57 The Royal Canadian Legion MANITOBA & NORTHWESTERN ONTARIO COMMAND www.mbnwo.ca DAVIS, William J. WWII William was born in Keewatin, Ontario in 1915 and passed away in 1999. He enlisted in the Army on September 2, 1941 and trained in Calgary, AB and Truro, NS. William served with 280 Squadron and was attached to the Royal Air Force Coastal Command in Thornaby, England and Air Sea Rescue in the North Sea, off the Shetland Islands. He was discharged in 1945. William was a Life Member of Keewatin Legion Branch 13. DEVANIK, Stanley WWII Stanley was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba in 1924. He joined the Royal Canadian Air Force and served in Canada during World War II. Stanley was a member of Selkirk Legion Branch 42 for more than forty-eight years. DOAK, Gordon R. WWII Gordon was born in 1919 in Gilbert Plains, Manitoba. He joined the Army in 1942 and served with the Winnipeg Light Infantry, played brass in the Winnipeg Grenadiers Band, and served with the Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders in the Aleutian Islands and in Holland and Germany. He was honourably discharged in 1946. Gordon was awarded the 1939-45 Star, the France and Germany Star, the Defence Medal, the War Medal 1939-45, and the Holland Liberation Medal. He raised four children with Pearl, his wife of 60 years. Gordon was a member of Snow Lake Legion Branch 241 for more than fifty years before he passed away on July 9, 2003. DIXON, Thomas D. “Tom” WWII Tom was born in 1911 in Souris, Manitoba. He joined the Royal Canadian Air Force in North Bay, Ontario on November 11, 1940 and trained as an air gunner in Brandon, MB and Fort MacLeod, AB. In December 1942, he went overseas where he made several flights over Germany from England as a mid-upper gunner on a Sterling plane. One night, he was shot down and had trouble getting his seatbelt undone. He finally freed himself, climbed down and put on his parachute. Unfortunately, he parachuted into a tree, was caught and was a POW for two years until war’s end. Tom was discharged in Winnipeg on September 25, 1945. He received the Canadian Volunteer Service Medal, the Air Crew Europe Star, the POW badge, and the Caterpillar Pin (issued by the Irvin Company, parachute manufacturer) for successfully using a parachute to bail out of a disabled aircraft. Tom, a 60-year Legion Pin recipient, was a member of Souris Legion Branch 60 for sixty-two years before he died on September 30, 2007 in Thunder Bay, Ontario.
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