37 The Royal Canadian Legion MANITOBA & NORTHWESTERN ONTARIO COMMAND www.mbnwo.ca BARRETT, Clifford Francis WWII Clifford enlisted on June 16, 1943 at HMCS Chippawa, Winnipeg and went for six weeks of basic training before he was transferred to HMCS Cornwallis at Deepbrook, NS for further training in barracks and sea time experience. Further to this, he served out of Deepbrook, on HMCS Annapolis for about one year. They were a ship’s crew, training officer candidates in seamanship. He served about six months in HMCS Chaleur II, a dockyard unit at Quebec City. He served on HMCS Glencove on the Saint Lawrence River. It was a 400-horsepower diesel tug, operating at Quebec City. They towed “Live Ships” out into the St. Lawrence on their way to convoy assignments. We towed HMCS Magog to Trois Rivières, after she was torpedoed in the Gaspé’ Coast area, by a German submarine, U-boat that operated as part of the pack on the Atlantic Coast and Saint Lawrence River. On one occasion they were called back into port on HMCS Annapolis, when a foreign submarine threatened. Annapolis was a 1917 US destroyer refitted from 4-funnel destroyer to “3-stack”, and lent to Great Britain by the US in the lend-lease program. Rumor was that they had been sunk, but they all felt very alive. One of their interesting activities was meeting returning troop ships at Wolf’s Cove. Included in these troops were the heroic soldiers and a few who had been charged with black marketing. While the main body of troops was disembarked on the shore side. They aided those not so happy men, the black marketers, onto their boats on the side away from the public gaze; these men to be dealt with later. It was a joy during these 29 months of Clifford’s service to meet, at times, with the RCNVR types from home. Jerry Huk and Clifford enjoyed some fellowships at Cornwallis and Halifax. George Savage and Clifford met in Quebec City and enjoyed an evening out. These were also times of sadness as reports of loved ones lost in service filtered to them, but also times of great pride in the courage and dedication of local units such as the Winnipeg Grenadiers. As the war was ending, Clifford volunteered for duty in the Pacific. Such volunteers were generally sent home on two months leave. While returning from leave, the atomic bomb was dropped in Hiroshima, in essence, terminating the war in the Pacific. Clifford was demobilized at Winnipeg on November 21, 1945. After the war, he and his wife Lois lived at Sherwood Park, Alberta and raised fourteen children. He retired from government work, in pest control, for Alberta Agriculture. He also worked with Saskatchewan Department of Agriculture. Clifford said “I see many problems currently and much need of dedicated people to work for a strong Canada”. BARRON, Joseph Eli WWII Eli joined the Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders in Winnipeg on October 5, 1940. His basic training was taken mainly in Winnipeg. He was posted overseas in the early part of October 1941. They landed in England where they had further Commando training in preparation for the Dieppe raid, August 19, 1942. Eli went over on the Dieppe raid. He was with the mortar outfit. The mortar outfit, which fired bombs on the beach to protect the men landing on the beaches and to destroy the enemy pillboxes. He was wounded while on the ship and taken back to England where he was hospitalized for many months. Shrapnel injured him in the right hip area, including rupturing his appendix. After getting out of the hospital he continued action in France, Belgium and Holland. He took part in D-Day, the invasion of Normandy. Eli returned to Canada and was discharged on September 6, 1945. Through the years Eli continued to be bothered from his war wounds, often picking out pieces of shrapnel from his side. He resided in Fisherton for a number of years with his wife, Myrtle (Switzer). They then moved to Winnipeg in 1950, and after retirement in 1970, they moved to Balmoral, Manitoba. Eli passed away in 1982.
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