141 The Royal Canadian Legion MANITOBA & NORTHWESTERN ONTARIO COMMAND www.mbnwo.ca HARVEY, Ralph Morgan WWII Ralph was born on September 30, 1912, in Neepawa, Manitoba, the son of Booty “Bert” Harvey and Ethel Calder. He received his education in Neepawa. Ralph married Margret Brown on September 8, 1939. He enlisted in the Army on September 11, 1939. He worked in the Guard House at Neepawa Airport (E.F.T.S. #35 & #36). Ralph landed at Dieppe with the Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders of Canada on August 19, 1942. He was captured at Green Beach and spent the rest of the war as a Prisoner of War, starting at Stalag VII B. Lance Corporal Ralph Harvey was discharged from service on August 24, 1945. He received the Canadian Volunteer Service Medal and Clasp. Ralph was a member of many fraternal societies such as the Neepawa Lodge #24, the Royal Arch Masons, the King Edward Chapter No. 4 and many more. He was a member of The Royal Canadian Legion Neepawa Branch 23 for thirty years from 1945 to 1975. Ralph passed away on May 31, 1975, at the St. Boniface Hospital in Winnipeg. HAYWOOD, Frederick R. “Fred” WWII Fred, born in 1924 in Glencairn, Manitoba, enlisted in the Army at the Recruiting Centre in Brandon, Manitoba on April 2, 1942. He was from Glencairn, Manitoba and was eighteen years old. He was sent to Fort Osborne Barracks in Winnipeg, given a medical, and sworn in. He took his basic training at the Barracks for two months and was then posted to Portage la Prairie for more basic training. In the early fall of 1942, he was posted to Camp Shilo for more training in the light antiaircraft regiment on 18 pounder guns. Fred left Shilo in November 1942 to go overseas, from Halifax, onboard the Queen Elizabeth. The trip across the Atlantic took four days and five nights, with no ship escorts. Fred was “sick as a dog”, due to rough winter seas. They disembarked at Greenock and took the train to Hazelmere, England, to a Canadian re-enforcement camp. There, they received training on the 40mm anti-aircraft guns. His eldest brother, Bert, came to the camp and claimed Fred into the regiment: 70th Battery, 8th Light Anti Aircraft Regiment of the 4th Armoured Division. In July 1943, their 4th Armoured Division proceeded to France, landing outside of Caen. They proceeded to dig positions for their guns, eight men to each gun. They fired a barrage all night long into the German lines, and continued to advance into France, setting their guns up in new locations. The Lake Superior Regiment was on their left, the Polish Regiment on their right flank. After a few days, their own Air Force came over and mistakenly bombed some of the Canadian troops. As Fred said, “We got the smaller bombs, probably 500 pounds, and the Germans got the bigger bombs.We could plainly see the bombs coming down from the aircraft.We were told that a lot of German troops were killed in their trenches from concussion caused by the bigger bombs.” After that, the Germans retreated quite a few miles. As the 4th Armoured Division was advancing through the mine fields outside Dunkirk, they were under heavy enemy fire. A truck close to Fred’s was hit and the entire crew was killed. (continued)
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