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Regrettable Losses

Heroes Remember

Transcript
Oh, you don't think of them daily, but sometimes you think back and figure what wonderful people they were and something else that people don't realize that to get into the air force, you had to have a grade 12 education. Well today, a grade 12 education would be the equivalent of a university education and here was the elite of Canada in the air force and just been slaughtered, many of them, and we lost a terrific number of first class Canadians in the air force. There were 17,000 air force killed in World War II, and I sit back, and most of them from the ages of 19 to 25, and I think back and what a wonderful contribution they could have made to Canada if they were alive and leading the country today. We missed something great by losing them.
Description

Mr. Wilson rues the fact that many of Canada’s brightest young men were lost lost while serving with Allied Air Command, and speculates about what their contributions to Canada could have been.

Gordon Wilson

Gordon Wilson was born on December 5, 1917 in Limerick, Saskatchewan. The Royal Canadian Air Force was no longer accepting recruits when he enlisted so he joined the Royal Regina Rifles. Six months later, Mr. Wilson joined the Royal Canadian Air Force at Brandon, Manitoba. His first wartime deployment saw him serving in North Africa near El Alamein, where he initially flew Hurricanes in a Royal Air Force squadron. He later piloted Spitfire 9’s in Sicily, Italy and the Middle East. After the war, Mr. Wilson completed a university degree and became a museum curator.

Meta Data
Medium:
Video
Owner:
Veterans Affairs Canada
Duration:
1:28
Person Interviewed:
Gordon Wilson
War, Conflict or Mission:
Second World War
Branch:
Air Force
Rank:
Flying Officer
Occupation:
Pilot

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