The Royal Canadian Legion Saskatchewan Command LEST WE FORGET 459 THOMPSON, Clifford Arnold WWII Clifford was born on June 9, 1918. He enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force in the fall of 1941 and received his Wings on September 2, 1943. He served as a Pilot Officer in England and flew on many missions before going missing on July 30, 1944. Clifford is buried in the Military Cemetery in Caen, France. THOMPSON (BIRMINGHAM), Margaret Geraldine WWII Margaret was born on August 4, 1921 in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. She joined the Women’s Royal Canadian Naval Service in November 1944, served at HMCS Stadacona and trained at HMCS Conestoga in Galt, Ontario for a daily pay rate of $1.05. Following her training, she was posted to the Action Room at the HMC Dockyard Halifax in Nova Scotia and was working there during the Halifax riots but was unharmed. On May 8, 1945, she was stationed at the Halifax Harbour and went to HMCS Cornwallis for demobilization. She was discharged from HMCS Unicorn in Saskatoon on November 16, 1945. Margaret was a member of Davidson Legion Branch 51 for twenty years before she passed away in 2005. THOMPSON, Robert Henry “Barney” WWII Barney was born on December 7, 1924 in Davidson, Saskatchewan. He joined the Royal Canadian Air Force as a Gunner on November 10, 1942 and trained in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, New Brunswick, Ontario and Quebec. He then went overseas on HMCS Louis Pasteur and was assigned to an all-Canadian Squadron, 428 Ghost Squadron, as a tail gunner in a Lancaster bomber based in Middleton-St. George, Northern Yorkshire in England. Barney flew 24 trips over Germany and never got a scratch as a tail gunner’s chance of survival in active combat was three minutes, or a 5% chance of surviving a “tour” of 30 missions. On May 8, 1945, he flew to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia and was discharged at the age of 21 years. Barney was a member of Davidson Legion Branch 51 for thirty-two years prior to his death in 2002.
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