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Pa g e 2 4 · F ebruary 2 0 0 2 · oakville rem em bered The high price paid by veterans (continued from page 22) RECORD-STAR of December 14,1944 stat ed that he was reported missing. The report went on to say this: "Ten days ago his parents received a cable stating that he had been in a crash landing in Belgium. A friend of Jackson's wrote and told Mr. and Mrs. Cooke that Jackson's plane had been hit and he had ordered the crew to bail out. The rear gunner, for some unex plained reason, was unable to get his para chute on. P.O. Cooke returned to his controls and crash landed the plane." We now know from the Veterans Affairs records that Jackson Cooke was killed in that crash, and for his valiant attempt to save his gunner, he was awarded the Conspicuous Gallantry Medal. I have mentioned only a few of the stories behind those names engraved in brass, and I hope to be able to find more information as time goes on. If anyone has any information at all about these men, I hope you will enlighten me. After realizing how little we know about these war heroes, I began to think of the vet erans among us today whose stories have never been told, and in the years ahead, those stories will be lost forever. I felt an urgency to gather as many stories as possible for a permanent record in our archives. And that is why I began to put an announcement in our church's Sunday bulletin, asking for pictures and stories from veterans still worshiping with us today. I found that we have among us some very reluctant heroes, and I suspect that is because they do not consider them selves heroes at all. It was a difficult task to gather their stories because most of them had to be asked personally before they would bring out their pictures and give me their sto ries. Believe me, there was no bragging among them . . . rather it was a matter-of-fact attitude toward a job that had to be done, and they did it. And how we thank them! Some of our veterans expressed great reluctance in sharing their stories because they did not serve overseas, but rather stayed in Canada in positions of instructing pilots or training new recruits or on maintenance or other tasks. Some were in training them selves because they were too young to actu ally enter active service before the war ended. But my reaction to these excuses was, "If you put on a uniform and were willing to go where you were ordered, your story is worthwhile." Our veterans served in all three forces -- Army, Navy and Air Force. Some fought in the battles in Italy, some in North Africa, oth ers across northwest Europe, ultimately liber ating Holland, yet others served in the Pacific. We have two naval officers, one who served in the north Atlantic convoys and one serving on a mine-sweeper off the east coast of Canada. Our Air Force men flew on coastal com mand, delivered new B-17s and Hudsons from the U.S. and Canada to Britain, flew with a night fighter squadron in Mosquito aircraft as a radar operator / navigator, flew on Lancaster bombers as a gunner, and another flew a P40 Kittyhawk over North Africa, had engine failure and crash landed, was captured by the Germans and ended up as a Prisoner of War for over two years. Then there is the R.C.A.F. gunner aboard a crip pled bomber, making a landing on the water of the English Channel and being picked up by an Ontario lake freighter which just hap pened to be in the vicinity! This is not fic tion, this is true life! Then there is the air traf fic control officer who guided bombers into the airfields in northern England as they returned from their bombing missions. Another airman trained pilots here in Canada for over two years. Stories from our Army personnel were equally as heroic. A Platoon Commander leading his men across a double canal under heavy enemy fire near Antwerp; a Sergeant Major who led his troops through the Falaise Gap in France, a Signal man sent to Australia to intercept and analyze Japanese messages; a veteran who served in Reconnaissance moving through France, Belgium and Holland. I asked him what exacdy he did in that capacity. Matter-of-facdy, he said, "We sat in armoured vehicles and tried to spy on the enemy, then sent messages back to the commander.". Not exactly a non-stressfiil job since he was going behind enemy lines! One fascinating connection I discovered was that one of our veterans rode Norton motorcycles all over England and France, while another was in charge of refurbishing old Norton motorcycles in the factory in Birmingham to send out to the troops. Of all these veterans I have alluded to, there is one that is unique . . . and that is the one female among us who spent 22 months overseas as a nurse serving in No. 8 General Hospital, the make-shift care facility that was sometimes in tents or sometimes in aban doned buildings, but always located very close to the fighting, in fact, as close as they dared, in order to treat tfie injured soldiers brought in directly from the battlefield. Sometimes, enemy planes would be flying overhead, and shrapnel from exploding shells would rip through the tents, so the nurses wore tin helmets to protect themselves. Near the end of the war in a 33-day period, this hospital cared for 18,000 casualties. This collection of veterans' stories has extended beyond St. John's United Church. I felt that there were many of us who did not serve in either war, but had brothers or fathers or uncles who did, and so I have included these stories. There are 14 stories of relatives who served in World War I and 14 stories of relatives who served in World War II. Each story is unique and each is a part of our coun try's war history. These stories are going to become a permanent record in a binder which will be located in the church library for as long as we have one. I hope that you will take time to come in and read these stories at your leisure. They will remind you of how fortunate we are to live in freedom today because of the high price paid by our veter ans. These are our reluctant heroes whose sto ries I have so far: Army -- Ross Canavan, David Dunbar, Roy Ellerker, Doug Ferguson, Charles Grant, Don Leaver, John MacAllister, Ford O'Brien, Ron O'Reilly, Russ Stevenson, Bill Sutton, Jean Whytock Henderson. Navy -- Jack Blakelock, Ed Groover, Tom Holden, Gordon Jones, David Walker. Air Force -- Lynton Davies, Gordon Leonard, Malcolm Loucks, Ted Martin, Ken Needham, Murray Newcombe, Frank Waywell and Vem Williams In the wake of September 11th, we are reminded of the sacrifices made in the past. And now we are sending our young men and women off to war once again. Let us be vig ilant in our prayers for a quick solution and a lasting peace. at W asThen Serving Oakville for 25 Years ANNIVERSARY SPECIALS Oil L u b e & F ilter C h a n g e 8 4 4 -8 3 1 4 i T B i t I W _ C oupon va lid u n til M arch 31, £002 Special v a lid o n ly w ith coupon. O ffer applies to m ost cars. *19 " a 95 · __ Front W h e e l A lig n m e n t s o 8 4 4 -8 3 1 4 c i l - - Rotate & Balance & All 4 Tires tS /h is Is N ow ... Isn' t it tim e you rediscovered Bronte? Come, revisit the charm and beauty of 8 4 4 -8 3 1 4 C oupon va lid u n til M arch 31, 2002 Sgeciai va lid o n ly w ith co u p on . 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