277 www.on.legion.ca ONTARIO COMMAND NUGENT, John Albert John was born on October 14, 1920, in Lindsay, Ontario. He joined the Royal Canadian Air Force (Regular Force) in 1940. Flying a Wellington Bomber on a bombing raid over Germany, he was shot down on June 1, 1942. The crew bailed out and survived the ordeal. The only casualty was the rear gunner and the rest of the crew were taken prisoner. John Nugent ended up as a Prisoner of War in Stalag 3. He helped to build the tunnel for the great escape from Stalag 3. Just days before the Great Escape, John Nugent was transferred to another POW camp. He was finally freed on May 10, 1945, and he got married on May 24, 1945 and was officially discharged on November 1, 1945. He had five daughters and passed away in 2020. OESINGHAUS, Hans Hans was born in Gera, Germany, on December 20, 1942. Along with his parents and brother, he migrated to West Germany in 1942. They were caught three times by the Russians but on the fourth try they made it and settled down in Cologne, where they lived on a barge. They moved to Hamburg in 1948 and lived there until 1956, when they immigrated to Canada and settled down in the Ottawa area, and finally Ottawa itself. Hans spoke no English at first. He went to Ottawa Tech High School. On November 23, 1960, he joined the military and served with the RCR (Royal Canadian Regiment), for seventeen years. In those years, he served two terms in Germany (six years between 1962-1965 and 1969-1972) and two terms in Cypress (twelve months between 1966-1967 and 1974-1975). Hans re-mustered to the Air Force (1977-81) as an air frame tech on Hercules and Boeing 707. He left the military on January 28, 1981 and worked with Air Canada for eleven years and Purolator until 2002. After that, he had some part time work before retiring for good in 2008. NUGENT, William Francis “Bill” William was born on April 16, 1917, in Lindsay, Ontario. When he was fourteen years old, he went out west for a visit with his brother. He was happy to get a chance to see parts of Canada. He went to university in Toronto and received a B.Sc. in math and business. He went west again and worked at the Hudson Bay Company, in the Winnipeg Head Office, working his way up from stock boy to office manager. Bill joined the Army Reserves, was promoted to Lieutenant, and then in 1939, was transferred to the Winnipeg Grenadiers. He was sent to Hong Kong, which was a protectorate of England, along with 5000 other Canadians. He was wounded in the left leg on December 24, 1941 at Bennet’s Hill, Battle of Hong Kong. Eventually, he was captured and spent the next four years in a Japanese POW camp. He was discharged in 1945. Bill was in poor health for the rest of his life. He married Judy and they had two girls. After the war, he received the “Distinguished Service Cross” in Ottawa. Bill died young, at 53 years old, on January 31, 1970, from circulation and arterial complications caused by lack of food and poor treatment in the POW camp.
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