Montague Temple was born in Victoria, British Columbia in 1907, served overseas during World War Two, and died in Vancouver in 1989. The collection consists of one letter written overseas in 1944.
Title
WWII
These collections contains all materials relating to Canadian from 1939 to 1945. Some individual collections may contain materials beyond this time frame. External links in collection descriptions are to casualty and burial information at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
Archie Thompson had worked on the Frank and Annie Fuller family farm in Quebec prior to the war. The letters were addressed to Donald Fuller, their son. Following his return from the war Archie Thompson moved to Montreal. The collection consists of four letters.
[The materials in this collection are currently being processed and uploaded. Some items may be incomplete or inaccessible at this time.]
This collection is comprised of letters of thanks sent to the Ladies Aid of Transcona United Church in 1944 and 1945 by Canadian service personnel, to thank them for the Christmas parcels provided by the Church. The letters represent recipients from across Canada and overseas.
The correspondents in the collection are:
Blaikie, R.N. no date
Brewster, Leslie October 22, 1944
Brewster, Murray no date
Chudley, Hugh January 28, 1945
Cormack, J.W. December 31, 1944
Cowan, Hugh January 3, 1945
Duncan, J.M. January 7, 1945
Esselmont, George December 7, 1944
Esselmont, Mrs. P. February 28, 1945
Finch, Elden December 22, 1945
Henderson, Jack January 3, 1945
Henderson, Ralph November 22, 1944
Heron, Ken December 27, 1944
Hinds, Sandy no date
Isbell, Gordon January 14, 1945
Johnston, Jim November 27, 1944
Johnston, William no date
Lamb, Charles January 11, 1945
Layman, Russell January 7, 1945
Lidgate, Eileen November 22, 1944
Matthew, Charlie December 15, 1944
Maxwell, Jim no date
McLeod, Doug November 22, 1944
Molter, John February 14, 1945
Moore, Alex December 30, 1944
Pollard, Norman November 20, 1944
Robertson, Jennie December 23, 1944
Sward, Arnott March 2, 1945
Sward, E.D. January 4, 1945
Taylor, George January 3, 1945
Thomson, David December 24, 1944
Thomson, Frank December 3, 1944
Thorburn, Martha no date
Warner, Fred January 1, 1945
Warner, R. no date
Wood, Rodney no date
[Editor note: At the time of the letters, the church was known as Transcona United Church – the word Memorial was added to the Church name at a later date. Transcona was that time a separate town and not yet a part of Winnipeg.]
Leading Aircraftwoman Jean Isabel Turner was born in Springside, Saskatchewan, on November 27, 1920, to parents Harold Corbett and Flora Marjorie (née Smith) Turner.
Turner enlisted with the Royal Canadian Air Force (Women’s Division) in 1942, initially training at No. 7 Manning Depot in Rockcliffe, Ontario. In 1943-44 she was posted at R.C.A.F. Station Mont-Joli, Québec, and later in 1945 at the No. 6 Operational Training Unit in Comox, British Columbia.
Content notes:
Letters were written by Turner to her friend Eira Williams in Regina, Saskatchewan, between 1942-1945. Other letters written to Eira Williams can be found in the CLIP Collections of Wren Margaret Helen Chesney, Cpl. Eunice Frances Davies, and P/O Lloyd Wesley Cuming.
External links:
L.A.W. Jean Turner’s service record (Serv/Reg# W304895) is not publicly available from Library and Archives Canada at this time.
Geoffrey William Francis Turpin was born in Montreal in 1916. In 1939 he joined the Victoria Rifles of Canada and in 1940 transferred to the Royal Montreal Regiment. He was sent to France in July, 1944 and returned to Canada in January, 1945. He died in Toronto in 1996. The collection consists of more than forty letters and more than forty photographs representing his time in service.
Ernest Albert Underwood was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba in 1915. Ernest along with his brother, Leslie, enlisted in Victoria in 1939 with the 3rd LAA Battery, RCA. They arrived in England in 1941 and were recognized as members of the first Canadian gun crew to destroy an enemy aircraft (Junkers 88) on August 6/7 1941. Both brothers participated in the Dieppe Raid in August of 1942. Ernest was wounded on the beach and became a Prisoner of War. He was released at the end of hostilities and returned home safely to Victoria, British Columbia in 1945. The collection consists of numerous letters, pictures and miscellaneous documents.
Austin Newton Van Allen was born in Seattle, Washington, USA in 1919. He grew up in Alberta and enlisted with the RCAF in the fall of 1940. Van Allen flew with the 116th Squadron and died on September 9, 1941. The collection consists of more than twenty letters and several photographs.
