Description
Mr. Sproule recalls a near dangerous case of mistaken identity in the jungle of Burma.
Frederick Howard Sproule
Mr. Sproule was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, on September 22, 1918. He first served as a cadet with the Seaforth Highlanders before joining the regular service. He switched to the air force as soon as he was able, first being accepted as a gunner, and then into pilot training. After serving as a flight instructor on Harvards, Mr Sproule was shipped to Great Britain where he trained on a Hurricane. Eventually, he piloted a Typhoon as a bomber in the Burma Campaign, helping to drive back the Japanese. His tour finished as the Japanese were completely driven out of Burma.
Transcript
That would be on like another little experience we had there, usually fly one day and off the next day as a flight leader, and some of the guys that weren't flying, we decided to go fishing down on the Ayeyarwady River, but not with fishing lines, with hand granades. So we go down with these hand granades, and the, we had a wing commander flying from group and he decided he wanted to go with us, a little short fellow, Wing Commander Lee. So we go down and we throw these granades in and the fish come belly up, and so you just go in and gather the fish. Also we had to swim and what not. But with the granades going off, we made so much noise that the armoury by this time, who had crossed the river and gone down. They heard all this noise behind them, they thought the Japanese had come in behind them and they sent a patrol back to see what was going on, just a bunch of RAF pilots. And were we glad we had a wing commander with us, he took the heat.
Meta Data
Mistaken Identity
Medium
Video
Owner
Veterans Affairs Canada
War, Conflict or Mission
Second World War
Location/Theatre
Burma
Campaign
Burma
Person Interviewed
Frederick Howard Sproule
Branch
Air Force
Units/Ship
42 Squadron
Military Rank
Supernumerary Flight Lieutenant
Occupation
Pilot
Duration
01:15