HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1984-06-06, Page 1!7Y
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SEAFORTH, ONTARIO, WEDNESD4Y,• JUNE 6, 1084 — 20 PAGES
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VIVID MEMORIES—George and Jane Case
are In France, participating In the 40th
anniversary of D-day. George drove a
Sherman tank, similar to the one In the photo
he Is showing hie wife. (Waaslnk photo)
Sailors have rough weather
Three local trans-Atlantic sailors, who
left Halifax for Gibraltar last Thursday, are
sailing rain and fog -- the weather is rough.
Ken Campbell, Seaforth, Harry Whale and
Jack Alderslie of Hanover plan to make the
trip in a 40 foot sloop in three weeks.
Contact with the sloop, "September
Song", has been made by Ernie Williams, a
ham radio operator in Seaforth. Since the
three men began their voyage, they have
kept in touch with area ham operators,
sometimes twice a day. Others who have
made contact with the September Song are
Bill Cruikshank, VE3 NX of Wingham and
ian Harris, VE3 MAE. of Hanover.
The call letters of the sloop are VEO MJS.
Mr. Williams (VE3 BPO) talked to Mr.
Campbell and his sailing partners for about
five minutes each time radio contact is
made, On two occasions, interference and
noise prevented either party from com-
municating.
"On the first clay, Jack said they were
having a rip roaring sail." said Mr,
Wiliiargs. "They said the weather has been
extremely rough, and when 1 talked to Ken
today, (Monday), it sounded as if it was the
roughest yet. But It so nds as though they
are enjoying the trip. bu they may be tired
of being wet all the ti
LOG BEIM PT
The following are excerpts of a log being
kept by Mr. Williams.
JUNE 1, 7 p.m. -- 70 miles east of Sable
Island with 28 knot winds and averaging
seven knots. Left Halifax harbor at 4 .m.,
May 31. Weather was rainy and windy.
JUNE 2, 8 a.m. -• 300 miles east of
Halifax. Still making about 61/2 knots in very
heavy fog with sun trying to shine through.
JUNE 3. 8 a,m. •- 450 miles east of
Halifax. Lots of wind arid fog, rain and
waves.
JUNE 3. 7 p.m. -- 516 miles out of
Halifax. The wind died down during the day
so were able to get themselves and boat
dried out. Had a much more comfortable
day, UNE 4, 8 a.m. -- 605 miles out of Halifax.
Sailing in a gale with weather extremely
rough. The boat and all aboard are wet
again. Still making about seven knots.
Mr. Williams hag agreed to tape record
future conversations he will have with the
crew of September Song. Expositor report-
ers hope to interview Mr. Campbell for a
progress report, later this week.
i:caI war veteran
remembers D-Da'y
He's relived the D-day landing on the
beaches of Normandy many times since that
fateful day, June 6, 1944. George Case of
Seaforth will again remember D-day when
he along with thousands of Canadian, British(
and American World War 11 veterans
celebrate the 40th anniversary of the
liberation of France.
A young mttn of 20 when the war broke
out, Mr. Case was 24 years of age when he
and his tank regiment buddies in the
Sherbrooke Fusiliers of Quebec, drove tfieir
15 Sherman tanks off their landing craft into
four feet of water and onto the French
beach.
-He remembers D-day well, but keeps most
of his memories to himself. "D-day was
postponed one day on account of the
weather. It was fairly rough when we landed
but 1 don't recall anyone being seasick. We
knew what was happening, but not very far
ahead of time. I don't think the Germans
really knew we were coming. Otherwise
they'd have been ready for us. And they
weren't."
Mr. Case says it doesn't seem 40 years
since D-day. "I'd hate to feel I'm getting
that old."
Like other young Canadian lads, he joined
the army for adventure. And given all the
circumstances, he'd do it all over again,
given the chance. In a sense, George and his
wife Jane are doing it over again. The couple
left for England last Friday -for a 17 day tour
of England, France, Belgium, and Holland.
They will be retracing the route the
Sherbrooke Fusilier Reglmeat took when the
latter three countries Were liberated.
If the reception df the French is anything
like seven years ago when Mr. and Mrs.
Case visited France, it will be super. "There
were about 20 of us and the French couldn't
do enough for us. And the beach was
lovely," he says.
