29 The Royal Canadian Legion MANITOBA & NORTHWESTERN ONTARIO COMMAND www.mbnwo.ca BAYES, Ernest Frank WWII Ernest was born in Polonia, Manitoba in 1915. He joined the Army on February 25, 1943 at Fort Osborne Barracks. He was 27 years old, single, and farming with his father in the Rapid City, Manitoba area. Following basic training in Portage la Prairie for eight weeks, he was posted to Camp Shilo for advanced infantry training. He was then sent to Truro, Nova Scotia, to a Canadian Army camp for more training, mostly infantry. In the fall 1943, he was drafted overseas. He went over on the Alatona which was a livestock ship converted to troop ship. They left from Halifax in a big convoy. When they were well out in the Atlantic they had two German air raids. Lots of shooting and activity. Luckily they got out of that scrape and continued on their way. They landed in Liverpool. Ernest was in England about two or three weeks in Whitley. That was when he joined up with the Princess Pats. Then he boarded a boat in Scotland bound for Italy, through the Mediterranean. They landed in Naples, after the battle of Ortona was over. A troop train took them to near the Hitler Line in Italy. The train had a broken wheel on it. It was clattering all the way! After this they went into the Canadian Army Line. They broke the Hitler Line and then fought through several rivers to the Gothic Line. On September 18, 1944, Ernest was wounded. His Canadian Pension Commission papers records the wound as follows: “gunshot wound of neck penetrating chest with retained metallic foreign body in or near the heart. Essential hypertension.” He was in a field hospital, back of their line in Italy, for about 14-16 days, then to Canadian Army convalescent camp for a short time. When he got there, he was darn hungry so Ernest asked for a good meal and he got it. After he recuperated enough, Ernest went back into the front line, still in Italy. Shortly afterwards they boarded American boats and travelled to Belgium, then up into Germany still with the P.P.C.L.I. They fought and crossed the Rhine River and into the Black Forest, and got held up there - their whole outfit did. They were held up by one sniper - dug in! Had to surround him and got him. Sniper fire stopped. Parts of the armistice was signed near where the P.P.C.L.I. was, about May 8, 1945. The war now being over, Ernest got back to England for two or three weeks. Docked in Liverpool again. He was repatriated back to Canada on the Ile de France. The trip to Halifax took about eight to ten days. He took the train to Winnipeg. Returning service men were looked after very well on the train. On November 23, 1945, he got his discharge from the Army at #10 District Depot in Winnipeg. His rank was Private. After he got out, he returned to the home farm in Rapid City. He married Doris Norden of Newdale on August 7, 1946. They stayed on the home farm for about three or four years, then bought V.L.A. land from his brother Fred. He and Doris farmed on their own for several years, then moved to Minnedosa and farmed from town for three years. They retired from farming in 1978. They had a family of five; two boys and three girls and had eight grandchildren. He worked at the Rainbow Trout distributing centre at the 4/10 junction north of Minnedosa for four or five years distributing rainbow trout fingerlings. He was a Life Member of the Royal Canadian Legion for 72 years He enjoyed helping with Legion events as he did the A.O.T.S. Club meetings and functions of the United Church, Minnedosa. He transferred his Legion membership from Rapid City to Minnedosa. He and Doris did a lot of travelling every winter, to such places as Victoria, Arizona, Nova Scotia, Sweden and other points east and west, as well as south to Hawaii, Texas and Las Vegas. On this trip to Las Vegas in February 1992, Doris had a really bad accident. She fell and broke both arms and nose. Ernest received the Canadian Volunteer Service Medal and Clasp, Italy Star, France and Germany Star, 1939-1945 Star and War Medal 1939-1945. Ernest passed away in 2015.
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