HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Seaforth News, 1943-02-04, Page 2TFUD SFAFORTU N ,+'WS,
Engagement Announced --
Mr. and Mrs. Charles Ego of Hants.
vllle, Ontario, announee the engage -
Mont of their daughter, Ethel Viiner-
va, to Chester Reuben Grigg, son of
Mr. and 1Vira, Reuben Grigg, Olnitou.
Tlie marriage will take .Place early
Febreary.'
Lost His Titre
Fal' twenty-oileyears Ex-\Var'den
N. W, Trewarlhu has Held the title of
being Hnron County's Youngest. War-
den but last week wizen Reeve lB, W.
Tueltey o .Exeter was elected 'l'a'den
it was learned that. at his age :of of
tkir:'ty.seven he was softie three Years
younger than N. W.. Trewartiia when
he ' was elected Warden In 1922,
Clinton News -Record,
Mrs, L. J. Cree, Clinton, —
Last week Clinton lost a life time
resident of the district in the death
of Mrs, Lockhart J. Cree, in her 05th
year. Mrs, Cree was a daughter of
the late Robi, Bruce and Margaret
Cunningham Bruce, being born and
raised in Hullett township. In 1901
she married Lockhart J. Cree. They
' spent their married life in -Clinton,
where Mr, Cree has delivered grocer-
ies for most of the stores. Mrs. Cree
was a Presbyterian in religion, al-
ways taking an active part in the
social welfare of the church. Death
came after a long and painful sick-
ness of some years, The survivors be-
sides her husband are two daughters,
(Elinphemia) Mrs, T. W. Morgan, Clin-
ton, and (Margaret) Mrs, M. L, Jac-
obs, of San Mateo, Cat, „ also four
grandchildren, and two sisters, Mrs.
Thos. Little, Londesboro, and Mrs.
John Freeman, Hullett. The funeral
was held on Friday to the Clinton
cemetery,
Late David Floody, Blyth —
The death took place of David
Floody at his residence, Dinsley st.,
Blyth, after an illness of some months
in his 80th year, Mr. Floody was born
in Hullett Township, the son of the
late Mr, and Mrs. Charles Floody,
When a young man lie entered the
carpentering trade, which he followed
until Ms health failed. He was man-
ager of Blyth Planing Mill, and an
outstanding workman at his trade,
He was a member of Blyth United
Church, having filled several offices
in the church. He is survived by his
wife, formerly Mattie Brogden of
Londesboro, and one son, Norman,
employed in a bank in Windsor. A
brother, Mr. Edward Floody, of Tor-
onto, died a few months ago.
Golden Wedding —
Mr, and Mrs, Oliver Clark quietly
observed their fiftieth wedding anni-
versary at their home, South street,
on Tuesday, January 19th. It was the
stormiest day of the winter, and they
recalled that their wedding took
place during the worst winter storm
of 1893. Mrs. Clark, the former Eliza-
beth Roberton, was born in Hullett
township, near Auburn, the daughter
of Mr, and Mrs. Robert Roberton,
and Mr. Clark is a native of Auburn,
son of Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Clark.
quite badly upset by the experienQe.
A- Wingham Advance -Times,
Sliver From German Tree
A novel souvenir, has been received
by Mr. .and Mrs. Anaou Pattison, of
Fergus, •frons their sou, Sgt.•L. Pat-
tison, wino is overseas with the Royal
Canadian Air Force. In a letter home
he enelosed,a snlall piece of a branch
of •a German tree. While their four -
engined Halifax bomber Was flying
low over Germany a piece of the tree
got caught in the wing and stayed
there, The "sliveit" is highly prized
by Mr. and Mrs. Pattison. — Ar.tlmr
Enterprise -News.
Kincardine's Oldest Resident.—
Henry Coleman, aged 09. founder
of Coleman Packing Company, Ltd.,
and Kincardine's oldest resident, died
following a long Illness, He started
the packing business in Kincardine
shortly after his arrival there in 1902,
When the business was sold to Dan-
iel Beeman 21 year's ago it was moved
to London, Mr, Coleman was horn in
Ludlow, Shropshire, England. and
came to Canada at the age of 11. He
settled in St. Marys, and lived some
years in Paisley before moving to
Kincardine.
