THE ELGIN MILITARY MUSEUM
  • The Elgin Military Museum
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Research Veterans Collection
  • The Services
    • ARMY >
      • D-Day
      • The Elgins
      • The Perfect Man
      • The Kangaroos
      • Afghanistan
      • Links to Army Stories
    • Navy >
      • HMCS St. Thomas
      • Radar Man
      • Links to Navy Stories
    • Air Force >
      • Flying 001
      • Commonwealth Air Training Plan
      • First Radar Dome
      • Links to Air Force Stories
    • Women in the Services >
      • Donna Price
    • Services for the Services
  • Stuff
    • The Boss
    • The Chair
    • Pride Pets & Pests
    • National Winner
  • EXHIBITS & EVENTS
    • Cold War at Home
    • Vimy Centennial at EMM
    • THE VIMY POPPY
    • Fragments
    • Hall of Honour
    • Remember
    • Model Ships
    • Jumbo
  • Plan Visit
    • Tours EMM
    • Tours HMCS Ojibwa
  • Education
  • Blog
  • Remember
  • Remember

lives lived

take a moment to walk in their shoes

D-Day Better than Star Wars

3/5/2019

1 Comment

 

D-Day flyer says sights beat Star Wars

The following interview appeared in the St. Thomas Times Journal on the 50th anniversary of D-Day in 1994. Bill Golden was a founding member of the Elgin Military Museum.

The Allied invasion of Nazi-controlled Europe on June 6, 1944 was the most unique military operation of its kind in modern times, presenting an awesome sight to the participants.
 
It was especially breath-taking from the air, where pilots had a bird’s eye view of what was happening. Flight Officer Bill Golden of St. Thomas was right above the invasion force when it landed at Normandy. It was a sight he’ll never forget, the vast armada and daring landing. “It’s the most impressive sight anyone will ever see at any time. It beat Star Wars all to pieces.”
 
“As the saying goes, you could have lowered your wheels and taxied over,” to Europe from England, he said, reflecting on the enormity of the task force.
Picture

Read More
1 Comment

Stan's North Sea Adventure

1/20/2019

2 Comments

 

The Beginning

Previously, on this blog we have heard about Bomber Gunner Stan Jones Sojourn in France and how he was reunited with a man, whom he knew as a boy, while being hidden from the Germans by a French Family. On that adventure, Stan became a qualified member of the Caterpillar Club.

Stan's North Sea Adventure took place prior to those events, when he was posted to Operational Training Station Kinloss, Scotland. At OTS, the airmen with various skill sets learned to function as a team and it was on one of those practice sessions that Stan qualified for the Goldfish Club. This club was open to aircrew who were forced to 'vacate the premises' so to speak and ended up in the sea.

What follows are Stan's recollections of this time and a letter from the Scottish fisherman who found him drifting in a dinghy on the North Sea.

Read More
2 Comments

Lost in the Jungle

1/16/2019

1 Comment

 

The Sound of his Voice

There is nothing to compare to the unexpected pleasure of hearing a loved one's voice on the telephone no matter how sketchy the details or how harrowing what you do hear maybe. This was certainly the case for Air Force Warrant Officer Bill Burton's mom, Mrs. E.A. Dunn.  It was wartime and like many other stories from the front, a report found it's way into the St. Thomas Times Journal.  She might have been caught up in the moment just listening to his voice but I am quite sure her imagination received a workout when she had time to take in words such as jungle and wild game.

Picture

Read More
1 Comment

Thrilling Air Attacks on Wolf Pack

12/27/2018

0 Comments

 
From an clipping in the St. Thomas Times Journal
September 1943

St. Thomas Man Takes Part in Thrilling Attacks
by Air on Wolf Pack in Mid-Atlantic

Picture
Squadron Leader Fred Green is One of Long-Range Liberators Making Six Separate Drives Against Nazi Subs, Which Stay on Surface to Fight Attackers
Ottawa, Sept.28 (CP) – Long-range,Liberator bombers operating from a base on the Canadian east coast carried out six separate attacks against submarines of a German “wolf-pack” during a recent two-day running battle in the mid-Atlantic, the RCAF announced today.

Read More
0 Comments

Stan's Summer of '44 Surprise

2/28/2018

0 Comments

 

Where there's a will there's a way

Picture
The 50th anniversary of the D-Day invasion of Normandy in 1994 stirred memories far and wide including in the mind of a determined Frenchman who was only sixteen when a young Canadian 'soldier' turned up at the door of a neighbour in German occupied France.

