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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1996-06-26, Page 22 -THE HURON EXPOSITOR, June 24, 19913 Close-up Recognition received 50 years later BY DAVID SCOTT Expositor Edit9r It was. so secret, they held it • for 50 years. • But Frank -Sills, along with hundreds of other Canadians who worked with radar dur- ing the Second -World War, finally receivcd.a Certificate of Appreciation for helping .England in thc air. defense of Great Britain. The certifi- cates, from the British Air Ministry (dated -1946), were- presented erepresented at the WWII Radar Reunion in Calgary which look place June 7-9, 1996. "Churchill said something should he _done for those Canadians after the -Battle of Britain," said Sills. So why the delay in recog- nition?.The certificates were- sent eresent to Canada after the war but held by the Canadian government. Sills says per- haps the government didn't want to single out radar pro- plc as being more important than any. other Canadian involved with the Allied .cause during the war. • For whatever reason, the certificates took half a centu- ry to reach the intended recipients. And they weren't the originals cithcr..A -Ione copy.of an original was found and duplicates with names of radar personnel wcrc made. Despite the delay, the Seaforth radar technician was happy to receive the recogni- tion. The radar .eunion,su pporrt- it cd by the AFTA (A Force Telecomm at Associ ion of Canada), tried to locate as I' many radar personnc as pos- sible. "By the time u the re nion is held we hope to havenames and addresses far themajori- ty of the original Canadian radar personnel: the5,000 ai radar mechanics trained at "Clinton at the requestof the •a British Government; s well as dithers i who served n radar .while attached to-theRAF," brochure- - a pre -reunion ochure- from organizers. RADAR STORIES IE The Calgary Radar Group was formed following a meeting in Calgary called to hcar Bob Linden of Ottawa discuss his. project to collect and publish stories" of WWII radar veterans who trained in England or at RAF Radio School #3I in Clinton, The SERVING IN IRELAND Frank Sills, back row at left, is shown here with some of his unit at Roddan's Port, CHL Station in Northern Ireland during World War II. • idea of holding a Western Canada Radar Reunion grew to an idea for a Canada -wide reunion when the number of names gathered for the data- base reached 2,000. Sills brought the stories he'd written about his war- timc experiences to the reunion in -Calgary. He told The Huron Expositor how radar- person- nel were selected to serve. "The first -were direct entries. My cousin, Ed Daly. was one. He was requested to join' the service by the British. He was quite knowl- edgeable about radio. in 1938 he took a radio course in Washington. hist 40 direct entries were selected, most of them professors," said Sills, who was interested in getting into radar as well. • 1 -le was already in the mili- tia which was never mobi- lized. Hc was up in Owen Sound early in the war play- ing hockey when he bought a paper and spotted an ad. Wanted: 2,50f/radio tech- nicians immediately. No pre- vious experience necessary. Overseas for six months. "I got home from the game . at 3 a.m. and went to London at 7 a.m. and signed up..I got in, in two weeks - enough. time to finish the play-offs." Sills was sent with 500 oth- ers •to the University of -Toronto Science Department to take a 10 -week crash course. "After that they called us to Convocation Hall and split us into two groups. One half went to the new RDF (Radio Direction Finding) school in Clinton. The other.half wcnt to England. SERVING OVERSEAS Sills wcnt to England and his first temporary duty was as a wireless (radii)) Mechan- ic with a night fighter unit in Ayr, Scotland. At Yateshury, Wiltshire, be- took another 10 -week course in radar. From there, he want- ed to serve in the Far East. Luckily for him, he didn't. He wcnt to Ireland.. "Several months • later Singapore fell. The Japanese took over. My parents were informed I was missing in action. There wcrc no records of me. My paperwork went. cast hut not me." Ireland was a great learning station for Sills as.thousands of new planes camc.over Ireland from the U.S. and Canada. itwas a CHL (Chain Home Low) station with GCI (Ground Control Interception). He was right on the Irish Sea. WRENS (Women's Royal Navy) were stationed there as well. -That's where Frank met his future wife, Dinah Wood. "When the (radar) scope picked up a plane it went through the filter room a.hig room with a map divided into a grid. The signal revolved every minute to plot the path of a planeand you would soon know if it was friend or foe." Allied planes carried an IFF (Identify Friend or. Foe) for case of identification. which -was advantageous to have when approaching the English coast, said Sills. "The plot would go through. Radar stations were advantage BY FRANK SILLS Another local man involved with radar was Ernie Williams. He was a teacher at the Clinton Radar School and later on went to Montreal to become involved in experi- ment with new elements of radar. These wcrc the fore- runners of matters which were used in missiles such as the Bomarc and eventually in the present-day satellites and even in the space programme. Many men involved in radar wcrc ex -bank clerks, teachers and university stu- dents and capable of thinking for themselves. Those not comfortable with science were weeded out but the majority were ahlc to carry on with a good degree of