109 The Royal Canadian Legion MANITOBA & NORTHWESTERN ONTARIO COMMAND www.mbnwo.ca Sgt. Raymond Joy, 1st Engineer and Sgt. Bill Bagget, 2nd Engineer. They were still together as a crew when Victory in Europe (VE Day) was declared. They were at #3 OTU for about two and a half months for steady operational practice of gunnery, bombing and fighter affiliation. On completion of training at #3 OTU, Patricia Bay, BC, they received a two or three week leave which Evert spent with his wife in Winnipeg. During this time, their posting came through for operational duty with #7 Bombing and Reconnaissance stations on the West coast of BC. After spending a few days at Prince Rupert, BC they were transferred to RCAF Station, Alliford Bay, on the Queen Charlotte Islands. They spent long days there patrolling the North Pacific Ocean as far as the Aleutian Islands, on enemy Japanese submarine and ship surveillance. That is where Evert was when Drew gave birth to their son, Larry, on May 8, 1944 in Victoria Hospital in Winnipeg. Evert’s records show that on this day he was on submarine search patrol for thirteen and a half hours. Evert was promoted to rank of Flight/Sergeant at this station and in the first week of September 1944 a notice came from High Command. Their crew were to be posted overseas. They were given first-class fares on the Canadian National Railway to Halifax, NS stopping over in Montreal, Quebec for one week to await final orders. Upon arrival in Halifax, they were called for an interview by RCAF Command Headquarters. They presented each of them with a commission, appointing them rank of Pilot Officers commencing on September 18, 1944. They were each given a voucher for $250 to purchase their officers’ uniforms and other apparel. Evert purchased his in the T. Eaton Co. store. One of his uniforms cost $66.50, the other, $46.50. Cost of the greatcoat was $55.00 and $35.00 for the raincoat. The officer’s cap was $10 an additional $6 for a wedge cap and two pairs of shoes at $14.00 each. They did some celebrating then until they moved to an RCAF service station in Scoudouc, NB, twelve miles from Moncton, where they stayed in barracks. They received their overseas posting to the North Atlantic Squadron #162 RCAF, based at Reykjavik, Iceland and waited in Scoudouc to pick up the aircraft. On October 12, 1944, they were assigned to a “Canso A” A/C, #11092 (an amphibious A/C that can land on ground or water) and were airborne from Moncton at 1230 hours, destination: Reykjavik. En route they spent two days at Goose Bay, Labrador and two days at Blewy West 1 in Greenland. On October 18, 1944, they arrived at home base of Squadron #162, Reykjavik, Iceland. It took them five hours and 45 minutes flying time from Moncton to Goose Bay, six hours and forty minutes from Goose Bay to Blewy West 1 and nine hours and ten minutes from Blewy West 1 to Reykjavik. The #162 Squadron Barracks for Commissioned Officers in Reykjavik was connected to the officers’ lounge and messroom, a great convenience. They flew every day, weather permitting. Some days they were airborne as long as fourteen hours. They rose very early in the mornings to have breakfast in the RAF field kitchen, not a sanitary place at all. The cooks wore rubber boots to assist them in wending their way through the grease adhering thickly to the floor. They had a big frying pan on the stove full of aging grease into which they broke the eggs and bacon. The RAF crews from England seemed to get on well with this menu but the RCAF crews had no stomach for so much grease. Evert got horribly airsick several times. Finally, they were endowed with their own Canadian kitchen and cooks for their breakfast. Everything was just great. From breakfast they went to the briefing room on the airfield, briefed on weather and other pertinent information and given envelopes containing duties and destination for the day. They were not allowed to open the envelope until airborne. This secrecy from ground personnel was to help prevent sabotage. They were usually airborne at first light, just before the darkest part of the morning. Their duties were normally surveillance for enemy submarines or ships to be reported as seen or heard anywhere (continued) LAMBERT, Evert Walter(continued)
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