History 2
Joined 238 Squadron RAF at Merryfield in Somerset flying Dakotas. My Pilot was Bert Coles of Toronto and the Navigator was Joe Washburn of Weston, Ont.
Squadron moved to Raipur, India arriving on March 6th. Overnight
stops in Istres, France; Castle Benito, Tripoli
Lydda, Palestine; Shabiah, Iraq; Sharjah, Oman; Karachi, India. March 24th moved to Comilla, Bengal for “Close Support Operations” with the XIV Army in Burma. Total operational hours with 238 Squadron 183We moved to Parafield (Adelaide) in South Australia, arriving on July 3rd. Overnight stops were made in Ceylon, Cocos lslands, Learmouth and Perth in Australia. Our task was to support the Royal Navy Pacific Fleet.
Flights were between Parafield and Leyte in the Philippines with stops at Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Townsville in Australia; Dobadura, Finshhafen, Hollandia, Port Moresby in New Guinea; the Admiralty Islands, Sapua
Island, Bisk Island and Leyte.
From October 1 to November 1 I was stationed at Bradfield Park, N.S.W. Australia and on November 1 departed Sydney on HM Andes arriving in Southampton on Dec 2 and after a
short stay at #3 PRC Bournemouth, departed Liverpool aboard the Duchess of Bedford arriving in Halifax on December 30, 1945.
On February 7, 1946 I was discharged at Dartmouth, N.S.
Days at Sea
June 41 Halifax to Scotland 10
Nov - Dec 42 Suez to Halifax 42
Dec /44 Halifax to Liverpool 7
Nov-Dec 45 Sydney, NSW to Portsmouth 30
Dec. 45 Liverpool to Halifax 9
Total 98 days.
Army
PRE-WAR SERVICE:NPAM Royal Canadian Corps Signals May 1937 - May 1940 3 years
POST-WAR SERVICE: Canadian Army Militia - Armoured Corp & Pay Corp. Jan. 1948 - Dec. 1970 12 years
Johnny states that even doing almost two tours of operations, that his only claim to fame was that he flew with 124 different pilots and most WOP AG’s flew with no more than 20. 2001
DECORATIONS:39-45 Star; Africa Star; Burma Star with Clasp(Pacific); Defense Medal; CVSM & Clasp;
Victory Medal; Efficiency Medal; Canadian Forces Decoration and Clasp.
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