It Happened Down Home Collected Short Stories War on the Homefront Guysborough County - Canada’s East Coast Gerry Madigan 10 April 2018 Author’s Note: This book is a compilation of stories first written for the readers of the Guysborough Journal. These stories were written between 2015 and 2017. They have been compiled here in one place as an example of war on the Homefront from 1939 to 1945. The Second World War affected all Canadian Communities both large and small, yet there is often an impression that its impact was felt only in the larger Canadian centres. The truth is, the war’s impact was prolific, and even affected the very small and rural areas of Canada. The impact of the Second World War in Guysborough County is such an example. 1 Biographical Gerry (GD) Madigan, CD1, MA is a retired logistician, Canadian Armed Forces. Major (Retired) Madigan’s career spans 28 Years as a finance officer. His notable postings included time served at National Defence Headquarters, CFB Europe, Maritime Canada and The First Gulf War as comptroller in Qatar. He is a graduate of Saint Francis Xavier University (BSc), McGill University (MSc) and the Royal Military College of Canada (Master of Arts War Studies). 2 Place holder LAC Details – 1 ISBN 978-0-9959203-2-3 Assigned 10 April 2018 3 Place holder LAC Details – 2 4 Contents Acknowledgements It Happened Down Home ......................................................................................... 8 Introduction It Happened Down Home .................................................................................................. 10 1. Girl on the Wing ...................................................................................................................... 13 .................................................................................................................................................................... 13 Introduction ................................................................................................................................................ 15 Claire’s Story – Girl on the Wing ............................................................................................................. 15 Graham’s Story - Haystacks in the Field .................................................................................................. 19 Other Details ........................................................................................................................................... 20 The Crew of Anson 12578 ........................................................................................................................... 21 The Stuff of Legend – Buried/Hidden Treasure? .................................................................................... 23 A picture is worth a thousand words! .................................................................................................... 24 Transcript of the Official Crash Record ................................................................................................... 27 Analysis Avro Anson – Its Specifications in Relation to Crash Events ..................................................... 29 A Beam of Light ....................................................................................................................................... 31 Concluding Remarks................................................................................................................................ 33 Biographical: ........................................................................................................................................... 35 Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................................. 35 2. Mystery on the lake.......................................................................................................... 37 Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................................. 38 A brush with history ................................................................................................................................ 39 The Crash 1944 ....................................................................................................................................... 40 Rescue 1944 – The Local Coordination Centre ....................................................................................... 41 The rescue truly begins – The Community of Country Harbour Comes together .................................. 42 Mickey (Fenton) Harpell and Beulah (Fenton) Myers’ Big Scare: ........................................................... 44 Wilmer’s memory of the walk through the woods ................................................................................. 46 What the scene may have looked like .................................................................................................... 48 Salvage and repair 1944 .......................................................................................................................... 49 The Big Day – Flying Off the Lake ............................................................................................................ 51 The reason for the overflights - the U-boat threat ................................................................................. 52 Fast Forward to 2000 Recovery of wing by Robert Walsh and friends................................................... 55 Fast Forward one more time to 2015 ..................................................................................................... 60 The Treasure Trove – The value of family albums! ................................................................................. 62 5 3. What’s in a Name? ............................................................................................................ 63 The Story of the Crew of Ventura 2159, No. 145(BR) Squadron (Bomber Reconnaissance) ....................................................................................................................... 63 Part 1 – What was lost, now is found ..................................................................................................... 64 Part 2 – No. 145 (BR) Squadron and the Evidence of the Operational Records ..................................... 68 Part 3 – A hellish hard day! ..................................................................................................................... 71 Part 4: The Crew - Duty Bound and Courageous too .............................................................................. 76 Part 5– An incident at Goose Bay ........................................................................................................... 80 Part 6 – A Distinguished Unit .................................................................................................................. 85 4. “For the good times”........................................................................................................ 88 Through the eyes of Mickey Stevens ................................................................................................. 88 No 5 Radar Unit (RCAF) ...................................................................................................................... 88 Cole Harbour, Guysborough County 1942-1945................................................................................ 88 Author’s note .......................................................................................................................................... 89 Part 1 - In the beginning - Introduction “For the good times” ............................................................... 90 1942 - Getting Started Construction and Manning .................................................................................... 91 1. The Arrival September 1942 ........................................................................................................... 94 2. Beans and Hardtack ........................................................................................................................ 97 3. The Chicken Coop! ........................................................................................................................ 100 4. Planes, Trains, and Automobiles ................................................................................................. 103 5. Pride of Unit ..................................................................................................................................... 107 6. “Getting to Know You!” .................................................................................................................. 109 PART 2 – Settling in ................................................................................................................................... 111 7. Beyond the Gates the Refuge of Cole Harbour ......................................................................... 111 8. Oh, What a Lovely War ................................................................................................................. 115 1943 .......................................................................................................................................................... 118 9. Food, Food Glorious Food ...........................................................................................................