73 The Royal Canadian Legion www.mbnwo.legion.ca BURTON, Frank Earl WWII Frank was born on February 20, 1923, to James and Clara (Walker) Burton of Eden, Manitoba. He received his education at Glenholm School. After working several jobs, he moved to Toronto in 1941 and got a job as a “pickler” at Aluminum Goods in Toronto. He left this job after three-and-a-half months to enter Galt Aircraft School and studied to be an aircraft mechanic. On April 22, 1942, Frank enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force. He was sent to Torbay, Newfoundland. He lost his life on December 12, 1942, in a fire at the Knight of Columbus hostel in St. John’s, NL, where he was staying. This happened after he had been rescued from the sinking of the SS Caribou which was torpedoed by a German submarine in October 1942 in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Frank was buried at the Gander War Cemetery in Gander, Newfoundland and Labrador. Burton Peninsula (64 O/16) in the Townsend River was named after him in 1987. BURTON, Galvin Noble WWII Galvin was born on July 15, 1920, to Noble and Stella (Orr) Burton in the Minto District, North of Franklin, Manitoba. His call to join the Army came in January 1942, when he was 21 and, on the farm north of Franklin. In Portage la Prairie, Galvin was put in with the Royal Canadian Fusiliers. A short time later, he switched over to the Royal Canadian Ordnance Corps and was posted to Seaforth Barracks at Burrard Inlet, BC, when they found he was mechanically inclined. Galvin’s job there was maintenance and repair on army trucks, and general mechanical work. He also acted as truck driver instructor and took new recruits over to Sea Island (now Richmond). One morning, in a right-hand drive truck, raining like crazy, they got broad-sided at an intersection by a truck with a load of slabs. This truck came from their left – the driver was in the wrong. Fortunately, no one was badly hurt. A short while after having transferred to Ordnance Corps, the name was changed to RCEME (Royal Canadian Electrical and Mechanical Engineers). For health reasons, he missed a posting to Kiska in the Aleutians. The Japanese had already gone; they pulled out when Galvin’s outfit arrived. One time when he was stationed in Vernon BC, they were taken out on the parade square on a very hot and humid night in the middle of summer with full pack. Everything they owned was on their backs. They were taken on an all-night march, 23 miles! When the sun came up early next morning, they had gone as far as Kelowna on Lake Okanagan. The lake was so inviting, they were hot and tired, so they ditched their packs and clothes and jumped in. “That was the best swim I ever had in my entire life!” said Galvin. In due course of time, their outfit was posted to Debert, NS, in preparation for overseas.When the train got as far as Kitchener, ON, about 25 of them were pulled off for a special assignment - to winterize vehicles, track vehicles called “weasels”, to be tested way up north to see how they would start and perform under extremely cold weather conditions. This was Galvin’s job at Kitchener for an entire month. continued . . .
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