A Different Military Career

Andy McNaughton who was the General commanding the army was, he was more of a Gunner Officer than a Commanding General, but he was very conscious of the need to have good meteor telegrams which are messages that gunners use to correct the settings on the gun to accommodate weather - winds, temperature, humidity, all these things through all the levels through which the shell will pass. You apply corrections and he didn’t have any meteorologists.Out of the clear blue, I was told to report, I think it was some place near Leatherhead or Epsom in England. I was to report for an interview. Nobody told me what for, so I went there and the chap who interviewed me said, “Would you be interested in studying meteorology?” So I said, “What is that?” You know, you’d think I’d have known. I had a degree in science. I was commissioned in the artillery. I knew about meteor telegrams, but I had never realized that meteorologists forecast the weather. So he said, “It’s weather forecasting.” So I thought, “Gee, that would be interesting.” So I said, “Yes, I’d like to do that.” So that’s how I ended up starting, that was the start of my real wartime work.

Mr. Aitken describes being invited to become a military meteorologist and accepting that challenge.

John Aitken

John Aitken was born June 4, 1917, in Kenora, Ontario. He was the eldest of three children. His family moved to Medicine Hat, Alberta, where his father worked as a flour miller. After graduating high school at age seventeen, Mr. Aitken became a teacher and then school principal. He graduated from university in 1942. Mr. Aitken initially enlisted in the artillery, but after his arrival in England was selected to train as a meteorologist. As the war progressed he achieved the highest level possible, Independent Forecaster. After the war, Mr. Aitken continued a distinguished military career, retiring with the rank of Lieutenant.