35 The Royal Canadian Legion MANITOBA & NORTHWESTERN ONTARIO COMMAND www.mbnwo.ca CHARTRAND, Wilfred WWII Wilfred Chartrand joined up in August 1940, at Fort Osborne Barracks. He was with 6th Field Regiment, RCA, 13th Field Battery, 2nd Division. From there he went on to Portage la Prairie to take his basic training. His next move was to Camp Shilo for advance training. Not the barracks of today, for those boys it was under canvas with little red snakes in their blankets for sleeping company. In August 1943, he was shipped east to #1 Transit Camp in Nova Scotia to await a draft for overseas. From Halifax he sailed aboard the Queen Mary to Greenock, Scotland. Then it was south to Aldershot for a while, on to Worthing and finally to Dover just before D-Day. Two weeks later he landed in France and was wounded along with two others at Caen when the 25-pounder gun blew up and he was hit in the face. He was sent to the back of the lines and then flown to Number 11 General Hospital on Lady Astor’s estate. He was blind because of the explosion, but thanks to the skillful surgery performed by Major Hill he regained the sight in his right eye after being blind for six weeks, but there was no such luck with his left eye. All but one piece of shrapnel was removed (that one was impossible to remove). He spent the rest of his recuperation time at Number 11 General Hospital. After this, he was drafted to a holding unit in Aldershot where he thought he was going to return to Canada, but no such luck. He became part of the Occupational Force was drafted to Latham, Ghent in Belgium and then on Amersfoort in Holland. By this time, he was attached to the 91st Field Battery, RCA. He stayed in Holland until a few days before Christmas in 1945, when he returned to England to get married on the January 4, 1946. On January 20, 1946, a convoy of Canadians went south to Southampton to board the Ile de France bound for Canada. They arrived in Halifax on the January 28, 1946 and headed for Hamilton. From there he travelled on to Winnipeg and arrived there on the February 6. He went home for a month and then was given an honourable discharge on March 15, 1946. CHESTER, Edward Albert WWII Edward was born in England on March 17, 1915. He enlisted in the Army on January 8, 1943 and served with the Fort Garry Horse. He was discharged on November 8, 1945. Edward was married to Madeline.
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