Celebrities in Malta

Heroes Remember

Celebrities in Malta

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Transcript

The days that we weren't flying of course you spent most of the time with liquid lunch. So this day we were in the barracks and there was a noise outside on the street. We were in the second floor. Our room was on the second floor of this noise and looked down and kids were poundin' on pots and pans. And this car drove by eh. Not too many cars in Malta that weren't military. This car drove by and I looked down and I raised the glass, "George" and had a drink. The King and Queen were goin' by. The next day we're out flight shack, waiting around and see if we're gonna fly that night where they put your name of the board. This guy came over from the operations room and he said, "I just saw Roosevelt going by in the car." Somebody said, "You had a little too much sand. You better have another drink. You'll be alright." I didn't believe the guy when he said he saw Roosevelt. I picked up the Saturday Evening Post after the war and they were in and they were heading for this. They got the aircraft stopped, but they were headin' for this hundred foot drop at the other end of the runway. Then the next night, or two nights later I guess, we were called out to do a patrol and they said, "You're gonna have a fighter escort so don't be scared if you see an aircraft above you." So the next you know we're out there and we're goin' from Malta to North Africa and you look down and there's a battleship and four destroyers. Two here and two at the back. And they were goin' so fast that now you see them, now you don't, the destroyers because every so often you'd see a whoppin' great splash. So when we, in the morning it came dawn, and sure enough we got a Mosquito fighter bomber goin' around above us. Our escort, fighter escort. When we got back to Malta and debriefing, which they always do after every flight, we said, "What was in that thing and how fast was it goin'? He said, "About 32, 35 knots". "Why?" He said, "Some fella by the name of Churchill was aboard." Churchill, Roosevelt, he had seen them, Montgomery, were all in Malta at that time just before the invasion of Sicily. They had a double of Montgomery, making himself seen in Gibraltar while this conference was going on in Malta.

Description

Mr. Doiron recalls the biggest names in Allied command who visited Malta a few days before Sicily was attacked.

Leonard Doiron

Mr. Doiron was born in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island on January 21st 1923. His father worked in wholesale and retail until he was injured and opened his own shoe repair shop. Mr. Doiron joined the Air Force on February 15th 1941 where he began his training in Chatham, New Brunswick. In June 1941 he was sent to Initial Training School in Victoriaville, Québec. Mr. Doiron was part of the top 10 aspiring pilots and was picked to become one. He was later sent back to Chatham where he was washed out for inconsistent flying. The RAFFC (Royal Air Force Ferry Command) noticed his Morse code abilities and had him transferred to Dorval, Québec. He was then stationed in Bournemouth, England. He did his Operational Training in Northern Ireland where he was assigned to a Wellington air plane crew. He flew many missions over the Gulf of Toranto (Italy) - about 300 hours of Operational Flying Time and was promoted to Warrant Officer Class 1. He then went to Cairo, Egypt and to Palestine for a short time before being sent back home on the Louis Pasteur. Mr. Doiron retired from the service in the 1970's.

Meta Data

Medium:: Video
Owner:: Veterans Affairs Canada
Duration:: 03:09
Person Interviewed:: Leonard Doiron
War, Conflict or Mission:: Second World War
Location/Theatre:: Europe
Branch:: Air Force
Units/Ship:: Royal Air Force Ferry Command (RAFFC)
Rank:: Sergeant
Occupation:: Radio Operator

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Celebrities in Malta

Heroes Remember