13 The Royal Canadian Legion MANITOBA & NORTHWESTERN ONTARIO COMMAND www.mbnwo.ca ANDERSON, Duane WWII Duane was born in 1924. He joined the Royal Canadian Air Force and served at Bournemouth, England during World War II. Duane was a member of Fort William Legion Branch 6 for forty years before he passed away in 2008. ANDERSON, Gordon A. WWII Gordon was born in 1923 in Gananoque, Ontario. He joined the Army in 1942 at the age of 19 and completed his basic and advanced training in Kingston, Peterborough and Owen Sound, Ontario. In early 1943, he arrived in England and was posted to the 2nd Infantry Division, 5th Canadian Infantry Brigade of the Royal Canadian Electrical and Mechanical Engineers which landed in France on July 6, 1944. Their task was to continue up the coastline from France to northern Germany where they took the surrender of a German submarine and its crew. In Holland, he learned to be a Sergeant very quickly by diving into a foxhole before his Sergeant who was wounded and sent back to Canada. His unit was often under heavy fire resulting in several men being wounded and killed. In early May 1945, Gordon was promoted to Warrant Officer 2 and posted to the Army of occupation, returning to Canada in the spring of 1946 for his discharge. Gordon has been a member of Lundar Legion Branch 185 for more than ten years. ANDERSON, William “Cecil” WWII Cecil was born on December 26, 1915. He joined the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1941 and after training in Trenton, Ontario, left Halifax in February 1942 for Liverpool, England. He trained on two-engine Manchester aircraft then transferred to the four-engine Lancaster bomber. The Royal Canadian Air Force was attached to the Royal Air Force and Cecil ended up in flight engineering school for six months in St. Athens, Wales. Royal Air Force 50 Squadron went on a bombing mission to Dusseldorf, Germany and twenty minutes prior to target, Cecil and six other crew members in the Lancaster were shot down at 1:00 am on June 12, 1943. After six weeks of running, Cecil became a civilian prisoner at Fresnes Prison outside Paris, then a POW in Stalag 1VB at Muhlberg, Germany until liberation in 1945. Cecil was a member of the elite Caterpillar Club (fliers who have successfully used a parachute to bail out of a disabled aircraft). He was a member of The Royal Canadian Legion for forty years before he passed away in 2010. ANDERSON, Vernon J. WWII Vernon was born on May 27, 1923. He enlisted in the Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve during World War II and served in the North Atlantic. Vernon was a member of Fort William Legion Branch 6 prior to his death in 2009.
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