The Royal Canadian Legion Saskatchewan Command LEST WE FORGET 431 DIXON (MITCHELL), Grace Corporal Grace Mitchell was an RAF Wireless Operator stationed at Royal Air Force Detling Aerodrome in Kent, England when she met William “Bill” John Dixon in 1941. She later transferred to RAF Chicksands in Bedfordshire doing enemy interceptions. Grace talked about being on duty in her wireless hut and the bombs falling overhead. On one occasion, a bomb came through the roof of her hut but failed to detonate. Grace had to carry on with her duties while a disposal unit worked to defuse the bomb because, if she didn’t, it would be considered desertion. An RAF doctor advised Grace and her colleagues to take up smoking to help steady their nerves so they all started to smoke. Grace and her crew were commended for intercepting some particular messages which led to the sinking of a German battleship, the Scharnhorst. Grace would visit Bill and Ian McLeod at the Canadian Military Hospital in Bassingstoke. When Grace eventually came to Canada in 1946, the student minister at the Macoun United Church was the same Ian McLeod she had visited at the Canadian Military Hospital. Bill and Grace were married on August 18, 1943 at St. Giles Church, Edinburg, Scotland. Two days later Bill left to join his unit in Italy. Bill and Grace had a weekend together before Bill was demobilized back to Canada with the LAA Battery at the end of July 1945. Grace was given her travel papers and joined other Canadian war brides sailing on the Cunard White Star Liner Aquitania to Halifax, NS in May 1946. Bill and Grace farmed east of Macoun. They moved into the village in 1968 when Grace took over as Agent for the Ellsworth Telephone Co until they went over to dial in 1973. Bill and Grace had five children. War Brides DAWE (KOOPMANS), Netta Arendina Hendrika Netta was born in Harderwyk, Holland and resided in Apeldoorn, Holland before departing for Canada. She married Lawrence Milton Dawe, a RFN with the Army, on July 14, 1947 at Wadena Baptist Church in Wadena, SK. She left Rotterdan on board the Waterman ship and arrived in Montreal on June 26, 1947 before boarding a train to Wadena, SK. Netta was fourteen years old when the war broke out. In Holland, she taught physical education to the younger children after school and later became a Dental Assistant before she came to Canada as a war bride in 1947. In March 1948, Netta and Lawrence sponsored her family of thirteen to Canada, which was her father, mother and siblings. They came by boat and then by train to Wadena, Saskatchewan. Netta loved to garden, knit and play cards. They have three children: George, Blandina and Kathy.
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