Exeter Flier Killed Overseas
Ole. and Mrs. C. E. Zurbrigg, of
Exeter, have received official word
that their son, Sgt. Observer Franklin
Charles Zurbrigg, R,C,A.F,, has been
killed in action. He was in his 26th
year and was educated at Lucan pub-
lic and high schools and later at
London Normal. For two years he
taught in Denfield,
Fawm - Kempston —
First Presbyterian Church, at St.
Marys, was the setting for the mar-
riage of Rachael Kempston, daughter
of Mrs. Kempston and the late Mr,
Bert Kempston,` Mitchell, and Mr.
Lloyd Charles Fawm, younger son of
Mr. and Mrs, Edgar Fawm, Mitchell.
Rev. J. T. Strachan performed the
ceremony. The bride was lovely in a
street -length frock of teal blue wool
with black accessories and corsage of
Sweetheart roses. Mrs. Gordon Fawn.
St, Marys, was her matron of honor,
wearing a dress of turquoise blue
wool, black accessories and corsage
of roses. Mr. Gordon Fawn was his
brother's groomsman. The bridal
Party partook of a wedding dinner at
the Hotel London, London, and later
Mr, and Mrs. Fawn left on a motor
trip to Toronto and eastern points.
They will reside in Mitchell.
Engagement —
Mr, and Mrs. Sandy Elliott, Exeter,
They were married January 19th, announce the engagement of their
1893, at the home of the bride's par- daughter, Hazel Irene, RegN., to
eats, by the late Rev. Robert Hend- Pilot Offices' Howard Laurience
erson. After their marriage Mr. and Snider, son of Mrs. Snider, of Baden.
Mrs, Clark lived at Auburn for six- and the late Edward Snider, the mar -
teen years and then went west to riage to take place early in February.
Saskatoon, where Mr. Clark engaged
in building, being foreman in the Boys Raise $50.50
construction of seventy-five houses in
the space of three year's. Returning
from the West, they took up resid-
ence in Goderich in 1914 and bad Paced by Bob Gatenby, who scored
lived here since, Mr. Clark carried on four goals, the Mitchell Lions defeat -
building operations here and for ed the Seaforth Rovers in a juvenile
some years was employed with the gauze here last Thursday night by
Goderich Organ Co., but r'etir'ed 9-3. The proceeds of this game went
eleven years ago. Before his marriage to the Candaian Aid to Russia Fund
Mr. Clark spent some time in Mani- and altogether $50.50 was raised for
toba, and he recalls that he hewed this cause. Seaforth started strong in
out seven o reight thousand ties for the first period, getting two goals
the Canadian Pacific Railway, then without a reply from Mitchell. Don
under construetion, in the bush some MacLean and Lorne Dale were the
For the Russians
twenty miles east of Winnipeg. This
was in 1882, Mrs. Jas. McKenzie of
Toronto, then Miss Matilda Roberton,
was her sister's bridesmaid fifty
years ago, and Temple Clark, now of
Lucknow, was "best man" for his bro-
ther. Neither was able to be here for
the anniversary celebration. Mrs,
Clark has two other sisters, Mrs.
'Lapsley of Vancouver and Mrs. D. B.
Wiggins of town, and three brothers,
William and John Roberton of Au-
burn and Robert Roberton of Palmer-
ston, Mr, Clark has only one brother
living, Temple, already mentioned,
the two brothers being the only sur-
viving members of a family of eleven.
— Goderich Signal -Star.
Accepts Position at Hamilton —
Miss L. Aileen Underwood, daugh-
ter of Mr. and Mrs. G. N. Underwood
of Wingham, has accepted a position
at McMaster University, Hamilton,
and assumed her duties February lst,
Had Face Frozen —
snipers for the Rovers. Gatenby came
right back for Mitchell with two
quick goals to tie the game up up at
the end of the first period. Don Mac-
Lean again scored for Seaforth at the
start of the second, but from then on
Mitchell put on the pressure and
scored four goals. The scorers were
Pearson, Gatenby, Parrott and Mc -
Nairn. In the third Mitchell scored
three more and had the game pretty
well in hand. Pearson, McNah•u and
Gatenby were the scorers. The game
was a little rough in spots and five
Penalties were handed out by Referee
H. Hildebrand. Seaforth drew three
penalties and Mitchell two,
Lineups:
Mitchell — Goal, B. Chessell; de-
fence, Harrison, K. Chessell; centre,
Parrott; wings, Gaten by, Pearson;
alternates, Howes, Waithers, McNair!'
and E, Chessell.
