205 The Royal Canadian Legion www.mbnwo.legion.ca WILKIE, Kenneth Daniel WWII Kenneth was born in Franklin, Manitoba in 1906. He enlisted in the Royal Canadian Ordnance Corps inWinnipeg, Ft. Osborne Barracks, in early 1942. He was 36 years old and was parts manager at Murray’s garage in Neepawa. From Winnipeg, he was posted to Ottawa for a couple of months. He was on draft for overseas but his papers hadn’t arrived. He finally got overseas. The Sgt. Major asked for a barber. He was pulled out and taken to HQ. From then on that’s what Kenneth did at HQ – ie. at Aldershot, barbering. He went overseas on the Stratford, which was a south sea luxury liner converted into a troopship (1st trip). They were in a large convoy in July 1942 – about 75 ships. The first day out of Halifax, they lost a ship, an oil tanker got torpedoed with no survivors. In all the resulting confusion, the Duchess of Atholecollided with one of the escort ships and got damaged. It had to limp into Boston for repairs for about three months. Their crossing took thirteen days. They had a run in with German subs twice. Allied escort ships destroyed one sub and aircraft destroyed another sub. They embarked from Halifax and went down to New York and picked up seven troop and freight ships. They were towed up the River to Glasgow and held on the ship for a couple of days. Then they were loaded on the train – packed like sardines – for Aldershot.The night they arrived in Aldershot, they had an air raid – no damage done – a few bombs were dropped. Their Field Headquarters, under Brig. Gen. Henderson, was near Guilford, Lord Middleton’s home. He was on fire watch this particular night when the V-2 buzz bombs were coming over thick and fast headed for London. They were landing at any place. Two lit near their building. Their workshop and a barn were hit and demolished, but nobody was killed. He and his buddy were on fire watch on the roof of one of the buildings together when a buzz bomb came right at them; it got the machine shed. The guy he was with, in taking shelter, got stuck in a passage way and Kenneth couldn’t get him out – he was over 200 pounds. They didn’t have any means of letting the rest know about the bombs coming, apart from going down to the first floor through the attic to the phone. This was about 2:45am. It was too close for comfort. One night about two or three years after he got to England, a Brig. General called them out for the fire drill about 1:30am and raining like the dickens. They all got out in the rain and the officers stayed under shelter in the doorway. The Brig. made them get out with them. He had just returned from London and was feeling pretty good. He then dismissed them and made the officers stand out in the rain for half an hour. Kenneth had his own motorcycle in England. One of the boys asked him to drop him off at the pub. When he went back to pick him up, he was standing on the porch with only his tunic. He asked him: “What happened to you?” He said: “A fellow has to drink, hasn’t he?” He traded his uniform, except for tunic, for beer. He was on draft for Italy and France once but the adjutant came and took him off – word from the Brigadier. He was repatted at Christmas 1945 and was out of the army in February 1946. The ship he came back on was the Mauritania – a fast ship, took only four days. They landed back in Halifax. After his discharge with the rank of Private, he managed a service station at Clear Lake. Later, he turned the service station over to his son Murray and he bought the bus depot and bought a farm near Franklin.Then he went back to Clear Lake as Postmaster. After eight years, he retired. His wife Francis Guest, from Worcestershire, England, who he married in 1928, took sick in 1955. He looked after her until she passed away in November 1990 at the age of 85. They were on the farm at the time. In about 1983, they bought the Poplar Park Trailer Court in Minnedosa. It was sold after eight or nine years. He belonged to four Lodges and the Minnedosa Legion, the Masonic Orders, the Royal Arch Chapter, the Mount Carmel Preceptory, the Khartoom Temple in Winnipeg, the Eastern Star (Past Patron). Kenneth received the Canadian Volunteer Service Medal and Clasp, Defence Medal and War Medal 1939-1945. Kenneth passed away on March 26, 1997.
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