25 The Royal Canadian Legion MANITOBA & NORTHWESTERN ONTARIO COMMAND www.mbnwo.ca Howard joined the RCAF on April 10, 1940 in Winnipeg. He was sent to the Manning Depot in Toronto. He went to St. Thomas, ON for basic training as an air frame mechanic. On completion of the course he was stationed to Trenton, ON where he was assigned to work on Harvards. He remained there for two years and three months. During this time, the show “Captains of the Clouds” was produced, starring “James Cagney”. Howard played a very minor role. He pushed his aircraft from the hangar. When he saw the movie he caught a very brief glimpse of himself. He figured he was not photogenic because he was not requested to play any further role, but he could always jokingly claim he once upon a time co-starred with James Cagney. He went overseas in February of 1943. They were in a convoy of sixty ships. It took them two weeks to cross the Atlantic, continually zig-zagging to avoid enemy submarines. It was a traumatic, apprehensive voyage. He finally arrived in Liverpool, England. He was stationed at Topcliffe, Yorkshire, where he serviced Wellington bomber planes which flew daily over the continent. The position was extremely dangerous with continual air raids. They lost many of the bomber planes and buddies. After three months, he was sent to Africa, on the Sahara Desert, under General Eisenhower. He serviced Wellington bombers which were bombing Italy. He was a Flight Sergeant during his service. They lived in tents on the desert six of them to a tent. They bought fruit and wine from the Arabs. The fruit consisted of dates, melons, bananas, oranges, etc. The Arabs were tough bargainers. They were there through May to September, the hottest time of the year. The sun was directly over their heads. During the day the temperature would be 110 degrees Fahrenheit. At night it was quite a different story. When the sun disappeared it turned very cool. The temperature would drop to around 60. Water was rationed so they had to use it sparingly. When they did their laundry, they did not worry too much about the whitest and brightest. Upon, their return to England they were stationed at Skipton, Yorkshire, serving bombers until the end of the war. Howard returned to civy street for six months. He then rejoined the Air Force and was posted to Edmonton with the winter experimental flight. They spent part of the winter servicing planes at Watson Lake in the Yukon. He was posted to Churchill for the remainder of the winter. These postings were certainly quite a contrast from the Sahara. He went from there to Tacoma, Washington, on the Korean air lift. They were affiliated with the American Air Force taking troops’ supplies to Korea. During one of Howard’s trips, he visited Tokyo and attended a masonic lodge. The lodge presented him with the most unique masonic emblem, superbly handcrafted from wood and gold. He later re-mustered to air crew but on account of air sickness, he was grounded again. He returned to England twice, in charge of a detachment of men. He was then stationed at Lachine in Montreal, also St. Hubert. He finally ended up at Rivers, Manitoba, in charge of Quality Control until his retirement in August 1964, after having spent 25 years with the RCAF, for which he has no regrets. Howard has been actively involved in Hodgson Legion. He was President of Legion 158 from 1967 to 1975 and again from 1978 to 1981. He retired to Fisher Bay with his wife Nora. ASHAM, Howard WWII
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