Description
Mr. Sproule reflects on what Remembrance Day means to him.
Frederick Howard Sproule
Mr. Sproule was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, on September 22, 1918. He first served as a cadet with the Seaforth Highlanders before joining the regular service. He switched to the air force as soon as he was able, first being accepted as a gunner, and then into pilot training. After serving as a flight instructor on Harvards, Mr Sproule was shipped to Great Britain where he trained on a Hurricane. Eventually, he piloted a Typhoon as a bomber in the Burma Campaign, helping to drive back the Japanese. His tour finished as the Japanese were completely driven out of Burma.
Transcript
Interviewer: What does November 11th mean to you?
It means a time when I think of, the fellows that I knew, what they might have done with their lives, what they might have done for our country too. I started going on, at that, in those days Armistice Day parades, when I was a Seaforth Cadet and I would be about 14 then. So I've been going on them for a good many years, and I always go on them and I will continue to go on them as long as I can. But, it's great to be with them and to think a bit about the fellows that you missed. And it's a good thing that we, we do remember. It's really, I don't know how it is in Eastern Canada, but I find out here in Victoria and Vancouver, and I don't go over to Vancouver, but I used to go over there, more people are coming out today to the Remembrance Day parades. Each year there seems to be more people coming out and it's a real, real pleasure to see that.