Millet Area Veterans
2005
F.O Jack Abraham
Pte.
Marin Alleman
CPL. James Herbert
Pte. Hazel M. Anderson
L/Cpl Peter Anker
Cpl. Melvin Aske
L/Cpl. Arthur Bakken
Pte. James Arthur Barr
Pte. Melvin Pearly Barr
Tpr.
John Barrows
L.A.W. Phyllis (Bear) Loader
Pte Gilbert Blade
L.A.C. Harold Blize
Pte. Patrick William
A.C.2. John Owen Brissard
L/Cpl. Charles Edward Brissard
L.S. Arthur David Bamsey
Albert
Burdon
Cpl.
Cecil Barton Carr
Cpl. Walter Henry Charley
Gnr. Bert Churchill
L/Cpl. Elizabeth M. Clarke
L.A.W. Cecilia Margaret Coady
F/Sgt. Francis Anthony Coady
A. Maj. James Coady
Pte.
Thomas James Cochrane
L.A.C. Henry Cockbain
L.A.C. Joseph Cockbain
Pte. Maurice Conner
P.O. William George Corlett
Pte. Aldena (Kalm) Crough
Pte. Philip Damiel William Crough
Pts. Frank Cottrell
L.A.C.
Chester Dahms
Cpl. Russell Dahms
A.Cpl. Virgil Herman
L.A.W. Helen Huke
L.A.C. James Frank Dolling Day
Spr. Frank Dickenson
Cpl. Kenneth Darlington
Flt. Sgt. Reginald Dixon
Sgt. Arlie Douglas
Pte. George Henry Easterbrook
Cpl. Clifford Eaton
Pte. Edward Eidick
Pte. Dawn John Elder
Pte. Howard L. Elder
Pte. John R. Elder
Gnr. Russell J. Elder
Pte. August Ertman
Pte. Jean Audrey Ferguson
W.O. James Sydney Ferguson
Pte. Robert Le Roi Ferguson
Pte. Arnold Fibick
Medic. Harry L. Fitz.
L.A.W Ruth French
A.C.2 Howard John Fulcher
Pte. Kathleen Margaret Fulcher
Sgt. Arnold Furuness
L.A.C. Ernest Edwin Furuness
Pte. Helmer Furuness
L/Cpl. Eric Gibling
Pte. George Martin Gibling
AA.C. 1 Robert Gibling
Sgt. Arthur K. Glaser
Edward Glassman
Pte. Clifford August
Fl. Lt. James Weston
Sgt. John Henry (Jack) Goin
Trp. Clarence Henry
Pte. Joy Lee McConnell
L.A.C. Thomas Albert Gray
Pte. Alder Sanford Greenslade
Pts. David Ray Hagen
Pte. Robert William Hamilton
F.O. William Frederick Harter
Sgt. Gordon Kenneth Higginson
Pte. Melvin John Hope
Cpl. Russell Hougestol
Cpl. Sydney Micajah
Pte. Clifford Jackson
L/Cpl. Douglas Jackson
F.O. Harold Neilor Jackson
Pte. Benny Jehn
Cpl. Clarence Oscar Jevne
A.C.1 James Ernest Thorne Hoskins
Trp. Evan Theodore Lee Jevne
F.O. Norman Jevne
Pte. Lloyd Russell Johnson
Cpt. Rev. Morse Johnson
F.O. Walter O. Jones
L.A.C. Winston Jordan
Pte. George Kaasa
Lt. Sr. Gr. James H. (Jim) Karr
1st Class Pilot William Doane Karr
Pte. Tom Kelley
P.O. Gordon Kerr
Fl. Sgt. Kenneth Kerr
W.O.1 Lawrence Kerr
L.A.C. Wilfred Ewart Kerr
Sig. Leo Victor Kinchella
Gnr. A. Alex Kovar
Cpl. Armin Kutzner
Pte. Herbert Emil Lange
Sig. Herbert W. Lange
Pte. (John) Craig Lawson
Sgt. Thomas Oliver Lawson
Pte. Leonard Stanley Gordon Lee
L/Cpl. Vivian Terry (Mayke) Lee
Sgt. Bradley Lewis
Capt. Herbert Lewis
Cpl. Charlie Loader
Frank Loader Sr.
