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

With Winnie on the Prince of Wales

4/5/2020

4 Comments

 
By Lieutenant Hugh E. Fackrell, RCNR of St. Thomas

With the passing of Sir Winston Churchill [January 1965], several human interest stories of a minor character come to mind. They concern his journey in August 1941 to meet with President Roosevelt at Placentia Bay, Newfoundland. This meeting, as we all know, resulted in the momentous Atlantic Charter. I was privileged to serve on his staff whilst embarked in the battleship Prince of Wales for the trans-Atlantic crossing to and from Placentia Bay.
Taken on the quarterdeck of the Prince of Wales, shows Sir Winston taking a constitutional with Harry Hopkins during a lull in the bad weather which plagued the crossing. Also shown are Admiral Sir Dudley Pound (Chief of Naval Staff) General Sir John Dill (Chief of the Imperial General Staff) and Air Vice-Marshal Freeman (Vice-Chief of the Air Staff)
Picture
Picture

Read More
4 Comments

To Newfoundland with Churchill

6/23/2019

1 Comment

 
Picture
After relating his memories of his time as the first Radar Officer on the Prince of Wales and, along with the Hood, the encounter with the Bismarck, Rear Admiral Stuart Paddon continues with memories of the occasion when the Prince of Wales transported Winston Churchill to Placentia Harbour in Newfoundland, then still a British colony,  for a secret meeting with the American President, Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
Picture

Surprise Passenger

The next event worth mentioning was that we were very surprised to receive Mr. Winston Churchill, whom we transported to Placentia Harbour in Newfoundland, where he met Roosevelt for what is now called the Atlantic Charter meeting. We were a private ship, no flag officer carried; however we had a tremendous amount of brass present on this occasion: all the Chiefs of Staff and a myriad of staff officers who were in Churchill’s entourage.

Read More
1 Comment

Adventures with Radar - the Beginning

6/22/2019

4 Comments

 
Picture
The story of radar through the eyes of Rear Admiral Stuart Paddon from St. Thomas, Ontario as he recounts his wartime service at the sharp end of this emerging technology.

A Canadian in the Royal Navy

When the war was declared in 1939, I was in Noranda, Quebec, in a gold and copper mine. I came back from there in September to complete my final year in Physics at the University of Western Ontario. We had just started the University year when we were approached by the head of the Physics department to see if we were agreeable to having our syllabus altered to give emphasis to electronics. If you recall in those days electronics, certainly at Western, was a post-grad course, not an undergrad course. We agreed.
Picture
The 'Science' building at the University of Western Ontario in London under construction in 1924.

RAF Scoops Electronic Talent RN Looks to Canada

This request had really originated with the Royal Navy, who had been unable to find any electronic talent at home because, I gather, all of it had been bought up by the RAF. The RN appealed to the Royal Canadian Navy, who in turn approached the National Research Council. Things proceeded as one might expect, until somewhere about February 1940. I then met the first naval officer I had ever seen, one Lieutenant-Commander Finch-Noyes. He made it known to us that in a relatively short time we would be proceeding to service with the Royal Navy in certain not very clear duties. There appeared to be a great deal of secrecy involved. We attested the 24th of April and I became an acting Sub-Lieutenant, in the RCNVR [Royal Canadian Navy Voluntary Reserve].

Read More
4 Comments

The Question is Always Why

1/15/2019

3 Comments

 

The Answer is Often:
It was Meant to Be

We will never know why a very young Canadian seaman, ‘Bud’ Bridgman, volunteered to remain on lookout aboard HMCS Comox after the search for survivors of the Liberty Ship Martin Van Buren had ceased. Nevertheless, despite the bone chilling fog, Bud continued to scan what parts of the ocean he could see. Sixty six men are very grateful that he did.
Picture
Picture
Left: Seaman Arthur 'Bud' Bridgman
with 'Cookie' aboard HMCS Comox



Read More
3 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