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Elinor Florence (Company name) Elinor Florence

Veteran Stories

This year, 2016, marks the seventy-fifth anniversary of the writing of one of the most beautiful poems ever composed – “High Flight,” by John Gillespie Magee Junior. A few months after creating this lyrical work of art, the brilliant young Spitfire pilot died in a tragic air accident. He was just nineteen. “High Flight” has […]

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Bud Abbott was just twenty-three years old when he strapped himself into his cockpit, took off from the deck of an aircraft carrier, and headed into aerial combat for the very first time. His target: the Tirpitz, one of the deadliest German battleships ever built. (Bud Abbott passed away in Cranbrook, British Columbia on January 30, […]

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There’s a reason why it’s called The Greatest Generation – and Yvonne Valleau Wildman of Kindersley, Saskatchewan, aged 92, is a shining example. She had a hardscrabble childhood, served her country with the Royal Canadian Air Force in World War Two, farmed for six decades, and raised seven children. I was first contacted by Yvonne’s […]

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Wartime Wednesdays brings people together. After my recent post about Jack Dye, the young Halifax bomb aimer who saved his entire crew before losing his own life, another connection was made – Jack’s niece Nancy had an emotional meeting with Doug Morison, the pilot of her uncle’s aircraft on that fateful night. Each had been […]

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Fred Sutherland of Rocky Mountain House, Alberta, is now Canada’s last surviving Dambuster — one of only two left in the world. He’s also a member of my extended family because he was married to my cousin Margaret. I interviewed him about his wartime past. (Note: Fred Sutherland passed away at the age of 95 in January 2019. Rest in […]

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Eugenie Francoeur Turner served at a bomber base in Yorkshire, where she witnessed horrific crashes, dodged bombs, and worked around the clock on D-Day. It was the most exciting time of her life. Note: Eugenie Turner passed away on November 4, 2022 just a few weeks shy of her 100th birthday. Rest in Peace, Eugenie […]

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My admiration is boundless when it comes to the Canadian nurses who bravely carried out their grim duties in wartime – so it was an honour to interview Jessie Middleton of Abbotsford, British Columbia. I was especially keen to meet Jessie because my column has not paid enough attention to nurses – our Canadian women in uniform who were the […]

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Jack Dye, a brave young Halifax bomb-aimer from Regina, Saskatchewan, saved everyone on his bomber in this terrifying incident that took place on June 3, 1944 — 71 years ago today. Readers often send me stories of their own. This one is from Nancy Cuelenaere of Edmonton, Alberta, who sent me this story about her brave […]

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Author and journalist Tony Cashman is famous for his lifelong contribution to the history of Edmonton, Alberta — but less known for the significant role he played in World War Two, completing a full tour of thirty operations as the navigator in a Halifax bomber. I was delighted to receive a telephone call from noted historian, Tony Cashman […]

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A twin-engine wartime Mitchell bomber called Maid in the Shade flew from Arizona to Alberta last summer, but the highlight of the aviation event was meeting Manuel Sharko, a veteran of Bomber Command who defied the odds to complete 36 operations as a mid-upper gunner in a Halifax. My guest columnist is John Chalmers, a writer who […]

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