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Lost and Found

Heroes Remember

Lost and Found

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Transcript
When I got through Cairo in forty, this'd be December ‘43, 20th of December I left Malta, finished up. But before that how we found out there was a Canadian Headquarters in Cairo. We needed an airplane. So a crew went over on a destroyer to Alexandrea and went on to what we call Whimpy Valley, where they had miles of airplanes of all description. And this guy came back and he had a piece of paper and he said, "Here, sign this." Prior to this on the battle order board, in other words they put your name up, you're flyin' tonight sort of thing, if you hadn't been promoted in the last nine months put your name here. This squadron I was on had more Canadians than British. The Australians, New Zealanders, two South Africans and the Canadians pretty well filled the airplanes. So Canadians, they put their names up on the board, nothin'. British would get promoted. So this guy came back with a piece of paper from Cairo and he said "Here, sign this." He said, "I was in Canadian Headquarters." We were sure his mind was gone because there was no such a thing as a Canadian Headquarters in Cairo. There was. Beautiful big place. They were lookin' for fifty-five of us that they didn't know where we were. Fifty-five aircrew from sergeant to flight lieutenant, they hadn't a clue where we were in the world. One young fella that was in the same room that I was in got married at 19 before he came overseas. Hadn't heard from his wife for about six months, and it was affecting his work. So I was goin' down to the mail this day and I said, "Kenny, you want me to pick up your mail?" "She won't be writing to me anyway," and the language wasn't too good. I went down there and there was a stack of letters that high done up with like binder twine, and an explanation on the top, "No Trace India." The guy had never been east of the Suez Canal in his life. They were lookin' for him. What this chap found out when he went to Cairo, we ended up gettin' Canadian rates of pay. One chap went from a sergeant to a W-O1 overnight. I think it took me two weeks to go from sergeant to W-O1. They found us. How I found out that they had lost us, I used to drive to work when I was back in the service and living in Waverley, workin' in Halifax and I'd drive with this little commissionaire. His daughter-in-law got in the car one morning and I'm in uniform and she looks at the ribbon she said, "Where were you?" I said, "Down in the Middle East." I said, "We flew out of Malta." "You're one of the of the ones we lost." She was workin' in Canadian Headquarters, Lincolns Enfield in London and they were This guy found out when he went lookin' for an airplane and we thought he was insane. They found us. They finally found us. And the British got very mad at us because I was a sergeant and I was gettin' the same pay as a pilot He didn't like that very much.
Description

Mr. Doiron recalls how Canadian Headquarters had lost track of 55 men posted in the Middle East and the lucky coincidence in which they were found.

Leonard Doiron

Mr. Doiron was born in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island on January 21st 1923. His father worked in wholesale and retail until he was injured and opened his own shoe repair shop. Mr. Doiron joined the Air Force on February 15th 1941 where he began his training in Chatham, New Brunswick. In June 1941 he was sent to Initial Training School in Victoriaville, Québec. Mr. Doiron was part of the top 10 aspiring pilots and was picked to become one. He was later sent back to Chatham where he was washed out for inconsistent flying. The RAFFC (Royal Air Force Ferry Command) noticed his Morse code abilities and had him transferred to Dorval, Québec. He was then stationed in Bournemouth, England. He did his Operational Training in Northern Ireland where he was assigned to a Wellington air plane crew. He flew many missions over the Gulf of Toranto (Italy) - about 300 hours of Operational Flying Time and was promoted to Warrant Officer Class 1. He then went to Cairo, Egypt and to Palestine for a short time before being sent back home on the Louis Pasteur. Mr. Doiron retired from the service in the 1970's.

Meta Data
Medium:
Video
Owner:
Veterans Affairs Canada
Duration:
03:57
Person Interviewed:
Leonard Doiron
War, Conflict or Mission:
Second World War
Location/Theatre:
Europe
Branch:
Air Force
Units/Ship:
Royal Air Force Ferry Command (RAFFC)
Rank:
Sergeant
Occupation:
Radio Operator

Copyright / Permission to Reproduce

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