207 The Royal Canadian Legion MANITOBA & NORTHWESTERN ONTARIO COMMAND www.mbnwo.ca SHURVELL, Wesley J. WWII Wesley was born in Beulah, Manitoba, in October 1913. He joined the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1942 as a wireless air gunner and flew many missions over Europe with the 405th Eagle Squadron Bomber Command. He had married Merle Bardwell in December 1939 and had four children, six grandchildren and one grandchild. In June 1944, he was shot down over Rheims, France, and walked over 300km with the help from the French Resistance, reaching Orly Airport and flying to London in September 1944. He was discharged as Flight Sergeant and joined the Public Service working in the Winnipeg Post Office from 1945 to August 1976. In December 1975, he married Norma Bryant and acquired a step-family. He and Norma wintered in Arizona. Wesley’s health failed in January 1997, and he passed away on March 13, 2009. He had been a member of Charleswood and Miniota Branches of The Royal Canadian Legion for sixty years. SIEJKA, Stefan WWII Stefan was born in Ritwany, Poland, in 1916. He joined the 3rd Pulk (Infantry) Polish Army in 1938, serving in Poland and Germany and was to be discharged for Christmas 1939. However, the Germans destroyed his dram when they invaded Poland in September 1939. Stefan was a driver for the Commander of the regiment that numbered over 3,200 soldiers before the German Invasion. At the end of September, only a few hundred answered the call to surrender… the remainder were either killed, wounded or taken prisoner. A few months after surrender, Stefan was sent to Germany as slave labour, where he toiled near Hanover until the British liberated him in April 1945. He was inducted into the British 8th Army as a driver until his discharge. Unable to return to Poland, he immigrated to Canada and became a valuable Canadian citizen. Stefan helped build his Legion Branch #219, Polish Combatants in Thunder Bay, and has been a member for 62 years, receiving his Life Membership in August 2009. SMART, Thomas E. Q. WWII Thomas was born in Kisbey, SK, on November 30, 1925. He joined the Navy in Winnipeg in December 1942, with active service in June 1943. He took his basic training in Winnipeg and Nova Scotia and was drafted to destroyer for the English Navy-HMS Seymour and went across the Atlantic to Belfast, Ireland. He was then drafted to Canadian Navy Base at Niobe, Scotland, for a month or more and then to Belfast where HMCS Petrolia was being built. He took many convoys across the Atlantic consisting of Merchant Ships loaded for England. Thomas delivered hundreds, but also had hundreds torpedoed, as the North Atlantic was full of German submarines. At the end of the war, the Petrolia was sold to India. He was discharged in Winnipeg and is a member of Russell Branch #159 of The Royal Canadian Legion for fifty-four years. SMART, J. W. WWI J. W. Smart joined the 101st Battalion to the 43rd Cameron Highlanders serving in the battles of Vimy, Avion and Lens. He was wounded in Lens. No further information is available.
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