Sudbury, Ont. man shares his father's story of survival during the Second World War
CBC
Remembrance Day takes on a special meaning for Philip May as he remembers what his father went through during the Second World War.
May's father Alex enlisted in the war effort in 1942 and was a crew member aboard a Handley Page Halifax bomber aircraft.
"If you completed 30 missions, you were done with your tour. you were able to go," May said.
But on his father's 30th mission some flak struck the plane as it was headed back to the base after a bombing run.
"The plane started spiraling out of control and the pilot, a fellow by the name of William Patzer, told the crew to get out and to bail out," May said.
May said the plane had a small emergency exit for crew members. Because his father was a large man, he had to remove his parachute to squeeze his way out.
"He held on to his parachute and bailed out into that cold winter night and he was able to get it on," he said. "In doing so he injured himself, though, in his lower back."
The plane crashed in the small German city of Oberhausen, just outside a farmhouse.
"The mother was at home and heard this tremendous noise," May said.
"She went and looked out her window and saw flaming wreckage everywhere. And that was the remnants of my father's plane."
The pilot and two other crew members were killed in the crash.
But May's father survived. The German army captured him and took him to a prisoner of war camp.
"You marched all day and if you didn't keep up, you were summarily executed," May said. "It was one of the coldest winters in Germany ever recorded. It must have been horrific."
But May said if civilians had found his father first, they probably would have killed him on sight.
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