Walkerville Collegiate Institute - Blue and White Yearbook (Windsor, Ontario Canada)

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BLUE AND WHITE RETURNED From the Armed Forces MR. !. A. ALLISON ()n April 25. 1941, Ian Allison enlisted in the Canadian Army. He spent about a month at the O.T.C., Hrockville, whence he emerged a one-pip wonder, and after a ft v days’ “visit” at Camp Borden he left for England. By the end of June he had joined the Calgary Regiment of the First Canadian Army Tank Brigade and after training and manoeuvres in England he received his second pip (February 1942). In August, 1942. Lieutenant Allison was fighting with the Calgary Tanks and the Essex Scottish at Dieppe, and the Cal¬ gary losses and casualties were terrific. From Dieppe Lieutenant Allison re¬ turned to England to train new Canadian reinforcements, and at this time received his captaincy. Before he joined his unit in Italy he had received his crown, and with them fought through Cassino. the Liri Valley, the Hitler and Gustav lines and North of Florence where he was wounded. He was again with his regi¬ ment when they landed in Marseilles. They fought up through Belgium, had a three-week rest, then pushed through Germany and back—this time into Hol¬ land. After the last two battles, Arnhem and Ede, a truce was called, lasting two weeks, for the purpose of transporting food to the starving Dutch by the Cal¬ gary Tanks. On July 29, 1945 Major Allison left for England and on October 15. 1945 he be¬ came “Mister” Allison once more. MR. F. BECKLEY Mr. Beckley. a member of the Essex Tank Regiment, was once a cadet at . C. I. In 1942, he joined the army tak¬ ing his training at O.T.S. in Brockvillc, then at A 27 Training Centre at Dundurn, Sask. In 1943, he went overseas, serving in the front lines in France. Belgium, Holland, and Germany. Captain Beck’ey had many harrowing experiences. W hile across the German lines, his armoured car blew up. He was in the same house with a 500 lb. bomb during the German bombing of Falais. At one time, he was trapped for 36 hours about 25 miles be¬ hind the Gentian lines. MR. A. FLETCHER In 1941, Mr. Fletcher joined the Royal Canadian Air Force. He was trained at Rivers, Man., and then served as an in¬ structor until 1945. Ft. Lieut. Fletcher, as a navigator, had the misfortune to make a mistake in his calculations and found himself flying over the then neu¬ tral United States. When asked to relate some of his thrilling experiences over¬ seas. Mr. Fletcher said that the only thing that he did in England was to fly around in the fog. MR. C. M. FORMAN Mr. Forman joined the air-force in March 1942 and left for Manning Pool where he received his basic training for the air-crew. After leaving Manning Pool, he entered about eight other schools in Canada and finally arrived at Regina A.O.S. where he completed his training. As flying officer (navigator), he spent two years overseas and partici¬ pated in bombing missions on the conti¬ nent in the famous Lancaster bombers. While he was on one of his missions, his plane was shot down near Paris and only he and two others out of seven escaped alive. The skipper was captured by the Germans. Mr. Forman and the rear gun¬ ner. both behind enemy lines, managed to outwit the Germans and obtain help from a French family who were part of a well-organized underground. About three weeks later they were rescued by the Third American Army who had broken through the enemy lines. In Octo¬ ber 1944, Mr. Forman came back to Can¬ ada and his discharge was complete in February 1945. Page Thirty

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BLUE AND WHITE F. Hull. E. Lepa. L Laakso, Mr. Ball, W. Young. G, Turnbull ship of $60, and the Irwin Hilliard Schol¬ arship in English and History at Victoria College, University of Toronto which is worth $625, Charmaine Humphries won a $100 Dominion - Provincial Scholarship f or Grade 13. We are proud of these students, and hope that this year ' s graduating class can live up to their fine example. SCHOLARSHIPS In 1945 Walkerville students earned seven scholarships. The j. U McNaughton Memorial Scholarship was awarded for the first time last year. Lillian Laakso received it, and is now studying Honor Science at Toronto. Eugene Lepa won the third Carter Scholarship worth $40. Three Carter Scholarships are given in each county of Southern Ontario for the highest standing in ten papers which must in¬ clude English Composition, English Lit¬ erature, Geometry and Algebra, George Turnbull is studying Business Administration at Western with a Do¬ minion-Provincial Scholarship worth $400 a year for four years. Bill Young won three scholarships, the Edith Bowlby Chapter LOT ML Scholar¬ ship of $100 for the highest English mark in W indsor, the second Carter Scholar¬ (Continued from Page 25) glee ted, in spite of such arduous rehears¬ ing. In December the Bovs’ and Girls’ Choirs combined to give a Christmas party in the school library where danc¬ ing, games and box lunches were enjoyed, and small surprise packages distributed by Santa himself! The pleasure of our guests proved the party ' s success, and we are all eagerly anticipating another such event in the future, as well as our future musical programs, DOROTHY WOODS Page Twenty-Xine

