Browse "Military"
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Memory Project Archive
Irene Jennie Miller nee Girard (Primary Source)
In 2010, The Memory Project interviewed Irene Miller, a veteran of the Second World War. The following recording (and transcript) is an excerpt from this interview. Miller joined the Royal Canadian Air Force Women’s Division and completed basic training at the RCAF Station Rockcliffe in Ottawa. She was then sent to Halifax, where she eventually married her husband, a member of the Royal Canadian Navy. In this testimony, Miller describes her role in the signals branch, where she would log and transfer messages. She also discusses the appearance of U-boats (German submarines) in Halifax harbour and the high cost of accommodations in the city. Please be advised that Memory Project primary sources may deal with personal testimony that reflect the speaker’s recollections and interpretations of events. Individual testimony does not necessarily reflect the views of the Memory Project and Historica Canada.
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Memory Project Archive
Ivor Williams (Primary Source)
Ivor Williams joined the RCAF and served with 443 Squadron as a Spitfire pilot. Prior to D-Day he flew various operations, bombing and strafing enemy positions to hinder any German reinforcements travelling to the Normandy beaches. On D-Day he assisted in patrolling Juno Beach, warding off enemy fighters and providing cover for ships.Please be advised that Memory Project primary sources may deal with personal testimony that reflect the speaker’s recollections and interpretations of events. Individual testimony does not necessarily reflect the views of the Memory Project and Historica Canada.
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Memory Project Archive
J. Don Dempsey (Primary Source)
Mr. Dempsey served in the Royal Canadian Navy during the Second World War. Please be advised that Memory Project primary sources may deal with personal testimony that reflect the speaker’s recollections and interpretations of events. Individual testimony does not necessarily reflect the views of the Memory Project and Historica Canada.
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Memory Project Archive
J. Emmett Mulvaney (Primary Source)
In around 2010, The Memory Project interviewed John Emmett Mulvaney, a naval veteran of the Second World War. The following recording (and transcript) is an excerpt from this interview. Born on 17 June 1920, Mulvaney was raised in Kenora, Ontario. He served six years in the Canadian navy but spent most of the war on merchant ships. The DEMS (Defensively Equipped Merchant Ships) was a Second World War program through which naval personnel served in the merchant navy. In this testimony, Mulvaney describes rescuing his friend; he also mentions naval operations in the north Atlantic and North Sea, alluding to the Arctic convoys that supplied Russia during the war. (See also Battle of the Atlantic). After the war, Mulvaney became a professor of Economics, Political Science and Public Administration at the University of Winnipeg, where he worked for 35 years. He died on 11 May 2015 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, at the age of 94. Please be advised that Memory Project primary sources may deal with personal testimony that reflect the speaker’s recollections and interpretations of events. Individual testimony does not necessarily reflect the views of the Memory Project and Historica Canada.
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Memory Project Archive
J. Kenneth Davy (Primary Source)
My full name is John Kenneth Davy, but I'm more often known as Ken Davy. I was quite young when the war broke out. I think I was thirteen years old, and it certainly was a point of great interest for me at that age, and I really never thought that I would be old enough to serve in it. I joined the Navy band at HMCS Star in Hamilton when I was sixteen. In...
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Memory Project Archive
Jack Dolson (Primary Source)
Please be advised that Memory Project primary sources may deal with personal testimony that reflect the speaker’s recollections and interpretations of events. Individual testimony does not necessarily reflect the views of the Memory Project and Historica Canada.
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Memory Project Archive
Jack Henry Hilton (Primary Source)
"We landed in France on a metal strip. I had a sniper bullet go across my head as I landed as I was taxing in and we slept in slit trenches and tents, ate bully beef and did our, we attacked the Germans." See below for Mr. Hilton's entire testimony. Please be advised that Memory Project primary sources may deal with personal testimony that reflect the speaker’s recollections and interpretations of events. Individual testimony does not necessarily reflect the views of the Memory Project and Historica Canada.
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Memory Project Archive
Jack Martin (Primary Source)
Mr. Jack Martin served as a rifleman/mortarman in the Queens Own Rifles in Northwest Europe. He landed on Juno Beach as part of the assaulting wave on D-Day, and served with his regiment until the end of the war.Please be advised that Memory Project primary sources may deal with personal testimony that reflect the speaker’s recollections and interpretations of events. Individual testimony does not necessarily reflect the views of the Memory Project and Historica Canada.
