Had to Find Something Else

Heroes Remember

Had to Find Something Else

Transcript

I joined the air force not because I had an abiding love for the air force or the military. Now we are a military family in a sense, my father at the time when I was in the air force was a lieutenant commander in the navy and my brother became a captain in the army. All three of us were commissioned officers at the same time. My father loved the service. He just loved it all. The circumstances were such that I needed to get out of Prince Edward Island and that was my ticket out. And while I was at it I did the best job I could and I pleased the people that I did it for. But in peace time I found it a hard go. In terms of what the hell are we doing this for? You know, and remember that, I guess too, that I had come out of World War Two. I was fourteen when World War Two ended. So I was subject to all of the kind of propaganda that had taken place during World War Two, which become on our side, not to mention the other side, which is the sort of the necessary edge on to what war appears to be. So I have that tradition with me, but I guess I found as I say the service in peacetime you just seem to be going through the motions and you can only rehearse the play so many times. I mean for me before I got bored with it and I just had to find something else to do. And I must say that when I drove out the gates of RCAF station Summerside, I never looked back. There are some people who hung around messes, you know, and all that sort of stuff. I never did. It was the chapter in my life that was eventful within its own purposes which gave me certain things, but that was it. I now had a new life and I was going to move on and live through it.

Description

Mr. McAndrew describes wearying of peacetime service.

John Allison ‘Jack’ McAndrew

John McAndrew was born in Dalhousie, New Brunswick on February 15, 1933. His family moved to Charlottetown, where he grew up. He decided to enlist in the Royal Canadian Air Force, hoping to become a pilot, but was selected to become a radio officer, flying in a converted Lancaster bomber on anti-submarine patrols over Canada’s Eastern waters. For him, peacetime service proved uneventful and he moved on to a successful career in broadcasting. At the time of his retirement Mr. McAndrew held the rank of Flying Officer.

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