Sgt. Frank Herbert (Bert) Loader
FL. Sgt. Walter Loader
Kenneth Lockhart
LAC Walter (Wally) Lutz
Lt. Sr. Gr. James H. (Jim) Karr
1st Class Pilot William Doane Karr
Pte. Tom Kelley
P.O. Gordon Kerr
Fl. Sgt. Kenneth Kerr
W.O.1 Lawrence Kerr
L.A.C. Wilfred Ewart Kerr
Sig. Leo Victor Kinchella
Pte. John Mc Bryan
Pte. Harry Mc Callum
Cpl. Doris Mc Connell
Fl. Sgt. Duncan Gilbert Mc Intosh W.O 2 Robert H. (Bob) McIntosh
Capt. (Father) Mc Quaid
L/Col. Fran Meyers
Sgt. Frank Meyers
L.A.C. Gordon Phillip
L.A.C. Sever Clarence Moen
Sgt. John Arthur Moonen
Cpl. William Charles Moonen
Cpl. George Eric Moore
Howard Mullen
L.A.C. Robert Glenn
Sgt. William Riley Mullen
W.O.2 James Henry Murdock
P.O. Bruce Mutch
L.A.W. Rita Newbold
W.O. Robert E.J. Olesen
Sgt. Mary Perlick
Pte. Ralph Perrin
Maj. Arnold Manfred
Lt. Arthur William
L/Cpl. Clifford G (Jack) Pettigrew
P.O. Gordon Pettigrew
Sgt. Ernie Priestley
L/Bdr. Arnold F Pubantz
Pte. August Radis
Pte. Vernon Rathwell
Pte. Arnold Joseph Reading
Pte. Frank Edward (Ted) Reading
Sgt. Melvin George Reading
Cpl. Douglas Hall Reynar
Cpl. Oakley Reynar
Pte. Stanley Rigby
Pte. Charlie Robinson
Lt. Arthur Creighton
William J. Rogers
Fl. Sgt. Albert Roseberg
F.O. Adelbert (Del) Bateman Rowley
F.O. Tom Bateman Rowley
Cpl. Geoffrey Howard
Fl. Lt. Dallas W. Schmidt
Pte. John Schmuland
Charlie Schneck
Cpl. Gerald A. (Jerry) Scott
Pte. William C.E. Scott
Maj. Lloyd Smith
Albert Spilde
Sgt. Pilot Courtney L. Spooner
Sgt. Joan (Darlington) Strand
P.O. William Russell Strand Kenneth G. Swartz
Doug Thorn
Edwin Thorn
Pte. Helmuth Tiede
L.A.C. William Ralph Trathen
Pte. Henry Van Volkenburg
Cy Wagar
A.C. 2 Donald Allen Wagner
Pte. Albert Herman Warnke
Pte. August Paul Warnke
Carl William Warnke
Erwin Warnke
L/Bdr. Hartwig Berthold Warnke
Pte. Helmuth E. Warnke
Henry Warnke
Richard Warnke
William (Bill) Warnke
Sgt. Alastair Younie
L.A.C. Louie Bernard Wilk
Gnr. John Leonard (Jack) Wilkinson
Cpl. Bill Williams
James (Jim) Angus Wilson
L.A.C. Leroy Thomas (Tom) Wolf
Pte. Ben Womacks
Sgt. Lyle Womacks
Pte. Harold Edison Wood
F.O. Walter Edison Wood
W.O. 2 Charlie Wright
Cpl. Robert (Bob) Young
Clifford Alsberg
Leonard Dahms
Lloyd Dahms
John Duchuk
Hle Olaf Furuness
Ferdinand Ganske
Allen Gering
Heinz H. Grabia
David Graham
Joe Graham
Capt. Gordon Hougestol
O.S. Allan Jevne
Norman Johnson
Frank Larsen
George Larsen
Gordon Mellen,
Robert Boyd Meredith
Gault MacAllister
LAC Lloyd Maxwell Rupert
Pte. Clifford S. Elder
L.A.W. Ruth (Kean) French
L.S. Allan Douglas Redwood
Pte. James Sehlin
Pte. Ross Sehlin
Horatio Solomon (Casey) Ayers
Leonard Burdon
Pte. Jesse Clark
Pte. Ernest Dahms
Cpl. James Butcher Day
Charles Dowdell
Pte. Fred Elmo Easterbrook
Pte. Howard Alvin Fulcher
Mary Isobel (McVeigh) Fulcher
Lt. Ernest (Cap) Richard Hoskins
Sgt. Torstein Reiarson Jevne
Herman Kern
Albert King
Melvin Lee
OS George McAuley
LS Harold McAuley
Sgt. Joseph James McAuley
Daniel McDonough
Pte. Patrick McManus
Pte. Henry Moonen
Pte. Howard Morris
Pat Mullen
Pte. John Ray Nicoll
Maxim (Mike) Orlick
Gene Pinyon
Pte. George Joseph Reading
L./Cpl. Albert Delacey Rupert
Spr. Lloyd Maxwell Rupert
Pte. Richard Gavin Scott
Pte. Victor Allen Keith Scott
Pte. William Stanley Scott
Edward Spooner
Pte. Charles (Carl) Justus Strand
