Shawnigan Lake School - Yearbook (Shawnigan Lake, British Columbia Canada)

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The 1979-80 edition of the Stag is dedicated to NORMAN MIDDLETON All who have been at Shawnigan and who have been devoted to it have tried in their own way to build a better school. For nearly all their building has been in an intangible sense but for Norman Middleton the building can be taken in its most literal interpretation. His building has been with hammer and nails; with saw and tape measure and every building we have today has been touched and in some cases almost totally transformed by his skill or under his direction. In an academic institution it may be that we occasionally need to be reminded that the school has a physical structure and that the efforts of those who work here with their hands is as important as any in the life of the school. Born in West Tanfield in Yorkshire, Norman Middleton ' s life is a story that deserves telling because it is one that must be of interest to all and an inspiration to Canadian youth. Accordingly, the Stag is privileged to take this opportunity to tell it. At the age of fourteen he was apprenticed to the trade of painting, decorating and glazing in the town of Otley near his birthplace. Normally a seven year apprentice- ship, his was cut short by the outbreak of war in 1939. During the last years of peace he had been a reservist in the Royal Artillery at a wage of one shilling a day. In September, 1939 he transferred to the Royal Engineers, as he tells it, only because his pay would benefit from a sevenfold increase. 4

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The Stag is a portrait %-■ ' . W ■ -. of a year in the life of our school 4 iti

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Aged nineteen Norman was sent to France during the first months of the war and was captured for the first time near Boulogne. In this case German security was not very efficient and without much difficulty he was able to escape and rejoin the British near to Dunkirk. Captured again he was sent to Stalag VIIIB, a prisoner of war camp at Lamsdorf in Eastern Europe. Altogether, he was to be captured and recaptured by the enemy eight times during the Second World War, successfully escaping only on the first occasion, when he was able to rejoin our forces, and on the last when he was able to reach neutral Sweden. In the last quarter of the twentieth century one does not expect to meet someone who has actually been a slave but so it was for Norman Middleton - a slave labourer for Hitler. As a punishment for his numerous escapes, and he surely must be reckoned among the most difficult prisoners the Nazis had, he was sent to prison in Sternberg in the Sudetenland. Here he spent a good deal of time in solitary confinement but he also spent much time in operating a crane, working in the granite quarries and in coal mines in all of which he learned to speak German, a useful accomplishment when the opportunity to escape presented itself. Making a point of always escaping in civilian clothes to increase his chance of success, he also increased his chance of being shot when retaken by the enemy. In the course of his many escape attempts he has walked hundreds of miles through Austria, Hungary and Slovakia. He came within three kilometers of safety and freedom in Switzerland and within yards of success on the Polish border but in both cases was recaptured. He has been wounded on more than one occasion. He has known starvation and has lived on charcoal scraped from burnt wood. He has been brutally beaten and confined for days in places impossible to stand or sit and he has been selected by the SS to stand in a group chosen for execution by firing squad. Reflecting on these events now more than thirty-five years ago he has come to the conclusion that life for most people can be a pretty dull affair and that every young man needs to face a little danger, some uncertainty and adventure in order to be a better person for it. Norman reached England via Sweden in 1944 only to find that he had been gazetted for the Distinguished Conduct Medal, a decoration which carries on the reverse side of the silver medal the inscription - For Distinguished Conduct in the Field . In his case one cannot help feeling that such a characteristically British understatement is almost ludicrously inappropriate in describing the war he had fought. His D.C.M. was presented personally by King George VI at an investiture held at Buckingham Palace. Afterwards his wife asked him what the king said to him. Oh , said Norman, I just asked him where Liz was and he said that she was straightening the beds. Married in 1945 he had his own business in Otley until he came to Canada in 1948. Here he settled at Hamilton, Ontario for seven years as a contractor. He came to Victoria in 1955 with his wife and two sons, the third being born when they arrived at the coast. Norman Middleton joined our staff at Shawnigan in 1970 and has been for the past ten years head of the maintenance department and Buikhng Supervisor. He has been well-loved by the boys, in part - but only in part - because one of his many duties has been to arrange for their transportation home at the beginning of the holidays. He has been widely respected by all and well known for his unfailing humour, his ever ready willingness to help at any time of the day or night and for his ability to express some penetrating observations in unminced words. This year the Stag salutes Norman Middleton ' s heroism during the war and the splendid example of courage and determination which it sets today ' s generation. The Stag is also proud to pay tribute to his loyalty and devotion to Shawnigan. One and all join in wishing him and his wife, Marian, happiness and contentment in their retirement.