Local icon and Second World War veteran Captain William "Bill" Wilson has passed away at the age of 101.A celebration of life for Wilson will be held at HMCS Tecumseh on Monday, at 2 p.m.To honour Wilson, the Western Standard is publishing three excerpts from his diaries.In late summer 1944, (we) returned from an anti-submarine patrol in the Bay of Biscay, and had been alongside in Londonderry for several days, when the Bos’n Mate and I decided after coming off watch at 08:00 to walk downtown from the dockyard to the city centre, take in a movie at the Odeon theatre, have some lunch and return to the ship in the afternoon.On our return about 14:00, the duty Quartermaster informed me that there was a WREN working on my gun.The Royal Canadian Navy began recruiting Wrens in early 1942 and these young Canadian girls filled all sorts of shore billets including office clerks and secretaries, radio operators and signallers, seamstresses, stores clerks, staff car drivers, galley staff etc, etc. The RN also assigned Wrens to those roles plus more demanding trades, including providing the crews for harbour ferries.And, apparently, ‘ordinance artificers.’Gun maintainers…However, having a girl work on MY gun absolutely horrified me. I was the ‘captain’ of the starboard forward 20mm Oerlikon, one of six anti-aircraft guns in the ship and effectively the only anti-aircraft defence the ship had. In addition, being one of the two forward mountings meant that if a summarine we were attacking with ahead-throwing Hedgehog suddenly surfaced, we would probably be the first to open fire. I would not allow anyone near my gun, not even the seaman assigned to me as magazine loading number. Now, I found that there is a ‘woman’ mucking around with my personal weapon.I literally flew up the ladder to the flag deck, stormed around the corner and was absolutely devastated to see my gun in bits and pieces. Spread out on a sheet of canvas were gun parts that I had never seen before, and not just one or two but dozens and dozens. Sitting in the middle of this collection was a little RN Wren! She was blond with tufts of curly hair sticking out from under a sailor cap, wearing a seaman’s gun shirt and what looked like bell-bottom trousers. She had grease almost up to her elbows and a grease smear on her chin.Whether she had heard me rounding the corner or sensed my sudden appearance. She stopped what she was doing and turned to look up at me. She was quite pretty despite the grease and she had a bright and engaging smile.I was of course speechless, so she started the conversation with, “Hi Jack, is this your gun?”She went on, “I must say you have done marvellous job of maintaining it. It is really in excellent shape. However, the forward recoil spring is slightly weak and has to be replaced and I will have the dockyard staff send you a new one. I have also replaced four of the 16 buffer springs. One of the trigger sears is a little bit worn, so I have replaced it. You have done a really great job.”I was a little stunned but recognizing her many attributes I excused myself, went down to the mess deck, changed out of my tiddley uniform into dungarees and returned to the scene of the disaster. I learned more about my gun in the next two hours than I had in many days in the Royal Navy gunnery training centre..THE BURIAL AT SEA OF A GERMAN PILOTIt was a bright warm sunny day in the southern part of the English Channel and EG 11, the Canadian Destroyer Hunter Killer Group was on anti-submarine patrol off the coast of France shortly after D Day.The group, with HMCS Ottawa as senior ship, slipped quietly through the water at about 10 or 12 knots searching the depths for German submarines attempting to reach the merchant ships carrying munitions and supplies to the allied armies advancing into Europe.The sea was as flat as a messdeck table and as blue as the Mediterranean. For the Canadian Seamen of EG 11 who were used to the grey cold seas of the North Atlantic, it was more like a mid summer cruise in the Caribbean.I was working part ship on the starboard Flag deck when I suddenly became aware of an unusual odor. I looked around the flag deck and seeing nothing out of the ordinary, carried on with my work.Shortly after, I realized the smell was getting stronger and also much more offensive. The starboard forward lookout, whose station was also on the flagdeck and I looked around, and again found nothing unusual. Then I walked toward the rear of the flagdeck and look down on the iron deck.Immediately aft of the ships galley was the "spud locker" where we usually stored potatoes, and sometimes cabbage and lettuce. The vegetables were more or less exposed to the elements and it was not unusual for something to go bad and generate offensive odours.However, in this case there were several men standing around at the break of the foc'sle who obviously could also smell something and they were not looking at the locker.One or