141 The Royal Canadian Legion MANITOBA & NORTHWESTERN ONTARIO COMMAND www.mbnwo.ca Kenneth was married on November 13, 1941 and for his wife Marie’s birthday on December 4, 1941, he joined the RCAF. After joining in Winnipeg, he spent an extremely enlightening six weeks in Manning Depot, Toronto, C.B’d. “Every day there was something to look forward to - needles and more needles, parades for dental, medical, clothes, showers and parades for no reason at all that we could see except possibly to make sure we did not get bored; all this, for the munificent sum of a dollar a day, half of which went to your wife if you were married.” From Toronto, he had a short stint in Trenton and a posting to Souris, Manitoba for seven months. Then he moved 35 miles to the emergency field at Hartney where he stayed for a year. There were runways, a hangar and barracks. The barracks had no running water as there was only two of them. Bill Harkies from Orangeville, Ontario, Service Police and Kenneth got to drive the crash tender, the only vehicle on the station. They used it to haul their water from town, which suited them just fine. Marie, his wife, rented a room in Hartney and the town people treated them wonderfully. Kenneth and Bill were the only service personnel in the town. EFTS Virden flew Tiger Moths and SFTS Souris flew Ansons and used the field for circuits and bumps. Some of the student pilots got in a lot more bumps than circuits. They never had a Tiger Moth crash. The odd ground loop, but there were a few Ansons totalled and with some loss of life. After a year of this, the M.O. (Medical Officer) decided the way they were living was not healthy for them, so Bill Harkies was posted to Gander and Kenneth got #3 Repair Depot, Vancouver. Kenneth did a short stint at #3 Repair Depot and then a posting to Boundary Bay for a year. Marie rented a room at Beach Grove, beautiful sand beach on the ocean. They got their first taste of huge fresh oysters. His sojourn at Boundary Bay was uneventful. Daily routines were garbage runs, ration runs and canteen runs. “These were the best as mostly the canteen runs consisted of beer, which meant we got to stop for a while at the breweries while they loaded up. Then there were the crash tenders, gas tenders, ambulance and personnel runs. I always volunteered for as much night duty as they would allow me. That way I missed a lot of Parades, except pay parade which I was always there for. Also, I could spend the days with Marie at the beach. Boundary Bay was quite active. Mostly Kitty Hawks flying patrol and back from the Aleutians for refit. Many saw action with the Japanese Zeros and had shot down quite a few. One had six Japanese flags stencilled, which meant six kills. Others one or two. Many never came back at all. The worst enemy there was the mountains and fog.” Kenneth’s next posting was to Sea Island which was an International Airport. There was a lot of heavy transport flying out of Sea Island with a mix of fighters flying patrol. Motor transport consisted of the usual runs. The wartime traffic in Vancouver was not heavy, but the fall fog made life interesting. The fog was so thick that if they were not following a street car closely, they got lost. Kenneth took his discharge from Sea Island in 1945 and went back to the farm. FINCH, Kenneth WWII
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