Seaforth — Goal, Swan; defence,
Southgate, Hildebrand; centre, Bak-
er; wings, Praiser, Strong; alternates,
Eisler, McLean, Dale, Doig,
Mr. W. H. Fraser had anexperi-
ence last week that he will long re-
member, Mr. Fraser operates a farm
on the first line of Morris and when
the atorrn was going strong on. Tues-
day afternoon last week he started
to walk from his farm to his home on
the Diagonal Road, a distance of
about four miles. He had his fade
frozen and was very tired, During the
trip home he had to stop and rest
several times but for a man of his
years, 75, he must have summoned'
all his strength to tight that distance
thrbegh the storm, He was confined
Fred W. Brophey
Dies in Cleveland
imppy, ,peel' 1
WAR STAMP S 621#
o1pFyew" CROCO
T
�LADA'
Bank Has Closed
Exeter Branch
Last week end the Exeter branch
of the Bank of Montreal took over.,
the building and accounts of the,
branch of the Canadian Bank of Com
-
melte at Exeter. The change has
been made, as explainedin a letter
to patrons, due to war conditions.
Tlie Bank of Commerce opened its
office at Exeter in 1908 when the;
business of the Sovereign Bank was
taken over. Tlie building, erected in
1912, is larger than that of the Mont-
real branch, which was originally
erected by the Molson Bank. W. J.
Floyd, manager, will continue to use
the living quarters in the Montreal
building and his staff, R. R. King, G,
E. Hammer, Greta Harness, Helen
Morgan and Hazel Hern will be aug-
mented by the transfer there of S. B.
Otton from Georgetown, while Ada
S. Gaiser and Barbara Denney of the
present Commerce staff, will also
join, M. W. Telfer, the manager at
Crediton, will go to Parkhill, and
later Donald Size, Exeter manager,
and James Hambley, after routine
natters connected with the closing
have been completed, will be transfer-
red to branches not as yet designated:
Last surviving member of a pion-
eer Goderich family, Frederick Will-
iam Brophey, died at Cleveland on
Jan, 28 after a short illness. He was
in his 63rd year, Before joining the
Eastman Kodak Company in Cleve-
land 20 years ago, Mr. Brophey was
engaged in the photography businesa
f01' many y'ear's in Goderich, His
widow, formerly Isabel Seele, of Sea-
forth, and one daughter, survive. The
to his 'home for a few days and was funeral was held Monday at Goderich.
Seaforth Wins From
Goderich 8 to 3
Climaxed by 'a free-for-all in the
third period, a hard fought intermed-
iate A fixture at Goderich last Thurs-
day night sate the hapless Goderich
Sky Harbor club drop their ninth
straight game 8-3 to Seaforth. Tem-
pers flared when Don MacKay, who
came out of retirement to bolster the
Goderich defence, butted with "Pop"
Hubert, veteran Seaforth stalwart.
Players of both teams joined in the
fun and sligged it out until Referee
Butch Murney got things under con-
trol. Big gun in the Seaforth attack
was Farmer McFadden who dented
the twine behind Martin in the Gode-
rich nets four times. Other Seaforth
marksmen were Huras and Harris
who each counted twice.
Lineups:
Goderich — Goal, Martin; defence,
Wright, Tracey; centre, Yates; wings,
Murphy, Ellsmere; alters., Sierolow-
ski, Riley, Westbrook. Rutherford,
MacKay, Kyle.
Seaforth — Goal, Messenger, de-
fence, Peck and Hubert; centre, Mc-
Fadden; wings, Thompson. Carnegie;
alterns., Goetler, Nicholson, Huras,
Harris.
Referee — B. Murney, Goderich,
Want' and For Sale Ads, 1 week 25c
How P. 0. Jenner
Won George Medal
(The New -Year's honor est an-
nounced the. award of the George
Medal, British decoration for valor,
preceded only by the Victoria anti'
George Crosses, to Pilot Officer Rao
ulder. Jenner, of Ottawa, young,
dark-haired member of the R.C.A,F,
who flew with a British ''Pathfinder"
squadron, Distinguished from the
Victoria Cross in that it need not be
won in the presence of the enemy,
the George Medal hatrbeen won only
once before by a member of the
RCAF. He is Sergt T. B. Miller; of
Waubaushene, Ont„ now a prisoner
of war in Germany. In the following
article P.O, Jenner tells of the night
on which he won his award),
.(By P.O. R.deF. Jenner, G.M.)