two were looking up at the masthead and following their line of sightI could see the lookout's arm pointing out over the side of the crowsnest on a bearing off the starboard bow.The starboard forward lookout and I started to search on the bearing and moments later the lookout spotted an object in the water quite some distance off.Ottawa continued on her course for a period and then slowly altered towards the object.The closer we got to the object the worse the smell became and eventually we could see that it was a man in a yellow inflatable life jacket similar to those worn by airmen. It was evident that the smell was from the body in the water, it was a decaying corpse.As we closed the body, we noted its back was towards the ship, it was bare headed and was very slowly rocking backward and forward in the almost insignificant swell.A seaman ran forward and returned with a grapnel from the upperdeck locker at the same time a Jacob's ladder was being made ready at the waist.As we came closer to the corpse the smell became almost overpowering. I had never smelled anything like it before or since and as a matter of fact I can still distinctly remember the smell to this day. It was sweet and sickening, the stench of decaying human flesh.The seaman with the grapnel threw the line twice without success, but on the third try, the grapnel and the line passed over the left shoulder of the corpse.As the seaman pulled in the line, it slipped off the shoulder and caught in the outstretched left hand of the body. It almost appeared as if the body had reached out and caught the line.As the seaman continued to pull the body closer to the ships side, the bodyslowly turned towards the ship. What we saw was the most horrific sight imaginable.The body was that of a German fighter pilot who had apparently parachuted from his aircraft following a dog fight.He had landed apparently unharmed in the Channel but had not been rescued by either the German or Allied forces. He had obviously died of exposure and had been floating in the seas for many days if not weeks, fully exposed to the hot sun.As the body rocked back and forth in the water, the fish had eaten most of the flesh off the fingers and hands and the gulls had pulled off much of the facial flesh.It had obviously been decided by our Captain, Commander J. D. Prentice, that we would recover the body and provide a decent burial.The Chief Sick Berth Attendant, Chief Petty Officer Sydney Taylor of Victoria, B. C., climbed over the side and down the ladder. He quickly searched the clothing and removed an Iron Cross from around the neck and identification from an inside pocket. In addition he retrieved a P38, 9mm pistol from a belt holster.Two 4'7" shells (weighing 50 lbs each) were brought forward from the after gun and were lashed together. The shells were lowered over the side to the Chief who secured the shells to the body.He then used his knife to cut the pilots life jacket open and the body slowly disappeared beneath the surface of the Channel.During the war there were may acts of bravery, most of record were "in the face of the enemy". I know of no braver act, although not in the "face of the enemy" than that performed by CPO Taylor.There were few, if any, of the other men aboard the ship who could have performed a similar feat.The Chief was an older man, probably 30 years of age. He was a kindly gentleman who showed great concern for his shipmates. He showed tolerance and understanding when looking after the physical and emotional welfare of the crew and earned the sincere respect of all who sailed in the ship.The pilot's identification and Iron Cross were forwarded to the Red Cross for return to the next of kin in Germany and the pistol was raffled off to the crew of the Ottawa.The seaman who rigged the ladder was Able Seaman Bob Crawshaw, the seaman who threw the grapnel was Leading Seaman Wilfred (Harpy) Harpham, and the man who won the 9mm pistol in the raffle was Signalman Al (Soup) Campbell, all of whom were residents of Vancouver..OPENING THE WINNIPEG STADIUMI became a fan of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers football team as a youngster growing up in Winnipeg during the war years. Upon completion of my wartime service as a Seaman in the RCNVR, I returned to college and in 1947 when I obtained a permanent position at the head office of Canadian Pacific Airlines, I purchased season tickets.At that time the games were played at Osborne Stadium located at Osborne St. and River Avenue across from the Parliament Buildings. The field was 100 yards long, the sidelines were about 12 feet from the stands, (the first row of seats was at ground level), the end zones were about 15 feet deep, (the balls used for converts ended up over the fence in the Granite Curling Club parking lot at one end, and on Shea's Brewery loading dock at the other end), and the seating capacity was about 5,000.In the early 1950’s,shortly after Indian