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Memory Project Archive
Jack Strong (Primary Source)
In 2011, The Memory Project interviewed Jack Jeffries Strong, a veteran of the Second World War. The following recording (and transcript) is an excerpt from this interview. Born on 15 March 1928 in Lowestoft, England, Strong was evacuated to the midlands during the war. He began working at a factory in Norwich at age 14, then joined the British Merchant Navy when he was 16. In this testimony, he recalls being bombed in Norwich, as well as the threat of submarine attacks in the merchant navy. Strong eventually became a captain in the merchant navy; he immigrated to Newfoundland in 1964 to start a position at the College of Fisheries (now Marine Institute) in St. John’s, where he worked for 20 years. He died on 18 March 2016 in St. John’s. (See also Merchant Navy of Canada and U-Boat Operations in Canadian Waters.) Please be advised that Memory Project primary sources may deal with personal testimony that reflect the speaker's recollections and interpretations of events. Individual testimony does not necessarily reflect the views of the Memory Project and Historica Canada.
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Memory Project Archive
James Annett (Primary Source)
James Annett served in the Royal Canadian Air Force during the Second World War. See his full testimony below.Please be advised that Memory Project primary sources may deal with personal testimony that reflect the speaker’s recollections and interpretations of events. Individual testimony does not necessarily reflect the views of the Memory Project and Historica Canada.
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Memory Project Archive
James Eagle (Primary Source)
"The next thing I know I hear a creaking noise – “Hey, we’re moving here you know?” So I go up on deck, hurrying up. I looked where we were coming from. There’s a little dark spot over there, which is Seattle. There’s water all around me. I said, “What the hell did you get yourself into now?”" See below for Mr. Eagle's entire testimony. Please be advised that Memory Project primary sources may deal with personal testimony that reflect the speaker’s recollections and interpretations of events. Individual testimony does not necessarily reflect the views of the Memory Project and Historica Canada.
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Memory Project Archive
James Eddy (Primary Source)
"They went very well, until we got shot down on January the 15th, I think it was. Our target was Merseburg." See below for Mr. Eddy's entire testimony. Please be advised that Memory Project primary sources may deal with personal testimony that reflect the speaker’s recollections and interpretations of events. Individual testimony does not necessarily reflect the views of the Memory Project and Historica Canada.
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Memory Project Archive
James Finnie (Primary Source)
Jim Finnie joined the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) in 1942. He began training as an air gunner in early 1943. He ultimately trained in gunnery on Fairey Battle, Armstrong Whitworth Whitley, and Handley Page Halifax aircraft. Shot down over France on his sixth air mission in-theatre, Finnie and another crew member hid in a barn until the French farmer turned them over to the Germans. He subsequently remained a prisoner of war until his escape from a camp in 1945.Please be advised that Memory Project primary sources may deal with personal testimony that reflect the speaker’s recollections and interpretations of events. Individual testimony does not necessarily reflect the views of the Memory Project and Historica Canada.
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Memory Project Archive
James Lafrenière (Primary Source)
"Your accommodation was what you could find. You sleep in the back of a truck, you sleep under a truck, you sleep in a truck you sleep in a hole in the ground, you sleep in an old house, wherever you could find a place to lay down." See below for Mr. Lafrenière's entire testimony. Please be advised that Memory Project primary sources may deal with personal testimony that reflect the speaker’s recollections and interpretations of events. Individual testimony does not necessarily reflect the views of the Memory Project and Historica Canada.
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Memory Project Archive
James Stickles (Primary Source)
James Stickles joined the Royal Canadian Air Force and trained as an aero-electrician. He landed in France on D+19 (19 days after D-day, 6 June 1944) and was stationed at an airfield outside of Caen, France. He was then transferred to No. 6 Photographic Squadron, 39 Reconnaissance Wing. The squadron was stationed at Eindhoven, Holland during the Battle of the Bulge (Ardennes Forest), and he witnessed the atrocities committed at Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. The squadron was also one of the first to cross the Rhine River into Germany, following Operation VARSITY in March 1945.Please be advised that some of this veteran's photographs are of a graphic nature and may not be suitable for younger viewers. Please be advised that Memory Project primary sources may deal with personal testimony that reflect the speaker’s recollections and interpretations of events. Individual testimony does not necessarily reflect the views of the Memory Project and Historica Canada.
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