniors’ Club Veterans TABLE OF CONTENTS THE PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE Page 1 The Veterans below are Who We Remember in this booklet Page 2 an integral part of our Memories of a Girl Growing Up During WWII Page 3 South Pickering Seniors’ Club. They chose not to have War Statistics Page 4 a page in the booklet. Who are These Men poem from Jodie Johnson Page 5 Kenny Allen Page 6 Kenny Allen and Friends - picture of Ellen Maddeaux Page 7 D Day Naval Bombardment Map - picture of a hit! Page 8 Ab Blake and Friends Page 9 George Bourner Page 10 George Bourner - memorabilia Page 11 Ab Sinyard Joe Thorogood George Dowding Page 12 RAF North Coates Strike Wing Page 13 John Franklin Page 14 John Franklin memorabilia Page 15 R Allan Harrison Page 16 Article entitled Canucks Unlimited and German Subs Page 17 Bill Sowerby Dennis Timbrell Olive (Cousins) Henderson Page 18 Olive (Cousins) Henderson cont'd - memorabilia Page 19 Frank Hindle and Atlantic Statistics Page 20 10,000 Ton Park Canadian Ship - D.E.M.S arm badge Page 21 Terence Michael Page 22 HMS Ajax 1944 Naples, Italy and information Page 23 John Cornwell Elva Docherty Bill Penny Page 24 Bill Penny con'td - memorabilia Page 25 Joseph Reynolds Page 26 Jospeh Reynolds cont'd - New Museum in Ottawa Page 27 Joseph Sornberger - The Royal Air Force Memorial Page 28 Pat Tranquada and - memorabilia Page 29 Eric Treharne Page 30 Eric Treharne cont'd and Friends Page 31 Cecil Turner Page 32 Cecil Turner cont'd and D.E.M.S. Atlantic Badge Page 33 Don Upham and Hong Kong Harbour Picture Page 34 Gordon Warren and Script Money Page 35 Frank Williamson Page 36 Frank Williamson and tank crew Page 37 Bill Wright - memorabilia Page 38 The Poppy Page 39 In Flanders Fields Page 40 GUESS THEIR NAMES ON THE FRONT COVER!!! TOP ROW: left to right - Terry Michael, Pat Tranquada, Elva Docherty, Kenny Allen, John Franklin, John Cornwell 2nd ROW : left to right - Joe Sornberger, Joe Reynolds, George Dowding, George Bourner, Frank Williamson, Gordon Warren 3rd ROW: left to right - Frank Hindle, Eric Treharne, Don Upham, Dennis Timbrell, Cecil Turner, Olive Henderson 4th ROW: left to right - Bill Penny, Bill Sowerby, Al Harrison, Ab Blake. The President's Message to The Veterans The Federal Government has designated 2005 as The Year of the Veteran!! I strongly believe we should always be dedicated to the Veterans who have unselfishly given of themselves in the pursuit of Freedom, the securing of our Democracy. For this I salute you all. Elsie Hetherman and Mary Spence should be commended for bringing the Veterans who are members of the South Pickering Seniors’ Club to the limelight. I can see the changes between before and after, knowing that a dormant atmosphere has become rejuvenated. The Veterans should be allowed to visit every school in all of the Nations of this World to speak with the boys and girls who will grow to become the leaders of Tomorrow and narrate what the War was all about including their personal experiences. The Veterans have a better understanding of the human toll, the tragedies, the cost, and triumphs. I sincerely hope that what Elsie has started will not die, but that the Veterans themselves will meet on a regular basis and forge a bond with one another. Again, I salute you all. God Bless. Cynthia Campbell President. 1 WHO WE REMEMBER IN THIS BOOKLET SOUTH PICKERING SENIORS’ CLUB VETERANS This booklet was created by a number of great veterans who enjoyed the get-togethers we had on a monthly basis throughout January - April of this year. Coffee and home baking was the morning menu and we had over 20 veterans at each get-together. We realize through other commitments or personal reasons there were veterans that chose not to submit information and their pictures are on the inside of the front cover. I found it amazing how the Veterans that did submit articles remembered so much about their experiences and were embarrassed or timid to share their memories without a lot of harassing from Elsie. We also realize it is not always pleasant looking back in time. Thanks for all your help and returning my phone calls. The Veterans enjoyed the first 20 minutes of our get-togethers talking to one and other. It gave them the opportunity to reminisce and discover what their fellow members of the South Pickering Seniors’ Club had done during the War Years on a one to one basis . The first get-together consisted of 5 members who were very unsure about starting this “group” and so were Mary