Spit ‘n Polish

At Greenwood, we were a relatively isolated base and there were a lot of us, you know, young flying officers. When you came out of being a flight cadet, you were commissioned as a pilot officer and then it was an automatic commission to flying, or promotion to flying officer after that. There were some wonderful characters and I can remember an occasion when a new CO came on the base and he was a spit n’ polish kind of guy. Group Captain Chapman and we had a great character amongst us. A fellow named Douglas Macleod who everybody called “Black Doug” and Black Doug was known to take a drink or two, often to excess. He wasn’t really what you’d call a smart dresser. I mean Doug had one uniform basically, you see and he had one pair of black shoes which through use got cracked and creased and whatever. And on this particular occasion, I was standing next to him on parade and Group Captain Chapman came down the front rank to inspect the troops and he took one look at this wreck standing in front of him with a bent hat and an unpressed uniform, looked down and he had on a pair of black shoes that were all cracked and creased and of course he was breathing alcohol like you wouldn’t believe from last night’s party and Group Captain Chapman said, “What is your name?” “I’m Flying Officer Macleod sir.” “Flying Officer Macleod, don’t you have another pair of shoes?" “Yes sir, I do!” “Why don’t you wear them?” “Because they’re brown sir!” and he just passed on.

Mr. McAndrew describes an amusing parade square incident involving a somewhat unkempt comrade.

John Allison ‘Jack’ McAndrew

John McAndrew was born in Dalhousie, New Brunswick on February 15, 1933. His family moved to Charlottetown, where he grew up. He decided to enlist in the Royal Canadian Air Force, hoping to become a pilot, but was selected to become a radio officer, flying in a converted Lancaster bomber on anti-submarine patrols over Canada’s Eastern waters. For him, peacetime service proved uneventful and he moved on to a successful career in broadcasting. At the time of his retirement Mr. McAndrew held the rank of Flying Officer.