William Tollefson
Jake Van Alstyne
Ross Van Alstyne
William Arrod (Bill) Van Alstyne
George Vorman
James Ogston Scott
L./Cpl. Gary Lee Goin
Eugene Dennis Dzuiba
M Cpl. Myron Christopher Furuness
Cpl. Ronald John Furuness
Lawrence Goodrich
Col. Gordon Hougestol
M. Cpl. Donald MacDonald
Cpl. Theodore Orlick
Cpt. (R.D.) Donald Trathen
No Photos Available List
L
To Our Veterans
Men and Women throughout the world and especially here in Canada have sacrificed themselves for the freedoms we have in our society. This has been said every year during remembrance days ceremonies. But do many of us actually understand the true meaning of this statement?
For many Canadian veterans of the Great War, World War II, the Korean War and other conflicts, just saying those words is not enough. For many of our veterans, their friends died on the battlefields and their families suffered in their absence. For those that are still here, they can be seen proudly carrying our nations flag in parades and ceremonies and others are found languishing in hospices and seniors homes.
This website is here to honor our veterans and to publicly say, thank you for your great sacrifices. We live this free and leisure life because they stood up for us. We live a life of joy only because they lived times of pain and suffering. To our Canadian Veterans, the people of Millet Alberta say, "We Love You"
Thank you for standing on guard for us.
The staff and volunteers of
Year of the Veteran Public Service Announcement. A three minute video was produced by Veteran Affairs Canada. This three minute public service announcement promotes the year 2005 as the Year of the Veteran. CLICK on the ICON to the LEFT to view this video using your Microsoft Windows Media Player.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Memories Recovered
Project
By Joanne Hagen
Warfare has been a part of the human existence for thousands of years, an integral part of the blueprint of an evolving race. The elements and experience of warfare are so overwhelming and pervasive, there is little left unchanged post-battle. Armed conflict, regardless of outcome, has etched its legacy in the contours of the world’s historical timeline.
As humanity’s deadliest war, the Second World War cost tens of millions of lives and injured many more. According to the April 2007 issue of the Toronto Star, “not only are the Great War veterans disappearing, but their sons and daughters who served in World War II are, on average, 86 years of age. Of these 200,000 veterans alive today, more than three hundred die each week – an attrition rate greater than during World War II itself.” Lost with each veteran who passes is a priceless, irretrievable personal experience and first-hand testimony of war; an incredibly powerful tool of insight.
Keeping History Alive
The Memories Recovered Project (MRP) is a program with a vision of “keeping
history alive” by recording and preserving the personal, individual
experiences and memories of the people who lived through the mud, the
blood, and the tears of a planet at war with itself. The brainchild of
Allan Cameron of Sylvan Lake, the MRP is an innovative way to capture the
daily “bare bones” of battle as told by the veterans who were there.
