LEST WE FORGET 77 BOWDEN, Ernest Edward WWII Ernest was born in Kindersley, Saskatchewan, on January 19, 1921. He graduated from Royal Canadian Air Force pilot training on July 2, 1942, in Virden, Manitoba. Aboard the Queen Elizabeth, he was assigned to 419 Moose Squadron in Bournemouth, England in December 1942. In September 1943, Sergeant E. E. Bowden, 2nd Pilot was on a bombing mission of railway tracks in Italy. On the return flight, the plane was attacked over northern France. All crew parachuted and Ernest and three others were captured and sent to Heydekrug, East Prussia Prisoner of War Camp. He was moved along the Baltic Sea to different camps until May 1945. On May 2, eight prisoners were released and met up with the British Army. Ernest was sent to England, then back to Canada on June 27, 1945. He was now Warrant Officer. He was a sixty-year member of The Royal Canadian Legion Kindersley Branch 57. Ernest passed away on January 7, 2009. BRETT, Mary Augusta WWII Mary was born in Grenfell, Saskatchewan on April 12, 1916. She was sworn in the Air Force on January 8, 1942 and reported to Toronto on January 17 with 6 Depot CWAAF (now RCAFWD). She was stationed at Mossbank and worked in the Dental Corp as a dental assistant. She became a sergeant. Mary loved painting and when stationed at Mossbank, she gave art classes to others in service and often wished she knew if they continued painting. When she was initially in training in parade drill, she could project her voice and was signaled out by the training officer to teach others. After the war ended, she used the Veteran’s Education Grant to go to the school of dental hygiene at University of Minnesota and came home to Regina to be the first dental hygienist in Canada. Mary passed away on March 12, 1990. BOX, Garnet Edmund “Ted” WWII Garnet Edmund Box was born in Vanguard, Saskatchewan on September 27, 1913, the son of William Edmund and Mabel Ida (Oakley) Box. Ted’s father was a CPR station agent. The family moved to Morse where Ted spent his early childhood before another transfer brought the family to Outlook in the late 1920’s. After leaving home, Ted worked in Lloydminster for the Lloydminster Gas Company before enlisting in the Royal Canadian Air Force in Saskatoon in 1940. He served as a navigator in the 428th Ghost Squadron based in Darlington, England. The ‘ghost’ name came from the numerous hours of nightbombing that the squadron carried out. He married Marie Antoinette Rondeau on January 23, 1943, in Winnipeg. They had two children, Patricia and Ken. After returning to Canada after the war, Ted and his wife moved to British Columbia where he worked for Customs Canada at the Peace Arch/Douglas Border Crossing. He retired in 1972. After 61 years of married life, Garnet Edmund Box passed away on June 7, 2004, in Surrey, British Columbia.
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