They all need to be remembered – The sequel

Post 98

I was waiting for Ralph’s permission to post this. Ralph never replied. I don’t think Ralph would mind if I go ahead and post this.

***

Ralph wrote me and told me more about Bernard Vilandré.

Thank you for your reply.

I once had pictures of Bernard and I together during the 1980s and 90s but lost in a fire…he loved to talk about politics and how lucky I was to be young and no nothing of war.

He was a terrific guy…who did the right thing and never complained about having gone overseas…or having been captured etc…he only said it was the right thing to do to stop Hitler.

You can see in the Course 6 photo he was a big guy…he was built like John Ferguson of Montreal Canadians fame. When he shook my hand, it disappeared in his…he was the strongest man I have ever met in my life. He died November 30, 2005 age 87 years old. He was reasonably healthy up until he died even though he smoked…cataract surgery and both knees replaced. He was married to Mary Brennan, Ottawa they never had children and were madly in love with one another. They doted on one another. His wife Mary predeceased Bernard and buried beside him at St. Isadores Roman Catholic Parish, 1135 March Road, Kanata, Ontario.

After the war he worked in the Federal Civil service until retirement. I first met him in 1982 he had just retired. Bernard was a humble, non assuming guy with a great big laugh, who liked cellar cool beer (English style from being Overseas) or rum and coke with lime. His gravestone makes no mention of his sacrifice or contribution…a real shame.

I had a photo of a Spitfire in action with his signature but it too went up in flames…hope you like the story…

Next time I am in Kanata, I will stop by and visit the Priest and give him a copy of the photo and tell him of this story and the information on his being shot down etc. So thank you!

On another note my grandfather was overseas WW1 CEF Company B Haldimand and is listed as having fought at Vimy etc. He died Xmas morning 1967 at Sunnybrook Veterans Hospital, Toronto. You can imagine Xmas was never the same for my Mom after that…

My uncle Donald (mom’s brother) went overseas 1939 age 16 and came home 1946. He was in an artillery unit. Worst he saw and (was listed missing in action 3 times) Ortona, Italy…to quote him, “if you needed anything, a rifle, ammo, helmet,coat, something to eat, you just picked it up off a dead guy, the dead guys always had a full pack on, they were too slow” “All I carried was a rifle and ammunition the whole time” If you know the TV show “Sergeant Bilko” starring Phil Silvers in the 1960’s that was Don.

Cheers!

Ralph

Paying homage to Flying Officer Paul Piché

I couldn’t attend, but I was there in spirit.

Jim O’Toole

Other names…

RCAF No. 443 Squadron

Pat Murphy has been contributing to my blog about 403 Squadron.

Last night he sent me this picture of Charles Charlesworth who flew with 443 Squadron.

In a sense this post belongs here but I posted it first on my other blog.

Pat is a subscriber to my other blog and he saw the post I wrote about Chuck Charlesworth.

Remember I had posted it there by mistake.

Pat Murphy wrote this message…

Pierre really enjoying your recent postings and it’s always nice to see the Smith Brothers story again. Here is a picture that Art Sager gave me in 2004 of Charles Charlesworth at the far left, Art in the middle and Lloyd Hunt sitting on a jeep. It was taken in March 1945. Those are the only details I have.

Pat is the contributor who wrote the story about the Smith brothers.

He had more to say…

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More From Art Sager’s Collection

More about names…

RCAF No. 443 Squadron

Nicole sent me more pictures that Eric Sager sent her.

Eric is Art’s son.

These are most priceless because we have names and we can look for more information.

I believe T.E. means Tour Expired or Tour Ended. Someone will probably tell me.

Here’s another picture of Art Sager.

Art Sager

This one was sent by Pat Murphy who is a volunteer at the Vancouver Island Military Museum.

Pat has met Art Sager personally as well as many Spitfire pilots.

I will tell you more next time.

Art Sager

To contact me, please use this form or write a comment.

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More than just names…?

This is post 94 on this blog.

It started here

In fact it started in 1952 on page 4, last paragraph.

Flying Officers L. P. E. Piche and A. J. Horrell set out in an Auster to fly to Antwerp. They arrived there safely, took off again and vanished into the blue. Both pilots had been with the squadron since Gander days.

443squadron(1)

More than just names…?

I had never heard of those two pilots before Nicole Morley wrote a comment on my blog paying homage to another RCAF fighter squadron, No. 403.

Nicole had written a simple comment posted in March 2013.

Hi

My name is Nicole Morley and my Great Uncle Arthur James Horrell was in the 443 squadron. I don’t know if my Great Uncle ever knew William Irvine Gould but I imagine he probably did. I’m doing some research on my Uncle and was wondering if there was anyone who had pictures or information about the 443 squadron or anything related to my Uncle. You can reach me at my e-mail address.

Thanks

It was about this article.

I had replied that she had the wrong squadron, but that I could help her by creating a new blog about 443 squadron.

This blog had evolved a lot since 2013.

Names are now more than just names…

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