Military Service Recognition Book Volume VII 482 ONTARIO COMMAND WILLIS, Delmer Gordon “Mike” Mike was born in Seeley’s Bay, Ontario on May 17, 1922. He enlisted in the Navy in 1942 during World War II. He served onboard HMCS Ottawa II in the North Atlantic, the Bay of Biscay, and the English Channel, and participated in the Invasion of Normandy. Mike and brother, Eric, both bobbed the channel waves in separate ships for the three-day lead-up to the invasion. Mike met Juanita Merrithew in Saint John, New Brunswick during the war and they married in January 1945. Mike was discharged later in 1945 and was awarded the following medals for his service: 1939-1945 Star, Atlantic Star, Canadian Volunteer Service Medal with Clasp andWar Medal 1939-1945. Mike took his bride home to Seeley’s Bay where he ran the family store and the Post Office until 1952. He spent many years doing aerial and school photography, and he collected rocks and enjoyed woodworking. In retirement, Mike and Juanita spent their winters in Florida and summers at Grippon Lake, near Seeley’s Bay. He was a pillar of The Royal Canadian Legion Seeley’s Bay Branch 491. Mike passed away June 5, 2010. WILSON (CHAPMAN), Sheila M. Sheila was born in Dunfermline, Fifeshire, Scotland on January 12, 1921. She joined the British Royal Navy, Womens’ Royal Naval Service (WRNS) on May 6, 1940. Her first posting was to HMS Forth, a submarine depot ship, where she corrected and updated navigation charts of the submarines attached to the ship. Her service took her to Scotland, England, Algiers and Italy during World War II. The eight WRNS lived ashore but as part of the ship’s company received ‘prize money’ after the war from the sale of the captured enemy goods. Discharged in September 1946, Sheila returned to Canada and attended McMaster University and the University of Toronto under the DVA program and became a librarian. She married Mackay Wilson in the 1950’s. She travelled throughout the Unites States and the Philippines. Her husband’s ill health brought them back to Canada and she was employed for over 25 years with the St. Catharines Public Library. Sheila passed away on August 25, 2015. WILLIS, Eric Albert Eric was born in Seeley’s Bay, Ontario and studied medicine at Queen’s University in Kingston. He married Mildred Forler and served as a Medical Officer in Rockcliffe, Ontario and Debert, Nova Scotia, before his posting to England with the Army’s 23rd Canadian Field Ambulance for the Invasion of Europe during World War II. He and his brother Mike, in separate ships, bobbed for three days on the rough waves of the English Channel waiting for D-Day. Eric tended casualties of all sorts as the invasion force fought its way onto Juno Beach, through France, Belgium, Netherlands and Holland (where he befriended a local family, played cards with the parents and removed shrapnel from their daughter). In 1944, Field Marshall Montgomery personally presented Eric the Montgomery Award for Gallantry. Promoted to Major and transferred to the 22nd CFA, he was killed in Bedberg, Germany on March 3, 1945, just two weeks before his scheduled return home. His jeep hit a landmine while he scouted sites for a field hospital. Forever missed, he is buried in Groesbeek Cemetery in the Netherlands. Eric was also awarded the 1939-1945 Star, France and Germany Star, Defence Medal, War Medal 1939-1945, Canadian Volunteer Service Medal and the Commander-in-Chief’s Certificate for Devotion to Duty (on Strength).
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