Personal accounts of the day-to-day experiences of survival at war run
from sad, painful memories of losing friends, long bleak nights, bomb
scare after bomb scare, and missing home, to the mischievous tales of how
the men and women at war would steal from the coal reserves for extra
heat, (we had great fun doing things like that,” chuckled veteran Roy
Foster, even at the risk of being caught, and shot) or raiding farmers’
chickens and eggs. For teen-age Canadian kids entering into adulthood
through the door of World War II, life would never be the same again. To
hear the recollections of fear, laughter, excitement, loneliness and pain
creates an awareness of war at the most basic human level and reminds us
of the incredulous human spirit.
As future generations arise, each further ‘removed’ from the 20th Century Wars Canada participated in, there is concern that the importance of Canadian military involvement in our hard won nationhood may fade into a recitation of statistics and numbers, losing the critical element of human description, reflection and thought on one of the most influential watershed periods in history.
Allan Cameron wanted to preserve this “human” side of war so that future generations can hear firsthand what it was like to be in the Great War and other wars, how much was sacrificed, and how much devastation and destruction the human race can, indeed, endure and survive.
Roy Foster is Director of the two-year old Memories Recovered Project, and spends much of his time interviewing war veterans from World War II and Korean War. Following the Project’s vision, Foster records and compiles the priceless oral history from the service men and women themselves, suspending their experiences in time for future generations.
“...a Long Way From Home”
World War II veteran Roy Foster was in the process of growing up when war
broke. “By the time I was about 14 or 15, the war had broken out, of
course, in 1939, and I was getting anxious to join but I wasn’t old
enough,” said Roy. He didn’t however let that stop him. After several
attempts to join the Navy then the Royal Canadian Ordinance Corps, Roy
decided to wait until he turned eighteen at which time he joined the Royal
Canadian Air Force with immediate acceptance. Traveling to Medicine Hat to
attend the Air Emergency Training Program, Foster remembers being anxious
as he spoke of his anxiety as a young man with no traveling experience.
“I was a farm kid, never been anywhere, and it was Medicine Hat, that’s
a long way from home,” he laughs now. But as time went by, out of the
familiar blend of excitement and nervousness a common bond developed
between the Alberta kids who were on their way to learn of war. “We
became great friends, and many of them I still keep in contact with today,”
smiled Roy.
In response to the interview question regarding
his basic training, Roy explained, “In Medicine Hat, it was the basic
training for an airplane mechanic that included things like sheet metal,
woodwork, fabric repair, and flight control rigging.”
After completing the Air Emergency regimen the group was transported
across Canada to a Technical Training School where they studied
aero-engines and aero-frame mechanics, and from there, “I was one of
three to be picked for Camp Borden,” said Foster, a World War I military
aerodrome that would become the largest and most important Canadian Air
Force base in the second World War.
Total War
“Things were not going well in Europe, the big battles were underway, a
lot of men being lost, and I wanted to get over there so I was one of the
first ones to say ‘yes, I’d like to go,’ and it wasn’t long before
I was gone.” As the countries of the world came to a state of ‘total
war’, it became the most widespread battle in history. Going from Camp
Borden to a holding station in Moncton, New Brunswick, Roy Foster climbed
aboard a freight train for Halifax. “And this became a strange series of
events,” said Roy, as he shared the experience of seeing a ship for the
first time and thousands of people boarding, the entire vessel in
camouflage.” Leaving the harbour in the middle of an October night, they
soon hit rough waters, U-boat warnings, and seasickness. After several
days they arrived at a port in Scotland, then took an English train to a
large Air Force holding unit, “where we learned various tactics taught
by the Air Force Commandos,” explained Roy, after which they were
transferred to 1666 Heavy Conversion Unit located in Yorkshire, England.
The Heavy Conversion Unit was a unit that taught pilots how to convert
from one type of aircraft to another. Assigned to dispersals holding six
to eight planes, Foster and his colleagues were working on Lancasters at
the time and were responsible for maintaining and keeping them in the air
“with very few tools.”
With bunking a mile and a half from the dispersals field, Roy Foster chuckled as he related the tale of having to ride their bikes through a farmer’s barnyard to get to the site. “The farmer had two daughters who were in the Lady’s Land Army so they worked right on the base and a lot of Canadians chased after these girls. I bet there were a lot of farmers who were glad when the war was over and they could say goodbye to the Canadian Bomber Command.”
