Right on, You Got the Elbow Out!: Wartime Memories of the Rcaf

97 Pages·1990·3.62 MB·English

by  Ernest F Monnon

"Right On, You Got the Elbow Out!"
Wartime Memories of the R.C.A.F.
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"RIGHT ON, You GOT
THE ELBOW OUT!"
WARTIME MEMORIES OF THE R.C.A.F.
ERNEST F. MONNON, RTO
and MARY ANN MONNON
NATURAL HERITAGE/NATURAL HISTORY INC.
Copyright © 1990 by Mary Ann Monnon
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be repro-
duced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or
by any means, electronic, mechanical photocopying, recording
or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the
publisher, Natural Heritage/Natural History Inc., P.O. Box 69,
Station H, Toronto, Ontario M4C 5H7.
Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data
Monnon, Ernest F. (Ernest Fernand), 1915-1989.
Right on, you got your elbow out
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 0-920474-63-2
1. Monnon, Ernest F. (Ernest Fernand), 1915-1989. 2. World
War, 1939-1945 - Personal narratives, Canadian. 3. World War,
1939-1945 - Aerial operations, Canadian. 4. Canada. Royal
Canadian Air Force - Biography. I. Monnon, Mary Ann
Morrison. II. Title.
D811.A3M65 1990 940.54'4971'092 C91-093034-1
Design and typesetting: Robin Brass Studio
Printed and bound in Canada by Hignell Printing Limited
Dedicated to the
memory of my
beloved husband,
Ernest F. Monnon (1915-1989),
and for our grandchildren,
Bryan, Iain and Calum
Mary Ann Monnon
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CONTENTS
FOREWORD 9
INTRODUCTION 11
CHAPTER ONE
Responding to the Call 15
CHAPTER TWO
Back to School: RTO Training 24
CHAPTER THREE
First Stop: England 30
CHAPTER FOUR
Holland 37
CHAPTER FIVE
Into Germany 56
CHAPTER SIX
Flensburg Viki and Home 77
GLOSSARY 93
BIBLIOGRAPHY 95
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FOREWORD
I
N THE SUMMER of 1985, my husband Ernest and I were driving
down the Annapolis Valley near the Armed Forces Base at
Greenwood, Nova Scotia. It was a beautiful day with only an oc-
casional white fluffy cloud to be seen. Everything was very
green, and here and there you would see an orchard with still
tiny fruit. It was the growing season in the valley.
Everything was very quiet and peaceful when suddenly we
heard a plane approaching, flying low - very low - from th
sound. I instinctively ducked my head as a dark shadow fell on
the highway. Ernest laughed and said, "How would you like to
see a sky full of planes like that? That's what happened to us
when we were stationed in Eindhoven, Holland. We were inside
when we heard the sound of many, many approaching planes.
We ran outside and within minutes the sky was completely cov-
ered and everything was enveloped in an eerie light. It was very
frightening because for a minute we didn't know whose they
were. Suddenly, one of the men shouted: They're ours, they're
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