Military Service Recognition Book Volume 11 266 The Royal Canadian Legion MANITOBA & NORTHWESTERN ONTARIO COMMAND YAREMA, Peter WWII & KOREA Peter Yarema loved poetry and regularly read from the favourite volumes he kept in his room at the Perley and Rideau Veterans’ Health Centre. Poetry had been a constant in Peter Yarema’s life - a life marked by service to his country, his community and his family. A pilot during the Second World War and Korean War, Yarema later became a highly respected social worker, and a devoted husband and father. Peter’s grandparents and their young children had emigrated from the Ukraine to a Manitoba farm near the hamlet of Teulon, about sixty kilometres north of Winnipeg. Peter’s first language was Ukrainian. The family later moved to Sarto, another Manitoba farm community, and Peter attended a French school, where he soon acquired a passion for the language. As an adult, he revelled in French poetry, plays and philosophy, an interest he tried in vain to inspire in his children. “The children would joke amongst ourselves that when dad would reach for a book of poetry or plays, it was time to run and hide,” recalls John, the eldest of three children. When the war broke out, Peter enlisted in the Royal Air Force; at the time, the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) was tiny, although it grew exponentially over the next seven years. Peter joined the RCAF for his third tour in Europe. During the Second World War, Peter Yarema flew a wide variety of aircraft: from the tiny, open-cockpit Tiger Moth to the Lancaster, a four-engine behemoth. His assignments also varied considerably: from ferrying empty planes, equipment and troops, to bombing runs and reconnaissance missions. Although he often came under enemy fire, the most harrowing moment was when a flare went off in the cockpit - somehow the navigator was able to throw it out before it caused a crash. During 1944 alone, Peter completed more than fifty bombing missions over Germany. On these missions, he served as a pathfinder: piloting a fast, twin-engine Mosquito, he and a navigator/bombaimer would drop flares to mark targets for formations of bombers. Like most pilots, he was daring and brave. Peter flew with the same co-pilot on dozens of combat missions; after their last flight together, the co-pilot stormed off without saying goodbye because he felt Peter had put their lives in danger too often. Approximately 10,000 Canadian airmen died during these bombing missions. While stationed in England, he met a woman on a train: Margaret Mary Sootheran served in theWomen’s Auxiliary Air Force at Bletchley Park, the legendary headquarters for British codebreakers. Born into a wealthy family, Margaret had attended Queen Ethelburga’s Collegiate, a swank private school. The Sootheran family was not impressed when their daughter announced her intention to marry a Canadian farm boy, even if he was a pilot. Six weeks after meeting, Margaret and Peter married; both then returned to their wartime service. Peter Yarema’s service earned him a Distinguished Flying Cross, although he wasn’t aware of the honour until years later. When medal and citation arrived at the family home in Manitoba, Peter’s mother, who spoke little English, stashed them away in a drawer, perhaps unaware of their importance. “I don’t remember much about the war now,” said Peter. “I’m 95 and I’ve forgotten most of it. He remembers, though,” gesturing to John, the eldest of his three children. “Dad didn’t talk a lot about his wartime service when we were kids,” says John Yarema, now retired and living in Winnipeg. “In recent years, I’ve been trying to piece it all together and it’s been fascinating.” Peter Yarema in uniform DH98 Mosquito Margaret Yarema (née Sootheran) ...continued
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