Edward (Ted) Gerrard Vaughan, DFC, was a Pilot Officer with the RCAF. After training in Canada and Scotland Vaughan was posted to the 408 Squadron in January, 1944. The 408 was known as the Goose Sqaudron as their emblem was the Canada Goose. Vaughan successfully flew thirty six missions, and was awarded the Distinquished Flying Cross in 1944. The collection currently consists of personal letters, official correspondence, photographs, and other miscellaneous items.
James Francis Watson was born in June, 1924. He enlisted in November, 1942 in Fort William, Ontario. Watson served with the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders of Canada, R.C.I.C. until his death in France on August 4, 1944. The collection currently consists of sixteen letters, clippings, and several photographs.
External links:
Lance Corporal James Francis Watson’s service record (Serv/Reg# H195561) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.
Burial information is available at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
A memorial page honouring Watson can be visited online at the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.
William Douglas Watson was born in 1924 and resided in Grand Valley, Ontario. He enlisted in the R.C.A.F. in 1943 and graduated as a Navigator in December, 1943. He was killed on July 23, 1944 along with all of his crew while practicing night flying in a Wellington bomber over Cardigan Bay in Wales. The collection consists of twenty seven letters written home to his parents in 1944.
External links:
Flying Officer William Douglas Watson’s service record (Serv/Reg# J39281) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.
Burial information is available at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
A memorial page honouring Watson can be visited online at the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.
Thomas Orval Wilson was born in Craik, Saskatchewan in 1923 and raised in Regina, one of a family of eight brothers. He enlisted with the R.C.A.F. in 1941, training in Canada before being posted overseas in 1943. Warrant Officer Thomas Orval Wilson was shot down and killed on his first mission, February 20, 1944. The collection consists of more than forty letters, as well as numerous photographs and miscellaneous documents.
External links:
Warrant Officer Thomas Orval Wilson’s service record (Serv/Reg# R155694) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.
Burial information is available at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
A memorial page honouring Wilson can be visited online at the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.
Stanley Winfield was a member of the Allied Control Commission (Disarmament) assigned to Germany in the late spring of 1945. The collection consists of the notes for the training course for personnel assigned to the Commission, as well as a short memoir written in the summer of 1945 while in Germany detailing his experiences as part of the Commission.
Pilot Officer Ernest Maurice Witt was born in Portage la Prairie, Manitoba, on October 22, 1909, to parents William Ernest Witt and Helen Maria McKenzie Witt (née Ellis). A graduate of the University of Manitoba, Witt studied education at the University of British Columbia. He worked as a high school teacher in Lake Cowichan. Married in 1938 to Helen May Newton, they had one child, Ernest Brian Witt, born in November 1940.
Witt enlisted with the Royal Canadian Air Force in August 1941 in Vancouver, B.C. Trained first as a navigator and then bomb aimer, Witt spent several months in late 1942 with R.C.A.F. No. 428 Squadron, before joining R.C.A.F. No. 405, in January 1943.
On July 14, 1943, Witt was flying a night mission to Aachen, Germany, when his Halifax II aircraft HR905 went missing. It was later determined that he had been killed when his plane crashed at Asten, Holland. Witt was buried in the Jonkerbos War Cemetery, Nijmegen, Netherlands.
Also killed were R.C.A.F. No. 405 Sqdn. members: F/L Roy Gordon Morrison, DFC; F/O George Glover McGladrey, DFC; P/O Thomas Henry Navin Emerson, DFM; and F/S Douglas Glenn Bebensee, DFM, as well as Royal Air Force member S/L Denzil Lloyd.Wolfe (Wolfe was Canadian but enlisted in England with the R.A.F.). Two other crew members, R.C.A.F. F/L D.M. Clarke, and R.A.F. F/L D.J. Smith (New Zealand) survived and were taken prisoner.
Collection contents:
The collection’s letters were written by Witt to his wife and parents between February and June 1943.
External links:
P/O Ernest Maurice Witt’s service record (Serv/Reg# J17710) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.
Burial information is available at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
A memorial page honouring Witt can be visited online at the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.
Links to records of aircrew killed with Witt on July 14, 1943:
R.C.A.F. F/S Douglas Glenn Bebensee, DFM, service record (Serv/Reg# R68061)
R.C.A.F. P/O Thomas Henry Navin Emerson, DFM, service record (Serv/Reg# J18062)
R.C.A.F. F/O George Glover McGladrey, DFC, service record (Serv/Reg# J6843)
R.C.A.F. F/L Roy Gordon Morrison, DFC, service record (Serv/Reg# J9764)
R.A.F. S/L Denzil Lloyd Wolfe, DFC, (Serv/Reg# 39805) burial information at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, and memorial page at the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.
Joseph Thomas Wright was born in Toronto in 1907. He served overseas in Africa and Europe during the war and then returned to Canada at the end of the war. The collection consists of one letter written to his sister Bea from Italy in September, 1944.