and I! The next month we had 12 members at our sessions. Over the next few sessions, the group grew to over 30 Veterans who began to realize the importance they were to this Country and the “Freedom” they fought for around the world! Although we have no stories from WWI in this booklet, we want to thank those veterans for fighting for us and our FREEDOM. It has been 60 years since World War II and we thank our veterans for taking part in that horrendous war and continued to fight for our FREEDOM. We also want to recognize and thank the Veterans of the Korean War who also fought for our FREEDOM. We want to thank all veterans of the South Pickering Seniors’ Club for your contribution to our FREEDOM. You will find the articles contain many different responsibilities of the individual veteran and in some cases the member only wanted to remember the fun part of the War. The articles were left very close to the original documentation the contributors provided. Hopefully the spelling of some of the towns and locations are OK. It was a long time ago and we didn't research the spelling. It was not possible to use all submissions of memorabilia. We tried to match the memorabilia with the Veteran’s article, however, it wasn't always possible due to space. Notice most Veterans gave their years of service and locations but chose not to get into the detailed picture of “what it was like fighting in the war”. We realize it was not all fun and no matter what their position (responsibilities) were at that time they were contributing to our Freedom. Please turn to the “War Statistics” page to understand the losses of life they witnessed during their stay in certain Countries, Cities, Towns, etc., of the war. We want to thank you “Vets” for helping us make this booklet. We notice how much “Taller You Walk” today in the South Pickering Seniors’ Club and we hope you have many more years with us! Mary Spence - typesetter Elsie Hetherman - editor 2 MEMORIES OF A GIRL GROWING UP DURING WWII By MARY SPENCE I was ten years old when the war started. As my Dad was in the Territorial Army he was called up for service before the war started. The thing I remember most was being without my dad for the duration of his service 1939-1944 when he was given a medical discharge due to heart problems. My mother had to go to work as a soldier's pay didn't amount to much. Because she worked I was designated the “ration book holder” as I did most of the shopping. We struggled along as best we could - mum, my younger sister Betty and I. We had various scares during these years - once a mine was dropped at the mouth of Ayr Harbour, causing quite a stir. When the Germans bombed Clydeside and Glasgow (the Shipyards were located there) we could see the glow from the fires from our front window. Fortunately, Ayr escaped the bombing though we could often hear the German planes overhead. If the Air Raid Siren went off at night, the schools started at 10:00 a.m. instead of 9.00 a.m. Sometimes we didn't hear the siren and to our disgust arrived early for school. The late start was to give the teachers; who were A.R.P. and Fire Watchers, time to get home and change for school. If the siren went off during the day we had to get down on the floor under the desks. The windows were criss-crossed with sticky brown tape in case they were blown out - I never did find out if the sticky tape worked! Of course, all the house and business windows were covered with black-out curtains and we had no streetlights, so you didn't go out at night without a torch. I'll never forget the feeling of anticipation on V.E. Day - it seemed the whole town held its' breath - we were all waiting for official news on the wireless. That night crowds roamed the streets and marched to the Barracks on the sea front where the cry went up “we want the band, we want the band.” Needless to say we didn't get “the band” and a very large disappointed group had to walk back home after midnight. The town blossomed with bunting and flags and the Church Bells rang and rang (for the first time since war was declared - the ringing of the bells signaled an invasion during the war.) There was a lot of merry making, parties and dances held in the streets. Victory Parades were held with Pipe and Military Bands in abundance. Ayr Racecourse was used for the Military: Prestwick and Heathfield for the Air Force and Butlin's Holiday Camp at the Heads of Ayr for the Navy, the Yanks were all over so there was plenty of “man”power for the parades.