Remembrance

It was a very peaceful weekend to learn and be reminded about our war history and our brave soldiers while watching TV or listening to the radio while in the shop.  It was a good time to reflect on Canada's place in history and our dedication to a peaceful world. My wife has been researching genealogy for many years and this weekend spent some time researching a distant cousin who crashed in a Lancaster bomber on a night run to lay mines into Danzig Bay in 1944.  She found an account written by a farmer who watched a second Lancaster from the squadron crash into a nearby field and he was so moved by it, that he has researched the events the led up to the night of the assignment for the 30 planes.  There were over 500 bombers launched on three different missions that night.  It's terrifying to comprehend, 7 young guys under 24 years old taking off in the night for a 9 hour trip in the darkness without radar, Loran or GPS navigation.  Not enough pilots were left by 1944 to put a copilot in the plane in case the pilot died, the engineer sat in the copilots seat and and monitored the gauges.  The crew was taught how to keep the plane straight and level and return to England and jump in the event the pilot was killed.  After completing the mine drop at 1:30 AM my cousin's plane was shot down over Danzig Bay.  Two months later two of the bodies from it washed ashore, one being the cousin, and he was buried in Norway.  A creek in Northern BC became named after him for his memory and sacrifice.  It makes our peaceful life in the Bella Coola Valley seem unfair compared to what others went through.

The weather was unusually pleasant to top it off this weekend in the valley, no rain or snow, just still and ranging between -3 and plus 1C.  Grizzly