Value of Merchant Navy
Heroes Remember
Value of Merchant Navy
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Transcript
Description
Mr. Downing was asked for his thoughts on the value of the contribution of the Merchant Marine during the Second World War.
Robert Downing
Mr. Downing was born in Leamington, Ontario on August 24, 1927. He did all his schooling there. His father, a Veteran of the First World War, owned and operated a factory in Leamington that manufactured crates and baskets for farmers. As a teenager, Robert Downing spent a lot of time working for his father in that factory. Mr. Downing had a younger brother and an older sister. Mr. Downing remembered learning about the war in Europe from the newsreels he would see when he went to the movies.
In 1944, just before he turned 17, he enlisted in the Merchant Marine. He was anxious to join the war effort, but was too young to sign up with the regular forces. He began his training in Prescott, Ontario where he learned to be a ship's engineer. A few weeks after that training, he was sent to Montreal to work aboard his first ship.
Meta Data
- Medium:
- Video
- Owner:
- Veterans Affairs Canada
- Duration:
- 01:43
- Person Interviewed:
- Robert Downing
- War, Conflict or Mission:
- Second World War
- Branch:
- Merchant Navy
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