LEST WE FORGET 217 OLSEN, John Wilfred WWI &WWII Jack was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, in 1892. He saw active duty in both World Wars. As a young man, he was a runner in World War I, serving in the CEF and saw action at Passchendaele and Vimy Ridge. He was wounded at Vimy and spent time in a military hospital in Great Britain, after which, he served as a small arms instructor for the remainder of that war. In World War II, he served in Canada as a member of the Veterans Guard of Canada and was in charge of the pickup and transfer of POWs. Jack passed away in 1968. ORTON, Nelson Richard WWII Nelson was born in Birch Hills, Saskatchewan, in 1925; the ninth of ten children to Wilfred and Annie Orton. When Nelson finished Grade 12, he enlisted in the Air Force as a navigator and was stationed in England, and later transferred to S. E. India Squadron. Nelson was killed in action in 1945, and is buried at Ranchi War Cemetery in the state Bahar, northwest of Calcutta, India. His liberator was hit by flak overt target during a raid on Bangkok, Thailand. The aircraft made it safely back to base at Dign, Bengal, but he died of his wounds. He was the only fatality. OLSEN, Selmer “Bill” WWII Bill was born on his parents’ farm on October 8, 1917, the youngest son of Andrew and Gunhild Olsen. He went to the New England School from 1924 to 1932, and then began farming with his father. He enlisted in the Army and after the war, he came back to farm and married Irene Musselman from Crystal Springs in 1946. They had two children: Sandra and Harley. In 1965, they left the farm and ran a small grocery business for ten years in Saskatoon, then moved back to Birch Hills, where Irene became manager of the Birch Hills Co-op Store. In 1988, Bill passed away after a lengthy illness.
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