Home to Canada in 1943

Heroes Remember

Home to Canada in 1943

Transcript

There were several of us decorated pilots that arrived home at the same time and we, we all got back in Ottawa at the same time after our..., and we were sitting around there wondering what they were going to do with us next. But we got orders to report to group captain so-and-so. I think there was six of us, and we all had DFCs, perhaps a couple of them had DSO’s or something like that, and he said, “Well now, you fellas, I’m going to have to send you out on a Lecture Tour. We had Buzz Beurling on a Lecture Tour and Buzz kind of upset the apple cart in training command." Now Buzz was, you know, God he had fourteen, fifteen medals and shot down, I don’t know how many, twenty five or thirty airplanes, and here we were just, way down the bottom of the pile, you might say. He said, this, he, he went around the Lecture Tour and he, some kid would get up and ask, “Mr. Beurling, do you think we should be studying air frames, or air engines,” which was part of the curricula at the elementary flying school, and Beurling goes, “Nah, you don’t need that stuff. Just, just learn to fly." Of course the poor instructor over in the corner he pretty near had a fit. And that went on, he just created havoc right through training command. And here us guys, with not a quarter of the airplanes shot down that he had, we were supposed to go around and try to correct all this. Well we tried, but I don’t think we succeeded. Interviewer: So the duties you’d have would be lecturing and public relations. Yes, after I did that, I was sent to a recruiting centre in Halifax and I stayed there several months. That was great because, you know I was only seventy miles from home. I could sneak home on the old night train occasionally. Interviewer: What did you think of Halifax during that time? I mean, it must have changed a lot with the War. Oh my God, yes. Well, like over in England, one of the, one of the wonderful things about England was the lovely old family pubs in every town and village and in London, in particular. You go down in the evening and you sit around, you have a few pints of beer and you talk. It was just, you know, just great. Down in Halifax, there wasn’t any, so you got a bottle and you went somewhere and you got yourself boiled up. It just wasn’t the same, wasn’t the same old friendly spirit. And in Halifax, it was just so packed, jammed. If you wanted to go down to a restaurant, you had to line up. There wasn’t a restaurant in the city you didn’t have to line up, you know, for maybe half an hour sometimes to get into them. I wasn’t too happy about living in war-time Halifax. No, they sure took a pasting, you know, in many ways, you know, the terrible crowding, and, but I liked the English style. Interviewer: Much better. Yeah.

Description

Mr. Chisholm returned to Canada in May, 1943. He eventually found himself in Ottawa, unsure of what his future duties entailed.

William Lawrence (Red) Chisholm

Mr. Chisholm’s father was a station agent in Berwick, Nova Scotia with the Dominion Atlantic Railway. He moved his family to the station in Windsor, Nova Scotia and then later left the railroad and bought a store in Kentville, Nova Scotia. Mr. Chisholm completed his education in the Kentville school system. He worked briefly with his father after graduation from high school then went to work as a brakeman for the Dominion Atlantic Railway. After enlisting in the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1940, he took his initial training in Toronto. He was then one of about 500 sent to the first class at British Air Training Program Training School in Regina for a period of two months. After completing his training he moved to a Flying School in London, Ontario. Mr. Chisholm went on to become an ace pilot and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC), with bar.

Meta Data

Medium:: Video
Owner:: Veterans Affairs Canada
Duration:: 03:27
Person Interviewed:: William Lawrence (Red) Chisholm
War, Conflict or Mission:: Second World War
Location/Theatre:: Canada
Branch:: Air Force
Units/Ship:: 92nd Operational Squadron
Rank:: Sergeant
Occupation:: Pilot

Language selection

Home to Canada in 1943

Heroes Remember