LEST WE FORGET 181 GAUDET, Aurélien Joseph WWII Aurélien was born in St. Isidore-de-Bellevue district, Saskatchewan, in 1917, into a farming family. He completed basic training in July 1943 and served as a Private in the army with the Régiment de la Chaudière. He served mostly in Canada, stationed in Maple Creek as well as Welland Canal/Niagara Falls doing guard duty. He was assigned to be a test subject at Experimental Station Suffield for mustard gas experiments and testing, for which he was (much later) compensated by the Canadian Government. He was deployed to Europe by boat (Pier 21) but did not see front line duty. He was in Holland when the war ended and helped with cleaning/reconstruction in that country. He returned home by boat (Queen Mary) in 1946 and that voyage home took five days. When he returned to Saskatchewan, he continued farming and married, having nine children survive past infancy. Aurélien passed away on May 15, 2008, at the age of 91. GERBRANDT, Raymond E. “Ray” WWII Ray lived in Birch Hills from 1966 to 1977 as an agent operator for Canadian National Railways. At that time, the station closed for good and Ray moved on to other points. While Ray and Joanne lived there, they were involved with The Legion and the Auxiliary. Ray had served in the Army for four years in Kingston and Ottawa, Ontario, from 1943 to 1946. Ray and Joanne were married for 50 years and had six children. Raymond passed away on December 17, 1997, in Saskatoon. GEDDES, John Bruce WWII John was born on May 18, 1918, in Griffin, Saskatchewan but Weyburn is listed on his birth certificate. He was initially in the Army stationed at Maple Creek then transferred to the Air Force in Edmonton training in Winnipeg. He was qualified in armaments on August 25, 1944 then became a Qualified Air Gunner (Navigation) on October 6, 1944 and became a Sergeant. When trying to transfer into the Air Force from another service, John was told that they should have something in their stomach, so they do not get airsick. John followed their advice and the other recruits who did not had the worse airsickness and were not accepted. He was trained in navigation as he was good with math. He received leave to go home to help with the harvest at the family farm in Paynton, Saskatchewan and while there, his unit was shipped out. He returned and was helping with training when the war ended. He did his 5BX exercises every day of his life and was in good shape until the last years of his life, even playing tennis well into his eighties. After the war ended, he used his Veteran’s Education Grant to obtain his Bachelor of Commerce Degree at the University of Saskatchewan and later becoming a Chartered Accountant. John passed away on May 10, 2007.
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