FIRST DAY WAS QUIET
=Back in 1944, the beaches of Normandy
were' not a pretty site. Buy'Mr. Case says it
wasn't as bad as some would think. He was
in the second wave of. attacking forces,
landing at 11 a.m., after sailing all night
"tem England,, long after the first soldiers
had landed.
"We didn't see much action the first day.
The second day was our day. We lost a lot of
tanks and men. Out of 120 tanks, we lost
about 30. There were German prisoners
when we landed and the coast was pounded
up by ,the navy.
"On the second day, we got about five
miles inland and were in the general area for
about two months. We were in one spot for
one month. -Out tanks weren't near the size
of the German's. Our Sherman tanks
weighed 32 ton.
"We got ambushed and had to pull back,
as did the infantry. 1 was lucky 1 got
back --anybody was.
Lucky_tomake it through the war, Mr.
Case was even luckier to survive day .two of
D-day. It was the day he lost the first of four
Bridges are tested
• BY WILMA OKE
Weight load limits for some of the larger
bridges in Tuckersmith Township have been
tested and only one is• giving cause for
immediate concern.
Bridge 14 known as Strykers bridge at
sideroad. 30-31 concession 1-2, H.R.S. •is
showing some deterioration and is to be
evaluated by the engineering firm of B.M.
Ross and Associates of Goderich as to What
repairs might have to be made. The bridge
carries a 10 tonne weight ' load limit.
Other bridges tested with no changes.
necessary were bride no. 3 at lot 1,
concession 10-11, retains a 10 tonne limit;
bridge ho. 6 (Plumbs) between concession 11
and 12, H.R.S., retains an 11 tonne limit;
bridge no. 11 (McLeans), sideroad 20-21.
concession 3, H.R.S. limit 8 tonnes,
Road superintendent Allan Nicholson
reported on bridge no. 13 (Flewitt) where
repairs include raising the abutment and
putting nn a new deck will be carried out this
summer.
NEW SIDEWALK
In Epmondville Council decided to contin-
ue adding new sidewalk this summer. New
sidewalk will be constructed for two blocks,
from Victoria Street north, on County Road
12.
Mr. Nicholson said a ministry of trans•
pnrtation official said at the present time no
tanks he drove to Germany. Three of the
tanks didn't make it. Despite losing the
tanks, none of the five crew in his tank were
killed.
SMALL SOUVENIR
After being hit the first time, the tank
crew immediately abandoned the tank and
ran for cover. While running, a grenade flew
past Mr. Case and exploded. He still has a
small piece of shrapnel in his arm to prove it.
It's the only souvenir he brought back from
the war,
"Of the three tanks we lost, two hit mines
which blew off the tracks and put holes in the
motors and the third was hit by a bazooka.
The bazooka burned its way through the tank
and went right through the back of the tank
where the gas tank was located. It burned.
The hardest battles were fought in France,
says Mr, Case. He didn't see much action in
Belgium, "but Holland was pretty bad. We
were in Nijmegen most of the winter.
"The little Hollanders were starving. We
sometimes ,even gaga the kids some of our
meals."
A HOLIDAY
Though Mr. Case doesn't admit, he didn't
think he would make it home. "He thought
he would never be back," says his wife Jane,
During the D-day celebrations, the Cases
will be visiting cemeteries of Canadians who
died in action. "Lt's a holiday for us," says
Mrs. Case. "But the veterans will be
remembering and fighting all the battles
over again.
money is available for the construction of the
new public works shed the township wishes
to build. He was advised to have the plans of
She building finalized for the time When the
money is available.
Mr. Nicholson said he and his staff
checked the Hensall Road from Hensall to its
dump site and found it much improved with
most of the.litter picked up. However there
was Some in the ditche'k which they picked
up. The garbage pick-up man has assured
Mr. Nicholson he will•attempt to contain the
gart3rge on his truck enroute to the dump
site.
Council agreed to pay Hensall's request of
$2500 for the Tuckersmith residents who use
the Hensall Arena and Community Centre.
The request from Clinton Public Hospital
for a grant was set aside for the next meeting
of couricil,
Passed for payment were the following
accounts: Day Care at Vanastra 57,097,17:
Special day care at Vanastra. 54,290.69;
Vanastra recreation centre, 519,233.54;
toads, 520,500,74; and administration,
559,039.92 for a total of $110,162,06.
Under a Canada make-work grant. three
employees will be hired for the recreation
centre.
The meeting was adjourned a1 1:00 a.m.
