153 The Royal Canadian Legion MANITOBA & NORTHWESTERN ONTARIO COMMAND www.mbnwo.ca GIASSON, Aimé N. WWII Aimé enlisted in Winnipeg on September 29, 1942 with the Royal Canadian Air Force and was sent to Brandon Air Base for training. He served as Air Bomber with “431” Squadron (Iroquois) in number 6 group, Bomber Command; Croft, Yorkshire, England. Following is a thumbnail sketch of some of his experiences. Aimé lost his first crew in a crash while at Heavy Conversion Unit on September 23, 1944. Then on February 14, 1945, on a Chemnitz raid, a fighter attack almost got them. On February 20, 1945, they bombed Dortmund on only three engines which prevented them from reaching the prescribed bombing height and made them late. When they returned for briefing they were twenty minutes late and their names had already been crossed off the board. On March 31, 1945, they were attacked by ME 262 Jet fighters. They damaged one and destroyed another. On April 4, 1945, on Leipzig, got target token. He was commissioned on April 18, 1945. It was at Wangaroog on April 25, 1945 when two Halifax bombers collided on the run in and two Langs collided on their run out after bombing. All four aircraft were destroyed; Air men too (unless the Germans fished them out of the sea). Add to this, flak holes in their aircraft, inclement weather with severe icing conditions, getting caught in searchlight cones, fighter aircraft infilteration their returning aircraft at night, straffing their airdrome and shooting down one of their bombers” “Imagine the loneliness, the homesickness, a desire to see the end of the war ... you probably get the picture.’ Fred retired and had three daughters and a son (all married) and he lived in London, Ontario after his service. The pictures are from actual operational photos taken by the aircraft’s F24 camera which was triggered when bombs were released. This provides a check as to the effectiveness of each aircraft’s performance, the date, bombing height, heading, bombs carried, squadron, pilot and other pertinent information. The first two photos show the initial bombing attack. Photographs taken later during the attack show mostly smoke with next to no detail. The third photo looks like an atomic bomb. Actually, it is a “Lank” (Lancaster plane) that was taking off right after Aimé’s aircraft. It blew a tire and caught fire with a load of fuel and bombs including a 4000-pound bomb. The aircraft simply disintegrated!
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