Jack Jacobs became the Bomber quarterback, the decision was made to proceed with the construction of a new, 12,000-seat stadium on Portage Ave. at Polo Park, which would conform to all CFL dimensional specifications. A group of prominent citizens was brought together to organize the official opening on Friday evening 14 March 1953 which was to be in the presence of the Queen's representative, the Lt. Governor, J.S. McDiarmid, with full pomp and ceremony, and be followed by several hours of suitable entertainment.To organize the Forces participation in the ceremony, the Regular Force was delegated responsibility. It was subsequently decreed that the 2nd Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry (PPCLI) would provide the 100 man guard, the Lord Strathcona’s Horse (LdSH) Mounted Troop would escort the Lt. Gov.’s landau, the Band of the Winnipeg Grenadiers would provide the musical accompaniment, and the Naval Reserve Division would fire the 6 gun salute to the Lt. Governor. (The latter was over the objection of the Royal Canadian Horse Artillery, but, the Lt. Governor's son was a serving officer in HMCS Chippawa.)In the early 1950's as a Sub/Lt., I had become the Assistant Gunnery Officer in Chippawa and the Gunnery Officer, Lcdr. Burchell, had delegated all parade ground and extra curricula training (funeral firing parties, guards of honour, etc.) to me. The gun to be used to fire the "Vice Regal Salute" was the 12 pounder naval field gun, manufactured prior to the turn of the century, and last used by the Navy in the Boer War. Since that date they had been utilized on ceremonial occasions to fire salutes such as this and in field gun-run competitions between ships and/or shore establishments.The guns utilized in this role worked quite satisfactorily, except that you could experience the odd misfired round and on occasion it could be difficult to extract a hot brass casing from the breech as they were removed by hand, the breeches not being fitted with automatic extractors. My concern was that if we were to fire an eight gun salute, I wanted to be absolutely sure that they would be fired at the proper intervals with no chance of interruption due to a misfire or delay in reloading. I therefore decided to use two guns and knowing that the Regina Division, HMCS Queen as well as HMCS Griffon in Thunder Bay had mountings I decided to request the use of the Griffon’s as we knew several of their officers who participated in the Annual Garrison Curling competition held in Kenora on the Labour Day long weekends. With two guns firing in tandem, one gun would cover up any misfire or delay in the loading of the other.When Griffon's gun arrived, the Chippawa Gunners quickly polished all the brass, and painted the gun and the accompanying “limber” to ensure that the two guns would be suitable for a “Royal Occasion”. Chippawa had been designated an anti-aircraft Gunnery Division and was completely equipped with training equipment identical to that used by the Regular Force schools. In addition, we had been supplied with two 40 mm. anti-aircraft guns that were located at nearby Camp Shilo for use in live firing exercises. Therefore, there was no shortage of highly qualified gunnery volunteers to man the two 12 pdr, guns.The day before the opening ceremonies we had a dress rehearsal. The two naval gun crews carefully loaded their guns on truck transports and subsequently unloaded them at the north east corner of the new Winnipeg Stadium. They were then hauled into position on the grass facing southwest. The PPCLI guard was in position in front of and facing the saluting dais at the centre of the west sidelines of the stadium with the Artillery band immediately in their rear. In the centre of the field was a raised platform on which stood between 20 and 30 young ladies, the “Kerr Wilson Singers” who would lead the National Anthem and subsequently, other suitable songs and melodies.The procedure for the opening ceremony was more or less as follows: At the appointed hour, the gates at the north west-end of the stadium would swing open and the Lt. Governor in a horse drawn carriage (landau) driven by two members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, would enter escorted by eight mounted members of the Lord Strathcona Horse (Royal Canadians). The Landau was to stop in front of the saluting base and the Lt. Governor would disembark. The landau would move out the south west-end of the stadium as the Lt. Governor mounted the dais. On his arrival in position the Guard Officer would order the Royal Salute. As the soldiers dropped their rifles into the "Present" position, the Band Master would simultaneously drop his baton for the band to commence "The Queen", the Choir would begin singing, and the naval gun crews would fire the first salvo of the eight gun salute.The rehearsal went extremely well and although we had three hick-ups during the firing, no one but ourselves