131 The Royal Canadian Legion MANITOBA & NORTHWESTERN ONTARIO COMMAND www.mbnwo.ca GRANT, Boyd WWII Boyd was born on the family farm in the Cameron District and lived there until he finished his schooling. He joined the Infantry at Fort Osborne Barracks inWinnipeg, in March 1944, when he was eighteen years old. He took his basic training at Fort Garry, and while at advanced training at Camp Shilo, he was transferred to the Royal Canadian Corps of Signals in July 1944. The #1 Special Wireless Group was being formed, and they started their training at Patricia Bay, BC. This was Boyd’s first journey outside of Manitoba. His unit consisted of about three hundred men from across Canada. The object of the exercise was to monitor Japanese Code. On January 25, 1945, they left San Francisco and sailed aboard the SS Monterey for New Guinea. After a short stay there, he went to Brisbane, Australia, and then for eight months were at Darwin on the North Coast. This area had been bombed and strafed by the Japanese, and all civilians had been evacuated. Japan had surrendered on September 2, 1945, so on October 25, 1945, they left Darwin on a transcontinental trip to Sydney, headed for home. The 2,300-mile trip across Australia took about a month. They then left Sydney on the freighter T.S.M.W. Socotra. As Boyd recalled: “Sleeping in the holds with a cargo of wool during a three-day tropical storm wasn’t a pleasant experience. Fresh water was used only for drinking and cooking. They showered with cold saltwater. I recall a rain one day near the equator. In minutes there were 300 nude troops on deck, with soap, for a luxurious, cold freshwater shower.” They arrived in Vancouver on February 26, 1946, after 21 days. Boyd was discharged in April. During the group’s stay in Australia, they were treated like royalty. Numerous Australians received training in Canada under the Commonwealth Air Training Plan. The Aussies were anxious to reciprocate the hospitality that had been bestowed on their boys by Canadians. The Special Wireless Group unit’s work was naturally secretive. Boyd always wondered if the messages they intercepted in Japanese secret Kana code had ever been deciphered. A friend of Boyd’s gave him a book forty years later that, once he read it, he learned that his unit’s work had been very useful. As soon as the war was over, he was like nearly every other veteran. Boyd couldn’t wait to get out of the army and get on with his life. Weeks after being discharged, Boyd “made my attempt at farming. With the help of neighbours and relatives, I harvested my first crop on the home farm in 1946.” In the winters, Boyd used his returns benefits of $60 to finance his education in the Diploma course in Agriculture at the University of Manitoba. In 1949, Boyd married Amy Lewis of the Roseneath District. They had four children and continued to farm until 1958 when Boyd went to work for the Veterans Land Administration in Souris. His career path took them next to the newly formed Farm Credit Corporation until 1964 in Brandon, and then with the Real Estate Department of the Prudential Insurance Co. of America in Winnipeg. In 1970, he started work with the Resource Projects where he purchased land for reclamation and wildlife habitat for the Crown of Manitoba. He received his appraisal accreditation with the Appraisal Institute of Canada in 1973. In 1975, Boyd and Amy left Winnipeg and returned to farming with their son Greg. He is the fourth generation on the home farm. The Boyds retired from farming in 1994 and enjoyed travelling, golf, and curling. He has been a member of The Royal Canadian Legion Minnedosa Branch 138 for over 66 years. He received the Canadian Volunteer Service Medal and Clasp, Pacific Star, and War Medal 1939-1945.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTM0NTk1OA==