ww ii memories from p.e.i.\'s bygone days1

Reginald Thompson\'s column, days of the past, brings you the voice of the elderly on the island, many of whom have been around for a long time nowdeparted.
The way things past provide a fascinating glimpse of the past.
Every other weekendE. I.
Will bring you the Dutch column.
World War II veteran Lloyd Gates is now 93 and still lives in Charlottetown, where he was born.
He was the first person to say that he lived a very typical life on P. E. I.
Until the war broke out.
More than a decade ago, Gates sat down with historian Dutch Thompson to share his memories of his youth and turbulent times in the history of the world.
Mayflower Millay was born in the old P of 1924. E. I. Infirmary —
It is now an apartment building opposite the East Union Center of Charlottetown.
His father, Fred, runs a flour and grist mill, the Mayflower mill, which has been a landmark of lower marpique Road in the West royal family since 100.
Lloyd and his brothers fish eel and trout in the mill pond.
Although they live only three miles from downtown Charlotte, he only goes to town two or three times a year.
The Charlottetown house has only electricity on North River Road, and the West royal family is the main farmland, not the suburbs.
Sit in their seats. E. I.
The first airport is near Upton airport and is now the Royal West Business Park.
Lloyd and his brother Bob were fascinated by it.
When they were children, they would bring fresh buttermilk to the pilot and model the plane.
\"Oh yes, we are there almost every day, even watching the birds fly when they don\'t fly! \" said Gates. \"The east-
The west runway is right next to the mill.
From next malpique Road to Upton Road.
\"The Bold Pilots became role models for the boys, and one day they were flying --
They hide something from their parents and they will upset gates.
\"Without this radar or anything else, they just sit next to their pants. . .
\"It was an exciting old age,\" he recalls . \"
The airport hosted an exciting aviation event, a visiting plane from the United States. S.
Including the earliest helicopter-self-driving aircraft.
Air Canada is the airline that landed at Upton airport.
Gates also watched legendary sports. E. I.
Pilot Carl Burke studied flying there.
Burke founded Maritime Central Airlines, which developed into an important part of Air Canada, the Eastern Province Airlines.
Ghost story from PE. I.
The past Dayrunning in P. E. I.
When the Second World War broke out in 1939, Gates was only 15 years old, but he was eager to join R. C. A. F.
First of all, he must finish grade 10 at the Old West Royal School.
He tried to join the Air Force when he was 16, but they refused him.
So he worked in the family factory and was finally able to join until he was 18.
His brother Bob also joined the Air Force and became a radar technician.
He was trained as a radio/telephone operator but barely graduated from the training school at N Scoudouc. B.
Because his teeth are not good.
He said that the base dentist worked overtime, filled 13 teeth and pulled out two teeth. after finishing, he told Gates: \"Leave here!
I have never seen anyone like you who is determined to go abroad!
\"What I remember most was the restaurant in November.
1943, Gates was sent to the UK and left Halifax on December to board the Mauretania with about 10,000 soldiers.
\"During the day, they meander in the ocean, avoiding U-boats.
In the evening, they were boiling with blood.
Section 21 or Section 22, open, there is only one straight line.
\"He recalled that he was sent to the training course of the commandos to learn how to throw grenades (
\"You don\'t throw them like baseball \")
Drive a large British Sony Croft truck and shoot Vex machine guns and Sten guns.
In 1944, in D-
One day, he found himself under German fire in Normandy, France.
\"We landed at gray beach. sur-Mer.
We are a mobile airport and we may be notified one hour in advance.
Throw your tent behind the truck and then you go.
They put the entire Air Force squadron on a landing ship tank, which is the open double door.
\"What I remember most was the noise of all the ships firing.
Battleship, cruiser, destroyer.
All the stuff with guns on it, \"Gates said. \"[
British General Bernard
Montgomery\'s headquarters is in Creully, France, and we are in the east of there.
\"He recalled that they had built a runway from the wheat fields, and the aircraft had created a sandstorm when it took off. The pay was $1.
£ 35 a day, but Gates is not worried about it.
He said that he spent all his energy to finish his work and stay alive.
He drove the Typhoon fighter bomber with 439 Squadron.
The typhoon was a fast fighter equipped with two large bombs to attack German supply lines and Army trains.
The planes carried out low-intensity, dangerous flights to help the allies sweep the Netherlands from the French beaches of the base of the Netherlands and finally into Germany, which ended the war.
How is the horse in P. E. I.
Celebrating the past day of the flight in Charlottetown, Gates told Thompson that he lost friends every week and lost friends every day for weeks.
The worst day was the surprise of the German Air Force.
Attacked his squadron in the Netherlands.
New Year 1945, known as action Bodenplatte.
\"The Germans plan to carry out a secret operation to destroy all airports in France, Belgium and the Netherlands.
\"I\'m based in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, where we have 12 squadrons, typhoons and spit fires, about 150 aircraft,\" Gates said . \".
\"We were hit by 73 German fighters for 23 minutes in a row.
It was a sunny morning.
You can hardly see the sky in 15 minutes.
All these planes exploded and caught fire.
Gates said they just had 500 on their plane.
There are bombs under each wing.
\"Your brain was a little useless at that time --You were shocked.
These things, the fighter is about 50 feet off the ground, you can look straight into the pilot\'s eyes, four 20-
The damage to you is MM.
It\'s a strange feeling that those things are whistling in your ear.
\"Eventually, the operation destroyed 99 planes at Gates base and destroyed a total of 450 Allied planes. A 1,000-
He recalled that a pound bomb blew gates 25 feet high into a field.
He was lucky not to be killed.
After that, 439 squadrons were destroyed and Gates began firing fire with 416 squadrons.
The \"emotional\" Anniversary Ceremony Unites Islanders 0 to 100 tulip planting honors 70 years with the Dutch friendship of \"My band is not welcome. When he received a letter from his mother informing him of his death in a plane crash in Italy
It\'s not easy for gates to go home after the war because he knows his brother is not successful.
His war did not end in 1945.
He was working until March 1946.
\"I\'m coming back [ship]
France is with the war bride.
Back home, no band to welcome me, nothing!
\"Because it was 46 years and everyone was at home at the time,\" he said . \".
He tried to book a ticket back to P. E. I.
But a storm in April stopped flights.
So with $700 in his pocket, he decided to stay at the Nova Scotia Hotel, the hippest hotel in town.
\"I remember I walked there with the kit and walked into the front desk and he said \'Can I help you? \'?
I said I was looking for a room.
After five or six days on the boat, I looked sloppy.
So we don\'t have a room, he said.
I said this is a big hotel with 200 rooms and you have to have a room!
He said we had no room.
\"Soon after, a police officer came over to find a room and got one immediately. \"I\'m a little angry!
Gates recalled.
A policeman led him to a boarding school across the street, where he lived.
After the war, Gates worked as a sculptor across Canada for 12 years, training students in Halifax\'s reserve team.
He married his wife Mary and now lives in Charlottetown.
Gates doesn\'t think he\'s a hero.
Just an island boy doing his job.
\"It was a great experience, and I\'m glad I went through it, but I don\'t want to do it anymore.
You won\'t forget. \"More P. E. I.
Why are more different candidates not running? E. I.
Increased municipal elections in P. E. I. —
Here\'s how to keep your home animals-