Wednesday when council went into commit-
tee of the whole.
Local girl wins contest
A 15•vear-old Tuckersmith Township
girls' tale about an elderly man moved to
tears by a discarded Remembrance Day
poppy has won a national essay contest
sponsored by the Royal Canadian Legion.
Bonnie Turner of RR4, Seaforth, won the
cross-country competition with her essay on
the symbolic meaning of the poppy.
Called a very brilliant student by her
English teacher. she is a grade 10 student at
Brgen ball
tourfi6ment won by
Caledonia team / All
Central Huron Secondary School in Clinton.
She writes for the school's paper the
Chronicle of which her brother, Ban -y is a
co-editor.
In recognition of her achievement winning
the senior division of the dominion competi-
tion that involved over 1800 Legion branches
across Canada, she has been invited to
participate in the Remembrance Day core•
monies next Nov. II in Ottawa.
Raising triplets has several advantages
When Wayne and Esther Cantelon of
RR4, Seaforth became parents for the
second time almost three years ago. they
.experienced something that only happens
once every 10.000 births • they became the
parents of triplets.
"There seems to be a special interest in
multiple births; it's kind of a mystery. When
they were tiny babies. the triplets were the
main attraction around here," says Mrs.
Cantelon .
Ryan, Scott and Tim, who will turn three
this month. were all big and healthy babies.
After they were born, their parents were
excited and relieved since the chances for
problems increase for multiple births. But,
the initial reaction was that of shock.
"We'd thought that we might have twins
but having triplets doesn't really go through
your mind," says Mrs. Cantelon.
When the triplets were infants, their
schedule` dictated the Cantelon household
and adjustments had to be made. Both
Wayne and Esther got up once a night to
feed them and divided the work of looking
after them. As well, both grandmothers,
who live nearby, helped out. Once the
adjustments were made, Mrs. Cantelon says
the family had no trouble coping with
triplets.
NOT BUSIER
"People always ask. 'How do you
manage?' but I think, anybody put in the
same situation could do it, I don think I'm
any busier than a parent with four children
of different ages.
Having their first child. Andy, who will
soon be five, helped prepare the Cantelons
far triplets; Although some parents of
triplets have problems with siblings adjust•
Ing to the attention paid to triplets. the
Cantelotls didn't.
••Andy was no trouble He was quite
excited about having triplets; he didn't know
there was anything unusual about it," she
says.
Though she's just been through a difficult
stage when the triplets were. two -years -old
and on the go. Mrs. Cantelon says there are
many advantages to having triplets.
GROW TOG_F.t'HH-R
"In some ways, it's easier to have them all
at the same stage. They don't have different
needs at the same time and you can watch
them grow and develop together,"
Since they're learning the same things at
the same time, the triplets often learn faster
and seem to teach each other. Recently, the
triplets were toilet -trained as a team.
h wasn't that bad. it"was a group effort
and seemed to come a lot faster. They'll all
go into the bathroom,together, one will lift
the seat and another will flush the toilet.
Learning to talk and learning to take turns
also seemed to come faster • "With one at a
time, children aren't so verbal but it's really
fun just listening too the triplets talking
together. You get' more of an idea of how
their little minds work," she says.
And, of course. the Cantelon boys always
have a playmate. Because the triplets are the
same size, their parents often let them work
out their differences on their own.
Because of their triplets, the Cantelons
have gotten involved in the Stratford and
District Parents of Twins and Triplets Club,
a social and information grow which
organizes family activities once a month.
They have a guest Speaker two �r three
times a year. -
At a recent convention in ''Ottawa of the
TRIPLETS/ ON PAGE TIjI'REE
Confirmation held in
Dublin for St. Colu iban
+rid Dublin students / A4, 5
Pork farmers promised
stabilization payment
/ A3
Thompson puppy will
lead the blind / A8
Brownies fly -up
to Guides / A 19
THREE-OF-A-KINb—Andy Cantelon, 4,
sits with his 2 -year-old triplet brothers,
Scott, Ryan and Tim. (Hundertmark photo)
INDEX
Births /A6
Brussels /A14
Classified /A16, 17
Community Calendar /A3
Dublin /A4, 5
Entertainment /A20
Family /A6, 7
Farm /A15, 18
Hensel' /Al2
Kids /A8, 9
Legion /A7
Londesboro /A19
Obituaries /A6, 7
People /A6
Sports /A10, 11
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