Thus, Michel Juniau and his wife from Beaumont le Roger in the Commune d'Ecardenville la Compagne, France began the search for 'Jones Stanley.' Memories fade after fifty years; Michel thought that 'Jones' had lived on a farm somewhere in Canada before the war and that he had a sister named 'Lucie'. This was not much to go on but they persevered approaching the Canadian embassy in Paris and then writing countless letters to municipal offices all over Canada.  It was a long process.
Sixteen year old Michel put on his best clothes to pose with the Canadian 'Jones Stanley' who was being hidden from the Germans by neighbours.

Read More
0 Comments

Unexpected Sojourn in France

12/19/2017

0 Comments

 

"It seemed like good thing; but wait till I tell you"

Picture
On 2 June 1944, Flight Sergeant Stanley Jones, a Tail Gunner of 4 Group, 158 Squadron took off from RAF Station Lissett at 2200 hours in Halifax 877A to carry out a bombing raid on the rail marshaling yards at Trappes, a suburb of Paris.
All went well; the target was successfully bombed, and the aircraft turned for home.  A short time later they were attacked by a German fighter aircraft and unceremoniously shot out of the sky. There was enough time, however, for all seven members of the crew to bail out. It was later determined that the Pilot was injured on his descent and was captured by the enemy, but the remaining six crew members  all landed safely and were sheltered by French families until their return home.
Photo right shows the bombed area at Trappes
Picture

Read More
0 Comments

Time Flies - Especially for a Top Gun

12/13/2016

10 Comments

 
Time sure does fly! Looking through the veteran's files at the Elgin Military Museum is one of my favourite things. It's a chance to see many of the names and faces of my childhood from an adult point of view. The stories I heard at gatherings on the lawn at our house on Hwy 4 and on the veranda at the cottage at Port Stanley take on a new dimension as I read through the files and move on to the war diaries. Those were the faces that had just come through WW II and before. I expect them to have a 'folder'. 

It is slightly more alarming to come across an item announcing the 1994 retirement of someone who was a friend of my younger brothers at Wellington St. School! As I said, time flies and some are better at it than others. Bruce Robinson had a stellar career in the RCAF and went on to graduate from the US test pilot training school at Edwards Air Force Base in California - a real Top Gun.
Picture


Read More
10 Comments

    Author

    The Elgin Military Museum has a vast collection of letters, articles, poems and pictures of veterans and others who served their community over a period of two hundred years.. This blog is our way of sharing them with you.

    Archives

    April 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    June 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    February 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    September 2016

    Categories

    All
    Air Force
    Army
    Bridge Too Far
    Caterpillar Club
    Ceremonies
    Christmas
    Churchill
    Citations
    Confidential Book Box
    D Day
    Devil's Brigade
    Dieppe
    Elgin Military Museum
    Elgin Regiment
    Goldfish Club
    Italian Campaign
    Late Arrivals Club
    Letters
    Merchant Marine
    Military Camps
    Military Cross
    Military Medical Care
    Momentous Events
    Nursing
    Obituaries
    PPCLI
    Radar
    Red Cross
    Roosevelt
    Royal Canadian Navy
    Royal Navy
    Tanks
    Trench Warfare
    U Boats
    WW I
    WW II

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • The Elgin Military Museum
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Research Veterans Collection
  • The Services
    • ARMY >
      • D-Day
      • The Elgins
      • The Perfect Man
      • The Kangaroos
      • Afghanistan
      • Links to Army Stories
    • Navy >
      • HMCS St. Thomas
      • Radar Man
      • Links to Navy Stories
    • Air Force >
      • Flying 001
      • Commonwealth Air Training Plan
      • First Radar Dome
      • Links to Air Force Stories
    • Women in the Services >
      • Donna Price
    • Services for the Services
  • Stuff
    • The Boss
    • The Chair
    • Pride Pets & Pests
    • National Winner
  • EXHIBITS & EVENTS
    • Cold War at Home
    • Vimy Centennial at EMM
    • THE VIMY POPPY
    • Fragments
    • Hall of Honour
    • Remember
    • Model Ships
    • Jumbo
  • Plan Visit
    • Tours EMM
    • Tours HMCS Ojibwa
  • Education
  • Blog
  • Remember
  • Remember