A Veteran Looks Back

What most W.W.2 Veterans remember, along with all the scary situations are personal things, like all that damnable drill and Joe jobs, scrubbing floors, peeling potatoes in the Mess, having the Corporal roaring at you to get up early in the morning, to get out and run around the track, do exercises, swear at him under your breath, that his mother had four legs! All veterans ofW.W.2 now have got to be at least So 1am 86 which age is about the norm.

?PAYDAY was $1.30 a day when you first enlisted. I was in the Air Force, and as a starter I became an A/C2, Aircraftsman second class, which was considered the lowest form of life in the Services! You did not enlist in any of the Kings Forces and go charging off after the bad guys! No, as I recall in the R.CA.F. you spent 2 to 3 months in Manning Pool, Mine was in Lachine, streetcar ride from Montreal. That is where you learned left from right, how to salute and wear your wedge cap at the proper angle. Do not forget to shave and shine your brass. Before all this, I went into the recruiting office in Moncton, N.B. "Why do you want to fly?" said the officer in charge. Took me by surprise as I had no idea about flying, thought I might get a job driving truck or doing something along that line. Looking across his desk at me, he said "You are about the right height and weight for a Wireless Air Gunner!" I was surprised; He then explained to me that the Wireless Air Gunner is the eyes and ears of the airplane! This sounded like a very important job, and especially to hold such a position in the air! Beating back the Hun and all! Answered a lot of questions on paper, like where was I born and all; had a hearing test with ear phones on listening to different Morse letters and sounds. The officer glanced at the paper and said I had done well. Had a physical that very afternoon, and over to the hospital for chest x-ray next day. Went back and got sworn in along with another fellow, from then on I was R- 174513 LOCKARD E. H. I was in! They gave me a big manila envelope and a train pass to Manning Pool in Lachine. Landed in Montreal. Air Force drivers were there and drove me and some others to Lachine Manning Pool not too far away. There are always guys there seeing a new recruit come on the station, will yell out "Did your mother kick you out?" or "you'll be sorry!" These were old veterans of perhaps two weeks in the Force!, and had new uniforms, and all!

?After 2 or 3 months I was shipped out with a draft of other possible W.A.G. hopefuls to Jarvis airdrome down near Lake Erie, to do Joe jobs around the hangers, etc, until drafted to Guelph Wireless School, a 7 month course, learning Morse code, radio receiver and transmitter etc. and always the marching from class to class. We got to be L.A.C.s and could wear the White Flash on our caps! And with a raise in pay. The White Flash designated us as Air Crew! Defenders of the Land, and to be looked on with great respect and admiration! End of course at Guelph, sent back to Jarvis B. and G. Learned the insides of a 303 Browning and how to shoot at a drogue from a turret in a Bolingbroke, said drogue was towed a long way behind a Lysander A/C. Back on the ground, you counted how many holes you put in it if any! Never had to fire the guns on ops, we had 2 good gunners! So I just looked after the wireless set. We graduated, had our W.A.G. wings pinned on by the Station Commander and became a SGT. W.A.G! We sewed on our stripes and away! When I was at Guelph I had met a nice girl from Galt. We planned to get married after I got my Sgt. Stripes so we did! We are still together after 63 years. Had a 2 weeks leave then reported to No.1 G.R.S. Summerside, P.E.I. as a staff W.A.G. Good station Summerside. Had an apartment in town, lots of couples lived in town and we would take the airport bus out every morning, unless flying was scrubbed. Flew morning and afternoon; Staff pilots and wireless ops, with 2 navigator trainees. We got a call just after getting airborne one morning that one of our planes was down in the Gulf. They gave us the lats. and longs. Student navigators scratched out a course. Finally we saw a smoke puff way off to the north, pilot swung to it, and there they were, all four of them sitting on their plane! Their dinghy was deflated and floating away! The sea was fairly calm. We took our dinghy to the door. The pilot said "When I give you thumbs up, shove er out! Which we did! Pilot flew our old Anson just above the water, and the dinghy landed just a few feet off their wing-tip! One of them jumped in and pulled the cap on the Co2 bottle and got dinghy inflated, and they all climbed in! I took a fix on the loop aerial, I from Sackville, and another off a radio station on the Gaspe Peninsula. Sent position to Base, and they sent out two Catalina flying boats from a base in Nova Scotia, one picked the crew the other the dinghy. Accidents like that were never given out in those days; if the Germans found out that a Mark I Anson was lost, they might take heart!!

