John McGuire Taylor was born in November of 1917. Taylor served with the RCAF during WWII until his aircraft was shot down over North Africa, where he was taken prisoner in November of 1941. He remained a prisoner of war for the remainder of WWII. After being taken prisoner in Africa, Taylor was a POW in Italy, and then finally sent to Germany, where he spent time in Stalag Luft 3. The collection consists of an extended, illustrated memoir written while as a prisoner, as well as photographs, letters, cards, and his flying log.
Title
WWII
These collections contains all materials relating to Canadian from 1939 to 1945. Some individual collections may contain materials beyond this time frame. External links in collection descriptions are to casualty and burial information at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
Montague Temple was born in Victoria, British Columbia in 1907, served overseas during World War Two, and died in Vancouver in 1989. The collection consists of one letter written overseas in 1944.
Archie Thompson had worked on the Frank and Annie Fuller family farm in Quebec prior to the war. The letters were addressed to Donald Fuller, their son. Following his return from the war Archie Thompson moved to Montreal. The collection consists of four letters.
[The materials in this collection are currently being processed and uploaded. Some items may be incomplete or inaccessible at this time.]
This collection is comprised of letters of thanks sent to the Ladies Aid of Transcona United Church in 1944 and 1945 by Canadian service personnel, to thank them for the Christmas parcels provided by the Church. The letters represent recipients from across Canada and overseas.
The correspondents in the collection are:
Blaikie, R.N. no date
Brewster, Leslie October 22, 1944
Brewster, Murray no date
Chudley, Hugh January 28, 1945
Cormack, J.W. December 31, 1944
Cowan, Hugh January 3, 1945
Duncan, J.M. January 7, 1945
Esselmont, George December 7, 1944
Esselmont, Mrs. P. February 28, 1945
Finch, Elden December 22, 1945
Henderson, Jack January 3, 1945
Henderson, Ralph November 22, 1944
Heron, Ken December 27, 1944
Hinds, Sandy no date
Isbell, Gordon January 14, 1945
Johnston, Jim November 27, 1944
Johnston, William no date
Lamb, Charles January 11, 1945
Layman, Russell January 7, 1945
Lidgate, Eileen November 22, 1944
Matthew, Charlie December 15, 1944
Maxwell, Jim no date
McLeod, Doug November 22, 1944
Molter, John February 14, 1945
Moore, Alex December 30, 1944
Pollard, Norman November 20, 1944
Robertson, Jennie December 23, 1944
Sward, Arnott March 2, 1945
Sward, E.D. January 4, 1945
Taylor, George January 3, 1945
Thomson, David December 24, 1944
Thomson, Frank December 3, 1944
Thorburn, Martha no date
Warner, Fred January 1, 1945
Warner, R. no date
Wood, Rodney no date
[Editor note: At the time of the letters, the church was known as Transcona United Church – the word Memorial was added to the Church name at a later date. Transcona was that time a separate town and not yet a part of Winnipeg.]
Leading Aircraftwoman Jean Isabel Turner was born in Springside, Saskatchewan, on November 27, 1920, to parents Harold Corbett and Flora Marjorie (née Smith) Turner.
Turner enlisted with the Royal Canadian Air Force (Women’s Division) in 1942, initially training at No. 7 Manning Depot in Rockcliffe, Ontario. In 1943-44 she was posted at R.C.A.F. Station Mont-Joli, Québec, and later in 1945 at the No. 6 Operational Training Unit in Comox, British Columbia.
Content notes:
Letters were written by Turner to her friend Eira Williams in Regina, Saskatchewan, between 1942-1945. Other letters written to Eira Williams can be found in the CLIP Collections of Wren Margaret Helen Chesney, Cpl. Eunice Frances Davies, and P/O Lloyd Wesley Cuming.
External links:
L.A.W. Jean Turner’s service record (Serv/Reg# W304895) is not publicly available from Library and Archives Canada at this time.
Geoffrey William Francis Turpin was born in Montreal in 1916. In 1939 he joined the Victoria Rifles of Canada and in 1940 transferred to the Royal Montreal Regiment. He was sent to France in July, 1944 and returned to Canada in January, 1945. He died in Toronto in 1996. The collection consists of more than forty letters and more than forty photographs representing his time in service.
