War Was In The Air

Interviewer: So I suppose you were quite aware of what was going on in Europe? I was very aware, especially in that year. That year I went, it was 1939 and we had a storm [inaudible]. That year I was in Toronto at the Ontario College of Education. I … you could feel war in the air. You knew it was coming. It was, it was palpable. You could almost feel it.Interviewer: What was your reaction when you heard Canada was at war? Well, I thought likely I’d be going. I didn’t really think, I guess. I didn’t think too much about it. When you’re teaching your first year and I had a girlfriend that I was engaged to and I had lots of exciting things to do. So, I guess I didn’t worry too much about the war until around the spring. And you remember in the spring, Germans rolled through France and drove the French back. And drove the English into the Channel, and they were evacuating Dunkirk. It looked pretty bad for us. We were beaten pretty badly. At that time, I got a letter suggesting that they were looking for navigation instructors. And being a teacher and a mathematician, well, I was a prime candidate. So I applied, up in London, and found myself in September the 1st, 1940, down here in Trenton, on the #5 air navigation instructor’s course. And I didn’t know one thing about the military.But anyway, I got a direct commission and I was a direct entry. I didn’t have to do like the other boys and pound the pavement. I was an officer right away. But I didn’t know much about it, frankly.Interviewer: What was the reaction of your parents? Well, I think they were a little bit proud of me. They didn’t …we didn’t have any weeping and tearing and all that stuff you see on the television. None of that dramatic … I think they thought, maybe I was doing the right thing, and it was a good thing.