Editorially speaking...
So much mail over the past two weeks I hardly know where to begin.
But the big event of those two weeks, of course, was Remembrance Day, so I'll start with a really positive email from Daryl Ohs of the Nanaimo Historical Society.
With friends, he has set out to create a photo gallery, on-site, of the five-man crew who were killed in the WW2 crash of a Ventura bomber on Mount Bolduc. Many people visit what's now their official grave site in the Cowichan Lake area to pay homage to these men who were lost before they made it overseas.
They're just five of almost 200 airmen who died in mishaps while training at Patricia Bay airport during the war.
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Hi Tom,
Just a quick update on the progress of things you would appreciate knowing:
On October 30 I placed four more portraits of the Ventura crew on [Mount] Bolduc, to add to the existing one of Sgt. Harry Maki. I sourced these from The Canadian Virtual War Memorial which is an ongoing database by Veterans Affairs. It’s much like the Canadian Letters and Images Project started at VIU in 2000.
There’s no photo yet of LAC Murray Thomas Robertson; in lieu of that I placed a letter from his mother to DND Ottawa regarding the conceptual plans for the Ottawa Memorial that was erected in 1956. This memorial is dedicated to the Allied Air Force members who lost their lives in Canada and have no known grave.
Bless you, Darrell. I've visited this site a few times, once on Remembrance Day with members of the Royal Canadian Air Force from Comox. It was foggy out there in the forest, miles from anywhere, and the sound of Amazing Grace by the lone piper was absolutely eerie. I'll never forget it.
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Chronicles reader Brian Holt wrote in response to my Remembrance issue post on finding old family photos at garage sales and flea markets and the like:
I am with you, TW, I could not [bear] to throw out old photos of loved ones.
I bought a vintage frame from early 1900s. The flowery oval frame with the convex glass; I was going to place my grandfather's WW1 photograph inside it, but could not for the life of me remove the old photo of the two younger brothers posing next to each other.
So there it is in my house just the way it has always been. Grandpa will just have to wait another day...
Right on, Brian. As I noted in that post, and in articles and columns I've written over the years, it's almost heartbreaking to see someone's once treasured photos and family albums for sale on a junk table. Ergo, I, too have memorabilia of people and families I don't know.
And after me--?
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For years, Mike Bieling, the man behind the White Cross program in the Cowichan Valley, has been trying to learn more about a man who's buried in All Saints' Cemetery, Westholme; he's a possible candidate for a White Cross.
I wrote of Mike's quest in the Citizen on Remembrance Day and ended by asking readers if they could help him with his research. Well, Carolyn Prelwitz, a director of the Cowichan Valley Museum, took up the challenge.
And she solved the mystery!
I'll tell you about it next week.
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