Category: Second World War

One of the Last of His Generation, Second World War Vet in New Brunswick Dies

Angus Hamilton, who served as a radar technician in Southeast Asia during the Second World War and returned home to a successful career in the civil service and academia, has died in Fredericton at the age of 100. Born in Listowel, Ont., on April 18, 1922, Hamilton grew up on a farm, with the Great…


End of Era as Last Surviving Member of RAF’s Dambusters Squadron Dies Aged 101

The last surviving member of the RAF’s Dambusters squadron, which used special “bouncing bombs” against German dams in a series of daring raids during the Second World War, has died at the age of 101. George “Johnny” Johnson, who was 101, was the last member of 617 squadron, whose 1943 raid became part of British…


Canadian War Museum Oral History Project Examines War’s Aftermath

The pride in Blanche Bennett’s voice was evident as she vividly recounted the day 80 years ago when she volunteered to serve in the ’s Army Corps. Bennett, who turns 100 on Nov. 12, was just 19 when she signed up in 1942 to become one of the nearly 46,000 women who served their country…


The Queen Is Dead. Long Live the King!

Commentary For most people throughout the whole world, the death of Queen Elizabeth II comes as a profound shock. Not unexpected, of course, after so long a reign, but cataclysmic in its emotional and social impact. Few people in the Commonwealth have lived their lives under the reign of any other sovereign. I am one…


Australian Minister Marks Victory in the Pacific (VP) Day

Australian minister has marked Victory in the Pacific (VP) Day to remind the public of the date on which victory in the pacific ended the second world war. VP (Victory in the Pacific) Day, also referred to as VJ (Victory over Japan) Day, is celebrated on Aug. 15 to commemorate Japan’s acceptance of the Allied…


‘We Managed to Survive’: 100 Year Old Veteran Remembers Second World War Airfields

Hangar 4 has seen better days. Only scraps of its original white paint remain. The rest has been sandblasted away by 80 years of winds that sweep down from the Rocky Mountains west of the town of Claresholm, Alta. Most of the windows are broken. The hangar’s lone occupants appear to be three pigeons perched…


Nazi Death Squad Member Tries but Fails to Bar Public From Deportation Hearing

A former Nazi death-squad member has failed in his attempt to bar the public and media from his deportation hearing. Helmut Oberlander brought forth an application Tuesday to take the proceedings in front of the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada private. Oberlander, who lives in Waterloo, Ont., had argued he, his family and his…


Homeowner Finds Perfectly Preserved Newspaper Ad of Her 3-Bedroom From Over 80 Years Ago

A homeowner has discovered a perfectly preserved advert showing an artist’s impression of her three-bedroom semidetached house when it was first built eight decades ago. Julie Whitaker, 62, unearthed the 84-year-old newspaper cutting from a drawer in her home of 30 years in Leeds, West Yorkshire. The relic has been wonderfully preserved over the decades…


Site of 1944 Bomber Crash in UK Being Dug Up in Effort to Bring US Air Crew Home

A team of American veterans are digging up a field in Sussex, United Kingdom, where a bomber plane crashed during the Second World War in an effort to finally bring their fallen compatriots home. In June 1944—two weeks after Allied troops landed in France on D-Day—a B-24 Liberator was in a group conducting a bombing…


Second World War Veteran Turning 101 Seeks Birthday Cheer

A World War Two veteran who turns 101 on Flag Day is asking fellow Lake Forest, Calif. residents to help celebrate by sending him 101 birthday cards. Frank Wendzel, an Army Air Force Captain during the Second World War, was born June 14, 1920. After joining the Air Force in 1941, Wendzel served at various locations throughout the United States and…