Art Barnard (Primary Source)

Transcript

My name is Art Barnard, born in Hamilton in 1922. When I turned eighteen in 1940 - a couple days after I turned eighteen - I went up and enlisted at the recruitment centre in Hamilton. I was called up in November that year, and after going to Toronto for Manning Pool, and Picton, I was off on a beautiful three months in the Maritimes, in Sydney, Nova Scotia. January, February, and March - one of the best seasons to be in the Maritimes. From there, I came back to Victoriaville for my ITS - Initial Training Service - on my way to becoming Air Crew, hopefully a pilot. And then to St. Catharines, where I got my initial flight training, then finally Dunville. I graduated on August the 20th, 1941. After a couple weeks leave home, I was off to Halifax, and then on board a rather, for us, an infamous ship - the Empress of Asia. There was a so-called minor mutiny at Halifax about boarding the ship. After that, two weeks on-board ship into England, and hopefully I was going to be going to an Operational Training Unit. However, the higher-ups decided something else for me, and they shot me off up to Scotland, where I was told I was going to be an instructor on Tiger Moths. What a horrible disappointment that was! The flight instructor I had was a former World War I pilot, and I cried on his shoulder, and he said: "I understand your problem, son. I'll write that you're not suitable for this type of work, and we'll get you on your way." He got me on my way, alright. I then wound up at another RAF station, this time to be a staff pilot. There I stayed for a year and a half - it seemed as if it took about three or four years - and finally got out of there in June, 1943, to Operational Training Unit on Spitfires at a very nice place in Shropshire, England - Rednal. After getting polished up there, I was shipped off to 402 Canadian Squadron, flying Spitfires who were then stationed just outside Lincoln in Lincolnshire, at a place called Digby, which all Canadian fighter pilots know. From there on, until middle of January, 1945, flying with 402 Squadron. And finally, by the time I came through to the middle of January, I was posted home for a thirty day leave, after a policy of three years overseas. I was then told I was going to go back to England. I came home, and by the time I got back to go overseas again, the war was winding down, but nevertheless, City Hall, Head Office, Headquarters says: "You are to go back." So on-board ship for a cruise back to England, during which VE Day was proclaimed. They were so loaded up with bringing back prisoners of war, they said: "You'd better leave us here." So I took off on leave for about eight weeks, and then back to Bournemouth, where I finally got my posting home. And I arrived home and was discharged in the end of September, 1945.