Tuesday, November 11, 2008

PLEASE HELP SAVE WW2 447 WING'S 'H' HUT IN MOUNT HOPE,ONTARIO




GREETINGS TO ALL...
I HAVE COME ACROSS AN ARTICLE FROM THE CANADIAN NEWSPAPER GLOBE AND MAIL THAT MADE ME REACT IN URGENCY! DUE TO THE LACK OF FUNDS RCAF WING HUT 447 WILL HAVE TO CLOSE DOWN IN EARLY TO MID 2009. I CAN NOT BELIEVE THIS! BEING A WW2 RCAF HISTORIAN, IT IS WITH URGENCY THAT I ASK ANYONE WHO READS THIS ARTICLE TO CONTACT THEIR MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT IN OTTAWA TO KEEP THE 447 WINGS HUT OPENED WITH FUNDS NEEDED TO KEEP IT GOING IN OPERATIONS. I CAN NOT BELIEVE THAT OUR CANADIAN GOVERMENT WILL NOT KEEP THIS HISTORICAL TREASURE OPENED FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS. THERE ARE SO MANY SOUVENIRS ON THIS FORMER RCAF BASE THAT WE MUST ACT WITH URGENCY. THIS HUT IS A PART OF OUR COUNTRY AND IT SHOULD STAY FOR MANY GENERATIONS TO COME!
I WANT TO THANK EVERYONE FROM MOHAWK COLLEGE FOR THEIR HELP!

PLEASE HELP ME DO SOMETHING FOR OUR VETERANS IN THIS EMERGENCY. LIKE SOMEONE SAID, HISTORY IS BEING SWEPT UNDER THE CARPET ” IF YOU REALLY WANT TO HONOUR OUR VETERANS, YOU DON'T BRING THEM OUT REMEMBRANCE DAY, THEN JAM BACK INTO THE CLOSET. YOU KEEP THEIR HISTORY ALIVE. HERE IT IS, RIGHT IN THIS BUILDING.”

PLEASE WRITE TO YOUR MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT AND IF I CAN BE OF ANY ASSISTANCE PLEASE EMAIL ME AT


LINK TO YOUR MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT IN OTTAWA:


PLEASE LET'S ALL DO SOMETHING TO SAVE 447 WING H HUT.
Here is the link to The Globe and Mail article

Operating on a wing and a prayer



THANK YOU AND DON'T FORGET THIS BUILDING IS PART OF OUR CANADIAN HERITAGE!

IF I CAN BE OF ANY ASSSITANCE, PLEASE LET ME KNOW!

ACT NOW!
THANK YOU!

Sunday, November 09, 2008

A simple Thank you from the heart for Remembrance day





A simple Thank you from the heart for remembrance day.

Were can i start, what can i say that has not been said to our veterans. How we love dearly, how we care and that i must say Thank you. You have givin us hope to look for tomorrow. All the tears that are shed for a loved one who has givin it all for our freedom! What can i say, there are no words to say but Thank you. It is not enough, i feel, when one dies of old age, my heart has sorrow that i know a part of our history is slipping away. I will not hear again of your brave courage you have givin to me and to all of us! How we care for thee, to the Canadian veterans of all wars and of our allied friends!

We must say Thank you, that you are not forgotten, and when your trumpets of eternity will call you home because of a long life that you have kept inside of sorrow and grief and nightmares of loosing friends that were like your brothers on the battlefields of the world, we must say thank you.

God Bless you all for what you have done to thee, giving us our freedom for a beautiful and bright tomorrow!

Wednesday, November 05, 2008

The RAF bomber pilot who single-handedly recovered the body of the co-pilot and comrade he lost on Berlin raid 60 years ago




The RAF bomber pilot who single-handedly recovered the body of the co-pilot and comrade he lost on Berlin raid 60 years ago


Hero: Former Pilot Officer Reg Wilson who found the body of a former comrade killed when their plane was shot down 60 years ago
Crammed together in their unwieldy aircraft and utterly dependent on one another, the bomber crews of the Second World War forged friendships that often only death could break.
Which is why Pilot Officer Reg Wilson never forgot the night more than 60 years ago when he lost two friends in the night skies over Germany.
As he entered his old age - the memories of his youth perhaps more powerful than ever - Mr Wilson began a quest to find their remains.
Yesterday he told how at last he had succeeded in finding one of those friends, flight engineer Sergeant John Bremner, and finally laying him to rest.
Sergeant Bremner will be buried with full honours at the Heerstrasse War Cemetery in Berlin next Thursday.
'It's only right that John is honoured,' said Mr Wilson, of Chigwell, Essex.
'Thousands of good men, like John, lost their lives. It must not be forgotten. It will be an emotional, but happy, day.'
Sergeant Bremner died aged 21 on the night of January 20, 1944, when 800 aircraft raided the German capital.
Among the 27 aircraft lost was Halifax LW337 from 102 Squadron based at RAF Pocklington near York.
The aircraft - nicknamed Old Flo by her eight-man crew - was heading for home when she was hit by anti-aircraft fire.


Long search: Pilot Officer Wilson and Sergeant John Bremner

Woodland hunt: Reg with wife Barbara in the woods in Koepenick, Germany, where the plane was discovered 60 years after it went down
Another survivor from Old Flo, rear-gunner Sergeant John Bushell, 84, said: 'It burst into flames from wing tip to wing tip.
'I was thrown out after hitting my head on a gun. I came to in free-fall and managed to pull the chute.'
Both he and pilot Mr Wilson, along with bomber aimer Flying Officer Laurie Underwood, now 86, and pilot Flying Officer George Griffiths survived and became prisoners of war.

A Halifax bomber like the one shot down as it approached Berlin 60 years ago
The bodies of second pilot Sergeant Kenneth Stanbridge and wireless operator Pilot Officer Eric Church were buried after the war.
But Sergeant Bremner and gunner Warrant Officer Charles Dupueis were never found.
Mr Wilson, 85, a former management consultant, began his search for answers in 2005 when he travelled to Berlin with his daughter, Janet Hughes, 46, who speaks fluent German.
They met local historians and witnesses and the next year, he returned and found the wreckage with the help of a team of volunteers using metal detectors.


War heroes: George 'Gag' Griffiths and Sergeant Kenneth Stanbridge

Reg shows off some of the debris from the crashed Halifax bomber
Final confirmation that the remains belonged to Sergeant Bremner, of Elswich, Northumberland, arrived after a DNA sample was taken from his sister Marjorie, 89, who will also attend his burial.
Mr Underwood, of Wetherby, West Yorkshire, is too ill to go and Mr Griffiths died in 1998.
A Royal British Legion spokesman said Mr Wilson's quest 'spoke of the searing and life-long impact of service in the armed services. People don't put away their war memories easily.'


Survivors: Sergeant John Bushell and Flying Officer Laurie Underwood
Some 55,500 young men of Bomber Command died during the war.
Last night Mr Bushell, of Oakley, Bedfordshire, added: 'My abiding memory of John is singing our hearts out together at a piano bar in York. He was a war hero who gave his life for his country.'

Former RAF Rear Gunner John Bushell holding his Prisoner Of War ID Card which he took from the prison office when he was freed