effi- ciency. Frank Sills is shown here at Anzio, Italy where he operat- ed 10 -cm radar. The big advantage for the British early in the war was the multitude of radar sta- tions erected quickly, espe- cially on the cast coast. These stations were able to detect Gcrman aircraft as soon as they left mainland Europe. This resulted in an early warning and massing fighters where they were most need- ed: Previously they were patrolling all over the sky and burning up much needed fuel. On thc other hand German fighters accompanying their bombers couldn't stay and fight very long because of the gas situation. They ran the risk of crashing in Britain or ditching their plane in thc North Sca or the English Channel. The Allied planes could hang around a lot longer and even refuel at one of thc many aerodromes. Germany didn't have much defence against radar at thc start of thc war. Thcy first used "Window." Pieces of black tinfoil dropped from planes. Any radar beam inter- cepted by it would return on the filter .room and they would make the decisions to send up, interceptor aircraft. Ground Control would make an interpretation, then get on the phone and talk to the night fighter which had a radio observer in the .back cockpit. Once he got the vec- tor, the direction of the enemy, he could direct the pilot right toward the aircraft and shoot it down in the dark. "That's why radar was_ so valuable to, our cause.. We didn't have aircraft up flying around waiting for something to happen. You could. decide how to intercept from the ground." • - • DALY BUILT STATIONS Sills said Ed Daly was sent to teach a course at Gateshury. "He- didn't know what it was allabout: it was all secret." Daly was sent to north of Scotland to build a radar sta- tion, then to south of England to build another one. He didn't quite finish that one - when he was sent to Africa to help with a mobile station with 50 to 60 other men: After a stint in North Africa, Sills went to Italy. He was. sent to Anzio to operate another type of radar unit - 10 centimetre - and relieve a bomb -happy sergeant. He wastin a foxhole with a gopher gun 50 feet away, U.S. artillery behind them, a packer station 50 yards away and an ammunition dump and. a food dump near them; - . "it was crowded. Seven hundred guns were inter- spersed in the area. They went all night. Most of the fighting took place at night. It was too dangerous in the day." At the reunion in Calgary was a list of salt. water ships radar mechanics served on during the war. Sills served on thc Alcantara, Britanic, Duchess of Richmond and Mataroa, as well as travelling' in LCT's (Landing Craft Tank) and LS T's (Landing Ship Tank). A cloak of secrecy hung over radar work during the war and following. `'The secrecy was drilled into our heads. We didn't talk about it ourselves." Hopefully, those who served in radar units during the war can now share more of their stories and have them published together soon. to British unreadable image on the radar screen. However this would he of short duration. Later on many new devices were developed such as one. on our side, that was a beam mathematically figured out to tell our bombers when they were over the target and time to drop the bombs. Personally I like the calibre. of our radar people and enjoyed their companionship that carried right over into every street. This cama- raderie was still quite evident in our recent meeting in Calgary. Any radar mechanic who served during the war years could apply for their Air Ministry Certificate by writ- ing to the AFTA organization in Kingstonor the Reunion Committee in Calgary. Summer is here, students out looking for work BY JENNY w�ocu��i WAREHAM It's official! School is out and the summer is here. After 10 long months of essays, reports, attendance and exams, students are ready to do what students do hest; head to the beach and forget about work for another two months. In an ideal world, maybe. But lilt most. the end of thc school year brings about another obstacle that must be overcome; finding a summer job., Now that school is finished. students who have not already hegun.to look for work will he starting the job search process. . In order to promote student employment throughout the country, the Canada Employment Centre for Students celebrates its annual fitss-� 1 1 PHOTO BY DAVID SCOTT READY TO HIT THE STREET - This group of SPS Grade 7 students took to the street to ask local businesses questions as part of "Hire a Student Scavenger Hunt" in Seaforth on Monday. From left: Student Employment Officer (SEO) Jenny Wareham, Stephanie Giller, Tina McClure, Jasmine Foreman, Josh Horst, David Ludwig, Dean Wood, Chris Blake, Matt Smale, Joshua Dale, Tonya Riehl - SEO, Exeter. "Hire A Student Week" from June 24 to 28. During this national celebration, employ- ers arc encouraged to hire students on a daily, weekly, monthly, seasonal, casual or part-time basis. Each com- munity supports this cam- paign with its own unique promotional activity. orga- nized by local Student Employment Officers (SEOs). in an effort to con- tribute to the success of this nation-wide campaign, the SEOs of Huron County have organized "Hire A Student Scavenger Hunts" in each of the Seaforth, Exeter, Goderich, and Clinton areas. On Monday, June 24, the Seaforth community helped kick off this promotional CONTINUED on page 3 OPEN TO SERVE YOU N•w i UNd Quality Vehicle. Sal.. Dept Summer Hour. - Open Mun. to Thur.. 9.0010 1 `r) dM Fri till 600 Se1. & Sun. by appointment • Service D.p1. 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