The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

Continued from page 19 himself on board the Queen Elizabeth II en route to Eu- rope. “I was so seasick,” Matt recalls, “and we hadn't left the harbour yet.” Along with 8,000 other Canadian forces troops, Matt Webb survived the seven day journey. “The convoys would travel with us to make sure we made it safely. They would zigzag every eight miles to avoid German subs.” (See Focus, November, 2008 — Jim Smitherman) Radar work was interesting, but it was not what Matt wanted to do. He applied for flight training and was selected as a tail gunner. “It was unbelievably cold in the tail of the plane,” Matt explained. “The rear was open and the wind howled. We wore oxygen masks and quite often it froze to my face.” Another challenge the tail gunner had was the tracer bullets fired from his guns. “We were told not to shoot unless we absolutely had to. The tracers would give away our position.” Matt to resupply their troops. The Halifax approached and suddenly another Halifax bomber was on a direct collision course with the plane Matt Webb was in. “Our pilot dropped the nose and we just missed a mid-air collision,” Matt explained. He noted the identifica- tion letters on the side to see who it was and fortunately it was no one from Matt’s squadron. He knew the pilot of the rogue plane would be brought up on disciplinary charges for his reckless flying. “A moment later I looked out and saw the plane again, this time it was extremely close to another.” Matt’s voice grew tense as he recalled the event. “Suddenly, their wings clipped and I saw nothing but a big ball of fire. I was shocked and saddened when I only saw four chutes open.” He paused before continuing. “There were fourteen. men on those two planes.” Only the pilot and rear gunner had permanent parachutes attached to their chairs. The other crew members had to strap chutes on. It was obvious what had happened. explained that, quite often he would see other planes blown out of the sky know- ing that it was by the grace of God that his time had not yet come. Stationed just outside of York, Matt was introduced toa local ATS recruit named Margery, with whom he hit it off quite well. The couple was soon married and Matt spent as much time between missions as he could, with his new bride. As Germany’s fate became inevitable, the missions grew more difficult. Allied troops were all over the place and the bombers had to be careful not to hit any of them. A series of code words were developed and when someone yelled “up- side-down’ it was a signal to return without dropping the bombs. “That last mission was one of the worst we had encountered during the entire war.” The four-engine Halifax bomber took off at dusk, which at that time was just after 10 p.m., along with about ninety other planes from squadrons stationed throughout the UK. They met over the North Sea and headed east to seek and destroy their target. Today it would be the gun emplacements on one of the Frisian Islands called Wangerooge. These guns guarded the approaches to the strategic northern German ports of Bremerhaven and Wilhelmshaven, which advancing Allied armies required 22 FOCUS - NOVEMBER 2010 Atail gunner ready to protect his plane from enemy aircraft. The raid continued and the ninety bombers had a clear view of the beach. “I heard Shorty (the bomb aimer) open the bomb doors and yell, ‘bombs away’. The sortie was com- plete and the Halifax re- turned, unharmed, to base. “Tt may have been the last raid,” Matt reminisces. “but I will never forget it.” Shortly after that long April night Matt got his orders to ship out, back to Canada. He said goodbye to his wife, unsure when she would be allowed to join him and patted her tummy, whispering to his unborn child. Fortunately, Margery was able to come to Canada within five months and Matt, along with hundreds of other ex-servicemen went to greet the boat. “Tt was quite emotional to see Margery and to meet my daughter. I think Margery was shocked as well, because I no longer looked like the dashing soldier she had married. It was back to street clothes and an old fedora. The couple returned to Quebec, where Matt had ob- tained his old job at RBC. A senior manager suggested he acquire new skills and after some diligent studying Matt left the bank to work as controller for Sperry Gyroscope. Matt always had an ambition to be in the hotel busi- ness and one day the Webb’s packed their belongings and moved to Upper Canada Village as the proud owners of a Please turn to page 24