75 The Royal Canadian Legion MANITOBA & NORTHWESTERN ONTARIO COMMAND www.mbnwo.ca CHAMBERS, John Russell WWII John was born at Belmont, the son of Pte. Dougal A. Chambers and H. Sybel Chester. He married the former Margaret Evelyn Myers and they had one son, Gene, and daughters: Merle, Carol, Lois and Colleen. He enlisted in Winnipeg on September 6, 1943 and trained at Toronto and St. Thomas as an aircraft electrician. He was stationed at McDonald, Brandon and Calgary before he was discharged on May 9, 1946 and awarded the Canadian Volunteer Service Medal. After the war, he resided in Belmont where he was employed as a school custodian. CHAMPAGNE, Cecil WWII Cecil enlisted on April 11, 1941 in Winnipeg. He took his training at Camp Debert, Nova Scotia for about five or six months. He had embarkation leave, then went overseas in October 1941 as a Rifleman with the Royal Winnipeg Rifles. He went on the SS Orbita in a convoy. They traveled past Greenland on their way over. It took them three weeks to get to Greenock, Scotland. From there they went to Aldershot, England and then on to Horsham Camp in England. They were on the Isle of Wight for about six months with more training at Camp Borden, England. While in England he met Bud Burston and Cyril Stodgell. He transferred to the Regina Rifles about two weeks after D-Day. He went into front line action before they reached Caen, France. After they passed Caen, Cecil and his buddy had to take about 200 German prisoners of war back to the P.O.W. cage which was about two miles away. Cecil said that it seemed like ten miles, and they were so nervous. He was in the front line through Belgium, France and Holland, right to the Rhine River in Germany. There he was sent to a hospital in Ghent, Belgium, for battle fatigue where he remained six days. After that he was sent to Leopold Barracks in Ghent for a short time. He was in Edens, Holland when the war ended. Cecil was in the occupation forces in Belgium for most of the time, then back to England to wait for a ship to return to Canada. He returned home on an aircraft carrier in February 1946, and was discharged on April 10, 1946. He resided in the Hodgsonville District.
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