?After the time spent in Summerside, finally got to go Overseas, Boarded the Dutch liner Nieu Amsterdam in Halifax, and along with 8000 other guys Army and Airforce. About 6 days later we landed at Greenock on the Clyde. Off-loaded, and down to Bournemouth on the channel at the end of March. This was a holding unit for R.C.A.F. Then to A.F.U . Advance Flying Unit in North Wales. Flew around in Ansons again, had my appendix yanked out while there courtesy of the Royal Navy! Only wound I received during the whole war! I was sent to Blackpool to recover. Next stop was #22 O.T.U. Wellsbourne Operational Training Unit. This is where you "crew up". Crew of seven- Pilot, Navigator, Bomb Aimer, Mid-Upper, and Rear-Gunner, Wireless Opp. Picked up an Engineer later. We flew Wellingtons. Next place was Dalton, Yorkshire for an escape course, in case we got shot down we could foil the Krauts with our great knowledge that we learned in Dalton if we survived the crash! Then the heavy ones in Dishforth, Yorkshire, this was where we got "used" to the big ones! Halifax, these old workhorses were some that had seen a lot of the French and German countryside, So they were sent up to the Heavy Conversion Unit for us to see if we could end their days and ours! However, we made it through. We Did have one scare. Was up one night doing some sort of exercise with an old MK Hallifax when the starboard inner took on fire! Pilot turned on the fire extinguisher, got on what was called darky frequency, then nearest airfield will answer back. Followed directions to their base and landed - It was Dunkswell, an American station. They flew Liberators, mostly on submarine patrol. We stayed there for 2 days and were treated first class! We were at Dishforth until end of the year. Then to Skipton-On-Swale. Finally on a Squadron! It was 433 The Porcupine with a Lancaster, we were happy to find out! It took 9 months to get from the time we landed at Greenock till we got on Squadron strength! Two squadrons. To a station, our sister squadron was 424 the Tigers. This was 6 Group, Canada's own. There were 14 squadrons. Based in the Dales of Yorkshire, and also a Pathfinder squadron. But we were all part and parcel of the R.A.F. The population of a station was about 2000 from ground crews, maintenance, etc. And 20-25 heavy bombers. Our first op was to Dortmund- a night trip. Coming up to target was like a fireworks display! On the ground and in the air, only those were not firecrackers! Pathfinders would be there first dropping different colored flares or target indicators (T.l) One to be admired was the Master Bomber.?He would fly all around outside the target area and broadcast to the Force which markers to bomb on. The bomb-Aimer had control of the bomber coming up to target, Bombs away, and Pilot had to plane steady while automatic camera took pictures. Later on, we had quite a few ops in, and this time we had a daylight trip on.?Standing around, waiting for the crew bus to take us to the different dispersals, a young Gunner of one the other crews said, "Hey, Gene, want to show you a picture of my dog!" It was a nice big Collie, and he was proud of him. This boy and his crew were blasted into Eternity later that afternoon at 20 thousand feet over Leipzig. He would never see his dog again or his 20th birthday! There were three bomber crews, and one Squadron Leader sent to Skipton the same day F/O Farrel P/0 Grisdale F/O Johnstone.

?We were F\0 Johnstone's crew. The same day S\L Stinson, D.F.C. came to be our Flight Commander. I was surprised to learn a few years ago, that his home was here in Lindsay! Didn't know Lindsay back then, and now we live here. I have some copies of the Squadron's operations book It says," On the 1st February, AT BM-A Captained by J-8418 S\L Stinson D.F.C. crashed on returning from operations. Rear Gunner and Bomb Aimer had bailed out- Rest of crew died in the crash". It appears that he was trying to bring the rest of crew and aircraft back to Base. They are buried at Canadian cemetery, Harrogate, Yorks. German target was Ludwigshaven. Those other two crews, F\0 Farrel's and P\0 Grisdale were both lost. Our crew was there till end of war. Got home in Aug. '45 just in time to hear about the A-Bomb on Hiroshima!

?This country, Canada, of ours had a population of only 12 million give or take a dozen or so at war's beginning, and nothing much of to do in the way of an Army, Navy or Air Force But at war's end, had the World's third largest Navy and Air Force. That is not the case now. However, I don't know of any other Country that takes care of their Veterans and seniors as Canada does! On November 11th we go to the Cenotaph, and there will be hymns, wreaths laid, and Flanders Field, the Pipes will stir us, and we will Remember, and inwardly we may cry a little.

Gene Lockard-ex 433 Sqdn.