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BLUE AND WHITE ed [sc¬ an as e- al at n- r, to ihI u- tt T- g lid in M)1 or ig er at iis ti- s. iis ly cu he li¬ ed ■ip 01 ut Y ad o- n- in MR. D. C. O’BRIEN Mr. O’Brien was 2 1 C of the Essex Tank Regiment before enlistment. He commanded the Active Service Company at St. Luke’s Barracks from May 1940 to October 1940 whereupon he was called to headquarters M.D. No. 1 as G.S.O. III. In February 1941, he joined the Ontario Tank Regiment and in June of the same year proceeded overseas as squadron commander. He then remained with ti c First Armoured Brigade until he was appointed chief instructor at 2C. A.C.R.U. in February 1943. Later he commanded a wing at 2 C. A.C.R.U. with the rank of lieutenant colonel. After Y-E day Lieu¬ tenant Colonel O’Brien commanded a repatriation depot until his return to Canada in August 1945. Discharged in October 1945, Mr. O’Brien came back to Walkerville to teach again. He was awarded the M.B.E. and E.D. Welcome back, Mr. O’Brien. Your job was very well done, indeed ! MR. H. NIGHSWANDER In 1942, Mr. Nighswander signed his name for his country and the following- year was called to serve it. For a year and a quarter he remained here in Wind¬ sor on the H.M.C.S, Hunter and became a petty officer. He says that during his navy career his most interesting experi¬ ence was “being guard of honour for the Governor-General im Ottawa.” His dis¬ charge was complete in October 1944. whereupon he resumed teaching at Walk¬ erville Collegiate Institute. MISS O. E. SAUNDERS On March 25, 1943. Olive Saunders entered the Wrens and soon worked her¬ self up to a lieutenancy. She was sta¬ tioned at Halifax for 20 months and in Newfoundland for eight months. Among many of her thrilling experiences in the Wrens, Lieutenant Saunders ranks her nine-hour operational flight in an air¬ force bomber over a convoy as the most exciting. She also had the opportunity of : pending two days on a frigate observing submarine detection devices under con¬ ditions at sea. W hile in Newfoundland. Miss Saunders had the opportunity of meeting and chatting with Frank Sinatra. She has a picture of herself shaking- hands with Frankie. Lieutenant Saun¬ ders received her discharge papers on August 1, 1945 and returned to W alker¬ ville Collegiate Institute. MISS G. I. TUNKS Miss Tunks enlisted in the Wrens in December 1942. and by New Year’s Day 1943, found herself one of a group of Wrens travelling over the Rockies to Vancouver. Here, Vancouver played host to its first group of W rens. Ottawa was Miss ' Punks’ home station, and from here she visited various places — Sydney for ten days, for example. While in Sydney she was fortunate to be one of two Wren officers a lowed to go to sea. On board, they worked the powerful Oerlikon guns and witnessed a good deal of minesweep¬ ing. They had the thrilling experience of hoarding Merchant Ships, and on one Tanker, talked with an engineer who was a survivor of three torpedoed tankers. W hile at sea. thev had the self-satisfviner experience of seeing the Captain take seasick pills while the two Wrens found ro need for them. Miss ' Punks feels that her years in the W rens were almost the most educational of her life, and while we know navy life is wonderful, we are glad to welcome her back to Walkerville. PattvosUye ouA aJhj Uii iA, Page Thirty-One