LEST WE FORGET 59 BERGREN, Roy Birger WWII Roy was born in Gronlid, Saskatchewan on May 10, 1923. He joined the Navy in November 1942, at the age of nineteen. He began active service in March 1943. Roy spent seventeen months on convoy duty making seven trips across the Atlantic Ocean to Ireland and Scotland. Roy served as an Anti-Aircraft Gunner aboard the corvette HMCS Frontenac and on the corvette HMCS Fergus. In March 1944, in the North Atlantic, Ordinary Seaman Roy Bergren was ready to go on duty at 0800 hours to stand a depth charge watch at the rear of the corvette HMCS Frontenac. He was asked to dump a pail of oily rags over the side when a wave hit him and carried him out about forty feet into the water. The temperature of the water at the time was 1 degree Celsius. There were several attempts to rescue Roy, but the ship lost sight of him many times. Finally, Roy was able to grab onto the heavy line and the crew pulled him alongside the ship and then onboard. He had been in the frigid water about 30-35 minutes and barely conscious when rescued. Roy remained in sick bay for a few days but suffered from numbness in his fingers for many months. The officers in the navy had seen a lot of water and many bitter storms in one of which Roy Bergren was washed overboard. They managed to pick Roy up again thanks to good seamanship and good luck. While Roy was on the corvette Frontenac, they were escorting a frigate which was torpedoed by a submarine and sank. Roy said they had gone back to where the ship had gone down and another corvette was there picking up survivors. It was extremely traumatic to see their fellow sailors in the frigid and fuel covered water. BERRY, Wilfred Edward WWII Wilfred was born in Central Butte on March 1, 1916. He enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force and served as a rear gunner in Canada, Great Britain and Northwest Europe. During the whole war, 51% of aircrew were killed on operations, 12% were killed or wounded in non-operational accidents and 13% became prisoners of war of evaders. Only 24% survived unscathed. The Rear-Turret Gunners were in the most vulnerable position on the aircraft. The life expectancy of a W2 Rear-gunner was never high, mostly about five sorties (combat missions). Returning Veterans did not often talk about their service experience when they returned home. However, Wilf recounted to his friend Edgar Philpott an incident as a rear gunner. He had run out of ammunition. A German fighter came up from behind, not being fired upon, the German fighter pilot did not fire, and he just peeled off the pursuit. Wilfred passed away on November 19, 1996.
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