Page 2 - RCAF Centenary

REMEMBERING
THOSE WHO SERVED!
The Canadian Harvard Aircraft Association (CHAA) honours the contributions the Royal Canadian Air Force and its pilots, aircrew and ground personnel have made in protecting our way of life, and supporting the rights, freedoms and security of people in many nations around the word.
On this, the 100th year of the RCAFs founding, CHAA honours the many who stood up and served in our hour of greatest need during World War II as an integral part of the Allied forces and the Commonwealth. In the vignettes that follow are a few stories of individuals familiar to us by circumstance either through our dive team efforts to locate long lost aircraft or through our relationships. Although diverse in place and time, all who served are reminders of their sacrifices and often heroic acts.
They came from all walks of life and from all across our great nation. They were simply young men and more than a few women who walked among us, who had dreams and ambitions, families, and average jobs but they enlisted for a cause, trained and served with distinction to defeat the enemy. Most returned home and some gave the ultimate sacrifice.
After a brief history of the RCAF and the events of WW2, what follows are some of their stories, short vignettes that illustrate their beginnings, events along the way and brief elements that hopefully resonate with our current generations who followed in their path. Some never returned home, making the ultimate sacrifice, others did remarkable things or just made their contribution to winning the war, and many simply came home, resumed their lives and continued to contribute to the vitality of a nation.
We conclude with one story of three Canadian aviators whose experience on the way to the war appeared in popular publications in 1943. In the True Comics version reproduced in this booklet it dramatically illustrates the courage, endurance, resourcefulness of not only them but the
entire cohort who served in the RCAF.
We dedicate this booklet and its sentiments to all those brave and hardy souls of The Greatest Generation who gave so much to our country and to the world. We will remember all of them and give thanks.
Join us in that journey of remembrance