Wartime Memories
Original Introduction by George F. Deeth
For several years now I have been contemplating writing my memoirs as they relate to the years I spent in the RCAF and the R.A.F. What follows has been compiled from numerous sources, some of which are:
• Letters to my mother and father
• My diary kept in 1942 - 1943
• Flying log-book
• various articles, letters, etc. re our Norwegian escapade in 1944
• the post-war research of Harvey Firestone; I am grateful for all of his work.
Editor's Notes - Douglas N. Deeth
The original version of the story on this website was taken almost entirely from my father's book "Wartime Memories". I have broken the book up into "chapters", made some minor changes to the text, and clarified some of the dates.
I have added more details of the crew, and of the "helpers", men and women of the Norwegian resistance who risked their lives to return them home.
I added links to Google maps for many of the locations referred to in the text, and my own comments and observations where I thought they were needed.
I have also added pictures, some taken during the war, others taken in visits to Norway after the war, and others generated from Google's Street View software, that take us as far as the back roads in the valley beyond Lønningdal. Clicking on the pictures will open a larger version in most cases. Also added are some videos of the planes involved.
Editing this story in this way is a perhaps never-ending journey into lives that, for brief moments in time, intersected, with remarkable effect on not only the players themselves, but those surrounding them and those in generations not then born. Each new discovery raises new questions to be answered, and leads us to new stories that should be told,
As I have retold this story I have attempted to identify some of the friends that are referred to in the story, and to provide the details of them that were not included in my father's book. It is a frustrating experience. A good friend is referred to only as Darcy. A best friend, shot down over the English Channel in the last days of the war, was not named in George's book. Thanks to the archived records of the RAF, and to the records of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, I found him.
Many of these friends did not come back. In George's photo album, there are pictures with a name and a note: "Killed Overseas". They deserve to be remembered here.
For several years now I have been contemplating writing my memoirs as they relate to the years I spent in the RCAF and the R.A.F. What follows has been compiled from numerous sources, some of which are:
• Letters to my mother and father
• My diary kept in 1942 - 1943
• Flying log-book
• various articles, letters, etc. re our Norwegian escapade in 1944
• the post-war research of Harvey Firestone; I am grateful for all of his work.
Editor's Notes - Douglas N. Deeth
The original version of the story on this website was taken almost entirely from my father's book "Wartime Memories". I have broken the book up into "chapters", made some minor changes to the text, and clarified some of the dates.
I have added more details of the crew, and of the "helpers", men and women of the Norwegian resistance who risked their lives to return them home.
I added links to Google maps for many of the locations referred to in the text, and my own comments and observations where I thought they were needed.
I have also added pictures, some taken during the war, others taken in visits to Norway after the war, and others generated from Google's Street View software, that take us as far as the back roads in the valley beyond Lønningdal. Clicking on the pictures will open a larger version in most cases. Also added are some videos of the planes involved.
Editing this story in this way is a perhaps never-ending journey into lives that, for brief moments in time, intersected, with remarkable effect on not only the players themselves, but those surrounding them and those in generations not then born. Each new discovery raises new questions to be answered, and leads us to new stories that should be told,
As I have retold this story I have attempted to identify some of the friends that are referred to in the story, and to provide the details of them that were not included in my father's book. It is a frustrating experience. A good friend is referred to only as Darcy. A best friend, shot down over the English Channel in the last days of the war, was not named in George's book. Thanks to the archived records of the RAF, and to the records of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, I found him.
Many of these friends did not come back. In George's photo album, there are pictures with a name and a note: "Killed Overseas". They deserve to be remembered here.
Finding your way around
At the top right corner of each page is a menu link. Clicking on this will show you all the main pages of this website. The title of page you are on will be in a different colour than the other titles.
"Home" at the top or under the banner on most pages will take you, well, home.
Clicking on a photograph will often open a larger copy of the photo on your screen.
At the bottom of each page are a couple of links. Next will take you to the next page in the story. Table of Contents will take you to the Table of Contents for the story you are reading.
At the top right corner of each page is a menu link. Clicking on this will show you all the main pages of this website. The title of page you are on will be in a different colour than the other titles.
"Home" at the top or under the banner on most pages will take you, well, home.
Clicking on a photograph will often open a larger copy of the photo on your screen.
At the bottom of each page are a couple of links. Next will take you to the next page in the story. Table of Contents will take you to the Table of Contents for the story you are reading.
This one will take you to 224 Pearson Avenue, in Toronto, where my father grew up.
