HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Brussels Post, 1977-08-17, Page 11Sugar and Spice
by Bill Smiley
Have Your Own
• _.NAME MUG
Good Selection has just arrived
for you to choose from
HOUSE OF MAX
Brussels
Yarns of the past
I'm engaged in writing a few yarns for
Airforce, the official magazine of the RCAF
Association,. Naturally, this has brought
back a lot of memories, some a bit grim,
some pretty hilarious.
As the old mind's eye wandered back,
something hit me' like a cold douche. Not
that I've ever taken \n--cold douche.
Why were we so keen to get killed? In
this age of dropouts, draft dodgers and
deserters, it seems incredible that
thousands of young Canadian males, back
in the Forties, were almost frantic to .get
into the air force, into air crew, and into a
quadron, where the chances were excellent
they'd be dead within a couple of months.
From the point of view, of common sense,
reason, logic, it was npt any brighter than
the Children's Crusade of the Middle,
Ages.
Why? Certainly we had no death wish.
We had no deep urge to immate ourselves
in the breath of the war dragon. We
weren't even running to the battlements to
protect our homes, our wives and, children.
Most of us were in school, or just recently
out, and didn't have none of them there
things.
Oh, we knew we hid .to "Stop thet
bawstawd Hitlah " as Churchill once told
us on an airfield in NOrmandy. We knew
rather vaguely that we were defending
democracy and unemployment against the
monsters of totalitarianism and , full.
employment, although it was a bit puzzling
that totalitarian Russia was on our side.
We knew joining up was the thing to do,
that most•of our friends were doing it, that
a fellow looked pretty fine in a uniform,
that the girls were impressed and the
hitch-hiking easier. •
But why the air force? And why air crew,
where the dice were loaded 'so heavily?
Did we avoid the army because we didn't
waft to be. ,exposed-to the rude and
licentious soldiery and get -all dirty and
grimy in action? Or the navy because we
preferred a fiery grave to a watery one?
I just don't knoW, but most of my
friends, and most of their friends, chose
the air force, and were dead keen on
getting into air crew.
Within a bare few years, most of them
were a lot less keen, and many were a lot
more ' dead.
As I recall, it was a real downer for those
who failed the tough medical test for air
, crew.. Once chosen, you, were filled with
despair if you were going 'for pilot and had
to settle for bomb-aimer, justd because you,
were a little cross-eyed.
Once in training, it was , a shattering
experience to be "washed out" of air crew
merely because you had badly bent up one
of His Majesty's aircraft by trying to land
at 40 feet up, or had wound up 300 miles off
course on a'cross- country training flight. It
was devastating if you wanted to be a
fighter •pilof and were shipped off to
lumbering old bombers.
_I have friends who still bear a deep scar
on the psyche because they were made
flying instructors and spent the rest of the
war in Canada. This- despite the fact they
were chosen as instructors because they ,
were far better pilots than the rest of us. ,
This despite the fact that many of the
pilots they trained were dead, dead, in no
time. None of , this was any consolation. •
They still feel they missed something
irrecoverable.
Well I know what they .missed. They
missed the stupidity of senior officers who
didn't know whether they were punched or
bored. They missed long, deadly dull
periods of training, and short, intense
moments of sheer terror.
They missed being shot at,-physically,
by perfect strangers, and shot down,
verbally, by people on their, own side.
They missed the utter blind confusion of
the amateurs in charge of the war.
Mlgawd, those idiots lost an entire wing of,
Ty phoons for a full. week.
• Nobody, least of all Intelligence, had a
clue where it was. I air-hitched, all over
southern England and northern France
before I found the blasted thing, •all on my
own.
Let's see, have I left anything out? Well,
may be, I have. First I'll, take that back,
about stupid -senior officers. There Were',
plenty of those in Canada, too, so you
didn't miss that.
Perhaps you missed the joy of climbing
out of your airciaft after an operation, `
lighting a cigarette,:and talking a wild blue
streak of relief and let-down.
I guess you missed the glory of heading
off for a week's leave in a strange country,
loaded with lust, a month's pay in your
pocket, and the secret sweetness in your
head of knowing that nobody would be
shooting at you for seven days. •
And you did, 'I must admit, miss the
girls. Not all of those fumblings in the
blackout were frustrating.
But I still say we were all crazy to
volunteer, and even vie to be killed. Must
write a paper on that some day.
•
p
n
os
J.E. LONGSTAFF
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SEAFORTH 527.1240
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Wednesday, Saturday
9:00 - 12:00
CLINTON 482.7010
Monday 9:00 - 5:30
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••
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THE BRUSSELS POST, AUGUST 17, 1977 —11
EVO1 E oks exchange
' with
s
Quebec schools
In its regular meeting in
Clinton on Monday, the Huron
County Board of Education
approved a number of items.
The board decided to sell all of
its surplus school buses with the
exception of one to be kept for use
by Goderich Secondary School:
The Goderich bus will be used for
field trips and school team z
excursions.
The
.
board •
'approved in
principle a two-week bilingual
exchange program between
schools in Huron County, and
Quebec. James Coulter,
superintendent of education, said
he didn't know if any schools in
the county would ,participate.
A qualified teacher will provide
academic instruction one day per
week to older trainable retarded
pupils at the Goderich workshop,
the Board decided. Senior
trainable retarded pupils (age 13
plus) will be given access to the
nearest home economics or
industrial arts program.
The board adopted a policy of
giving $200 to any school holding
,a celebration in connection with a-
Introducing. the
ALL-NEW 1977 line of
John Deere Chain Saws
Isolated engine reduces vibration
for greater operating comfort -
All-new styling. All-new features. All-new per-
formance. That's the story of the 1977 line of
John Deere Chain Saws.
There are five models to choose from. Each
featureS an air-cooled engine,30 to 70cc's.
capacity-matched sprocket-nose guidebar-12 to
'24 inches long,..an automatic oiler.,.and a
counterbalanced.crankshaft. In addition, strategi-
cally located rubber mounts on all models,
except the 30, isolate vibration for real operating
cOmfort. Comein soon. We'll be happy to,demon-
strate these exciting new saws for you.
Sprocket-nose
guidebars on all
saws lift the chain
off the bar in the nose
area. That means
improved performance,
less chain wear.
A throttie/trigger
interlock on all
be held down and poWerhead Of
the "trigger"
Will engage. A jury in the event of
provides added A
saws, except the 30,
safety. It must chain catch
before the chain larger saws helps
pulled located On the
protect you from in-
a broken chain.
.
See us soon for an all
JOHN DiER9 John Deere Chain Saw
Lim ited
ingham3 7,1 16
municipal centennial celebration.
Ifthere is more than one school in
the municipality the money will
be split between them.
The two professional,
development days for South
Huron District High. School to be
held on January 26 and 27 were
changed to February 9 and 10 at
the request of the principal.
The board decided to invest the
funds from the "J. W. Talbot
Bursary" with the interest being
given to the highest' boy and girl
in grade eight at Seaforth Public
School. , -
Night schools 'will be located
this - fall in Central .,Huron
Secondary . School,. F. E. Madill
Secondary School, Goderich
District Collegiate Institute, Sea-
forth District High- School, and
South Huron District High
School. An advertisement ,
listing the courses', will be placed
in all Huron county papers.
The board agreed to transfer a
student to 'Woodland Heights
Elementary, School in London for
the partially sighted. Cost to the
board will be $3,000.
A molded plastic
handguard on all
models, except the
30, helps protect
your/left hand
from injury,.
'Chisel and semi,
chisel chains cut
Smoothly and effi-
ciently. Depth
gauges and guard
links help eliminate
kickback.
• I