Foster recalls another night when they were called to report to the base immediately when German aircraft attacked, damaging runways and putting the base out of commission for several days.
“...Lost a lot of Friends”
The demand for flight engineers increased with the use of Lancaster
aircraft, a World War II four-engine bomber that became the most
successful and well-known bombers of the era, delivering over 600,000 tons
of bombs in 156,000 sorties. Existing flight engineers in operational duty
were committed to the aircraft they were already flying, said Roy, so with
new aircraft coming up there were no flight engineers available. Flight
mechanics were offered the opportunity to fill the positions and, “I
jumped at the chance, and that was how my flight career began.”
Upon being transferred from the Conversion Unit to 420 ‘Snowy Oil’ Squadron, Foster grew more serious as he spoke of the intensity of realizing what they were in for. The acrid, smoke-filled bodies of emergency landing American B-17 bombers stands out in Roy’s mind as he relates the memory of these heavily-armed vessels landing with nose sections shot off or rudders damaged.
“We flew Mark X Lancasters and our first trip was over Cologne (Germany), and it was scary,” said Roy, “big aircraft raids were starting to form up and we lost a lot of aircraft to ground fire and mid-air collision due to the heavy formations of aircraft. I never got a scratch, I was very lucky, but I lost a lot of my old friends.”
As flight engineer, Roy “kept an overall eye on the operation of the plane.” There were too many gauges and controls for the pilot to look after, explained Foster. The flight engineer sat opposite the pilot overlooking a panel where he monitored things like temperature, pressure gauges, fuel consumption, and a general management of the aircraft as the flight progressed. The rest of the plane housed a crew including a navigator, bomb aimer, wireless operator, mid-upper and rear gunners. The Lancaster also carried eight 7.70 mm Browning machine guns strategically placed and up to 22,000 pounds (10,000 kg) of bombs.
Roy described heavy night raids when the Pathfinder Squadron would go ahead and drop flares outlining the target area and “we’d just go right in and bomb.”
“I remember a night we all accumulated after the war, we had all enlisted to volunteer for Japan, but were anxious to be going home, and I recall several thousand air force kids and thousands of civilians came out to say goodbye,” Roy smiled fondly at the memory.
After the war ended, Roy Foster flew with the 129 Acceptance and Ferry Flight at Trenton, and the detachment of 129 Acceptance and Ferry flight out of Lincoln Park, Calgary. With six pilots and twelve flight engineers we ferried aircraft throughout the world from that location. Flying in twenty- seven different aircraft Foster amassed over six thousand hours of airtime.
Roy Foster left the Air Force in 1945 to reenlist in 1950 and transferred to the Trenton Repair Depot to serve two years with the Aeronautical Investigation Branch and Salvage.
Preserving the Voices of History
The Memories Recovered Project is a valuable instrument for maintaining
accurate historical recall. Listening to the veterans retell their
experiences which are simultaneously revealed in their excited, afraid,
grinning, proud, and pained expressions adds another dimension to learning
about war and the incredible sacrifices made by our military men and
women, their families, and all civilians as the country united as one.
The Memories Recovered Project is a tribute to those who risked their lives to ensure Canada’s freedom, and a platform for those who were there to tell future generations, firsthand, what it was like to be in a state of all out war. The MRP invites all war veterans to contact the Project Coordinator Roy Foster at erfoster@telus.net for an interview. “Anyone who knows of any veterans, whether army, navy, air force, merchant navy, or women in any service, please call us,” said Foster. Each person interviewed receives a free disc as does the sponsoring Legion. Eventually compiled onto DVD format, the information will be offered to schools, museums, and other institutions as a valuable piece of history. The Memories Recovered Project is a registered non-profit organization. For more information or to make a donation to help “keep history alive,” go to the Project’s website at www.memoriesrecoveredproject.com.
Other Pages on this
Website
In
Flanders Fields
Canadian Battles Timeline - World War I
Canadian Battles Timeline - World War II
Canadian Peacekeeping - Post World War
Royal Canadian Legion
National Website
Legion Magazine
The Place for Canadian History