were any the wiser. As we were packing up our equipment to return to Chippawa, the Master of Ceremonies and the Commanding Officer of Chippawa (Capt. L.B. McIlhagga) approached me and congratulated us on our performance. However, it had been suggested by the organizing committee that the noise from the guns was not sufficiently loud, considering it was a Royal Salute, and could the sound of the firing be increased?I explained that while we were using "reduced charges" which were far in excess of normal, we could increase the charge if they so desired. I did point out that the empty stands at the rehearsal allowed the noise of the blast to dissipate quickly in all directions and the effect would be different when the stands were full and therefore the noise would be confined. It was their position that at least twice the sound level would only be "marginally" acceptable. I discussed this with my Chief (CPO Joe Gallo) on our return to Chippawa and with some trepidation we agreed that we would increase the load from a half charge to slightly less than a three-quarter charge.As we positioned our guns at the stadium the next day, it was quite a sight.It was a bright sunny day, not a cloud to be seen. It was warm but not hot, with a slight breeze from the west, which would quickly carry off the smoke from the 12 pounder gunfire.The Royal Guard from the Patricia's was in position, the band was in full dress uniforms with their instruments glistening in the sun, the young ladies in the choir were resplendent in their long evening gowns of various bright colours, and the stadium was jammed with a sell-out festive crowd of over 12,000, obviously impressed with their new stadium. The Naval Gun Crews in their square-rig blue uniforms were equally prominent, as were the two shiny field guns.I double checked the breeches of the guns, the ammunition was in position and my stopwatch was wound tightly. It was obviously going to be a great day.At the stroke of the hour, the Master of Ceremonies asked the crowd to stand for the arrival of the Lt. Governor. the stadium suddenly became hushed as the crowd noticed the gates at the end of the stadium slowly swinging open. The Guard and Band snapped to attention, the Guard were brought to the "Slope Arms", and I gave the order for the gun crews to "Close-Up" followed by "All Guns Load."In pranced the LdSH Mounted Troop resplendent in their scarlet uniforms, steel helmets and long lances with some bright bunting at the end, followed by the Lt. Governor's Landau with the Lt. Governor J.S. McDiarmid wearing "morning coat" and tall hat, and the R.C.M.P. in their dress scarlet. The Landau stopped exactly on target and out stepped the ADC to the Lt. Governor, followed by the Lt. Governor himself. The Lt. Governor quickly positioned himself in the centre of the saluting base as the LdSH and landau slowly moved off towards the south-west gate. In a clear voice heard by all at the hushed stadium, the Guard Officer gave to order "Royal Salute, Present Arms." You could hear the sound of the soldiers hands as they alapped the rifle during the first two movements of the rifle and as they completed the third movement, down went Guard Officer’s sword, down went the soldiers muskets, down went the Bandmaster's baton, and the Band and choir broke into the Royal Anthem, and I ordered “Fire."Several things happened simultaneously. The thunder of the Naval Guns was probably five times as loud as it was at the Dress Rehearsal. There was a huge gasp from 12,000 startled spectators, three choir girls fell off their stage, (in their long evening gowns), the horses drawing the Lt. Governors landau broke into a furious gallop and with the R.C.M.P. holding on for dear life disappeared through the gates heading in the general direction of Portage La Prairie, and all the glass fell out of the brand new Press Box.The naval gun crews were completely oblivious to all this as we continued to fire on cue with split second precision, and breathed, as gunners will, the exhilarating scent of fresh burning gunpowder.On completion of the firing, to the applause of thousands, we efficiently secured the guns, slipped out the east side gates, loaded the guns on the truck and returned to Chippawa to "Splice the Mainbrace" with rum supplied by the Commanding Officer, after a job "well done". (We had one misfire).On Saturday, the following day, the headline of The Winnipeg Tribune morning edition read “City’s Stadium Opens With a BANG”. The evening edition featured a cartoon which took up about a quarter of the page which showed the guns’ crew partly obscured by smoke, a matelot being carried away by the sound and another matelot trying to catch a “shell." In addition, it showed a bunch of sportscasters exiting the press box by forming a human chain down the west wall of the stadium as they exited the box apparently concluding that the naval gun’s crew had targeted the box and made a direct hit.