If anybody had told me that night
of September 10, as we waited by
our big Stirling to take off for Dus-
seldorf, the things which were ahead
of us, I'd frankly have refused to
believe then. It would have been in-
credible to me that any skipper in
the world could bring 'a Stirling all
that distance home on only two en-
gines, and with one of those two cut-
ting out spasmodically. I'd have dis-
believed anybody who claimed to
have done 3S5 miles an hour in a
dive to get out of searchlight coning,.
when the aircraft was one of the
huge four -engine ones. And certain-
ly I couldnn't have visualized myself
going twice into a burning aircraft,
particularly when two others were
killed in their effort to rescue the
rear gunner.
But the things all happened and in
my opinion they happened because of
the perfect co-ordination which has
been developed in aircrews, and par-
ticularly the outstanding team spirit
which has been developed in the
bomber squadrons. It just never oc-
curred to any of us to do anything
but what we did.
I was wireless operator, air gun-
ner in a Stirling squadron of the
RAF, one of the many Canadian boys
from the British Commonwealth Air
Training Plan posted to British
squadrons. This trip to Dusseldorf
was my nineteenth operation. We
rather expected a quiet trip this time
because it our previous trip, to
Frankfurt, we had tangled with a
night fighter which our rear gunner
had shot down, and we weren't look-
ing for lightning to strike twice in
the same place.
It was a quiet trip on the way to
the target but we could tell, before
we got there, that it wasn't going to
be quiet very long. Jerry, we could
see, was ready for us. The long fin-
gers of the searchlights were terrific.
They were playing all over the sky.
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 1943
There must have been at least Ave strictly up to the navigator, PO Set -
hundred of them hi actien. ( man, an English lad.
We went iii weaving, doing .our IIe laid out our course between
best to dodge them and did get in the best knower defences of the
and drop our flares and incendiaries Dutch coast and we started on it,
without any trouble. The skipper, hoping that look would be with us.
FP Paddy. Trench, an Irishman, was,With the engines the way they
doing, a grand job of flying. After were the aircraft was setting up a
dropping the flares and incendiaries teriffic vibration, justlike when you
we went in again to take photo-
graphs, and this time they really got
us, It seemed like all the searchlights
in Dusseldorf had coned us and we
knew that it wouldn't be long until
the flak was coming up' to plaster
us. Oft to starboard we could see a
dark spot and Trench headed for
that, and as soon as we got there he
put the aircraft into a vertical dive.
The rest of us just hung on.
1 wasn't up where I could see the to 150 feet and it was probing up
instruments, of course, but Trench above where we were.
try out an outboard motor on All
empty apple' barrel; I was sure the
wings would fall off at any time.
But in spite of all this Paddy, our
skippor,'kept her flying. He got the
D.S.O. for; the job he did that night ,
and: it was certainly a well deserved
one,
When we bit the Dutch coast, one
lone searchlight started to reach for
us, but by this time we had dropped
and the second pilot said later that
we reached 355 miles an hour on the.
clock. Certainly welost an awful lot
of altitude.
When we levelled off and started
to climb again we were out of the
cone and thought we had foxed the
Jerries. But we congratulated our-
selves • too soon because just as we
started to climb we were coned again
and this time the anti-aircraft bat-
teries really had us where they
wanted us. The flak was coming up
in buckets and the first thing that
happened was that our main petrol
tank on the starboard side was hit
and the petrol started to seep out
into the fuselage.
The next thing our port inner en-
gine was hit. The prop flew loose and
came smashing back on the mid -tur-
ret where I was stationed. That, on
an average trip should have been
enough, but there was 'more to come.
We'd just recovered from that when
the port outer engine got it. And it
really was hit, for the whole engine
dropped loose from the frame, and
we were left with just the two star-
board engines operating. Even that
wasn't too happy, for the starboard
inner had developed what the engin-
eer called airlocks. It kept cutting in
and out. The engineer was working
like road, but it certainly looked as
though we were for it.
The skipper, when he saw the sit-
uation, ordered us to bail out but
right then Dusseldorf didn't look like
a healthy spot to bail out over so we
sold the skipper with the idea' of
staying with the kite as long as he
could keep it dying. He ordered us
to jettison everything we could, so,
to make sure we wouldn't have to
bail out, the first thing we all tossed
out was our parachute. Then the
front and mid-upper guns went and
everything else that was loose in the
kite. We kept the rear guns so that
if anybody carne up behind us we
could do something about it and not
be entirely "sitting birds."
The engineer was doing an amaz-
ing job, switching from tank to tank.
+„r+ that the starboard main
tank had been holed didn't make his
job any easier and by this time the
whole fuselage was just loaded with
petrol. The fumes were terrific but
we were all too excited to be sick.
Continuing to jettison, we had
thrown ammunition, oxygen bottles
and any armor plate we could pry
loose overboard, hoping that we
might get a little altitude. The wire-
less had gone unserviceable in all the
excitement and our return back to
base, if we were to get back, was
a
•
Pilot Officer Raoul de0', Jenner, young Ottawa lad who is tate second member of the Royal Canadian Air Force
to be awarded the George Medal. Pilot Officer Jenner has written the almost incredible story of his experience on
one operation against the enemy and it was the climax of of this experience which brought hint tete award which,
as a decoration for valor, is preceded only by the Victoria Cross and the George Cross.
In any event we got through and
were soon out to sea. Speed. of the
aircraft had slowed down to not more
than 140 miles an hour.To us it
seemed to be just, standing still. How
we maintained flying speed I'll never
know. I thought we were going to
stall at any time. But we did have an
engineer who was a wizard and a
skipper' who could keep anything
flying that was capable of being air-
borne and somehow or other they
got us across the channel and over
the coast_ of England.
Then new trouble developed. Our
wireless, as mentioned before, was
unserviceable and we were unable to
send out recognition signals or to
contact our base. The next thing we
knew British searchlights started
looking for us, and we'd certainly
have been in trouble if they had
started shooting at us for we could
not have taken any evasive action—
just had to fly straight and level.
We had managed to get about a
thousand feet altitude by this time
so we fired our colors of the day
with Verey lights. That got us past
the British defences okay.
Just about this time the starboard
inner engine finally cluit.T hat prov-
ed too much even for our flight en-
gineer and there was nothing to do
but land. So down we came and the
skipper picked out a field.
Belly landings, even under the
most favorable circumstances are no
picnic, but with us the circumstances
were still far from favorable. The
skipper dropped the Baps, but only
the starboard one came down. That
threw us off level once more, but
somehow or other, just as we hit,
Trench managed to get her levelled
off again and we came crashing in.
We slid for about 25 feet and then
the aircraft came to rest with its
back broken. It was bent almost into
the shape of a boomerang.
On the crash the starboard inner
engine ripped out and dropped to the
ground, where it lay, burning, right
beside the break. With the fuselage
filled with petrol fumes a real fire
and an explosion was inevitable. I
was first out, as I was stationed right
beside the break, so I yelled to ev-
erybody to get out just as quickly as
they could. Everybody got out with
the exception of the rear gunner.
When he didn't show up I started
back in with the engineer, Sgt. Spud
Mallett, an English lad and the bomb
aimer, Sgt. Fred Thorpe of London,
England. They went in through the
escape hatch. I climbed in through
the break in the fuselage. We had
just got in, and started towards the
rear gunner when there was a huge
tongue of blue flame ran through,
under my legs. Then the explosion
came.
Mallett and Thorpe were killed in-
stantly. For some reason L was blown
right out of the aircraft and landed
on my feet about twenty yards away
from it. I was dazed I guess, but I
wasn't hurt and didn't feel any pain,
so I started back in after the rear
gunner, PO Bill Glendenning, of
Scotland.
Somehow I got through to the
rear turret. Glendenning had been
trapped in there by pieces of his
harness which had caught on broken
'struts and spars. His flying clothes
were on fire but I was able to jerk
him loose and carry him out. I ripped .
off as many of his clothes as I could
and managed to beat out the rest of
the flames but not until he had been
pretty badly burned.
Strangely enough I came through
it without even getting singed. Glen-
denning was rushed to hospital and
has made a remarkable recovery, al
though I do not think he will ever
be able to fly again.
(Editor's Note—Pilot Officer Jen-
ner, following this experience was
found unfit for further operational.
trying by a medical board and is now
serving as an instructor for other air
.gunners. He is the son of Mr. and
Mrs. A. E. Jenner who now live at
250 O'Connor St„ Ottawa. Born in
Montreal he lived for a time, also in
,Toronto, at Rosedale Heights Drive.
Enlisting in Ottawa, in.1040, he re-
ceived his training at No. 1 Manning
Depot, Toronto, No, 1 ITS, Toronto,
the Montreal Wireless School and
No 1 Bombing and Gunnery School,
Jarvis, Ont.)
•