By the time Trevor Anderson was seven years old, he was already setting traps, driving cars and had his own gun. ThatB次元官网网址檚 what happens when you grow up in the rural area of Houston, B.C., he said.
Anderson, now 98, stopped going to school after Grade 8, opting instead to get a job. By the time the Second World War began, Anderson was 20 years old and ready to fight.
He signed up for the air force and was trained to be a radio operator and learned Morse code before being shipped to Northern Africa.
B次元官网网址淭hey never told us anything,B次元官网网址� Anderson recalled. B次元官网网址淵ou just showed up everyday and did as ordered.B次元官网网址�
One day Anderson was surprised to be dropped off at a location where the American squadron was just getting established.
ALSO READ:
B次元官网网址淭heir radio operators were totally different than Canadians were,B次元官网网址� Anderson said. B次元官网网址淭hey couldnB次元官网网址檛 use Morse code, and thatB次元官网网址檚 what we used all the time. We tried to teach them a little bit and then next thing you know weB次元官网网址檙e flying with them.B次元官网网址�
Air Force recruits were told they could return home after running 30 bombing missionsB次元官网网址� a number only 15 per cent of the crews survived. Anderson completed 55 missions in his B-25 bomber, but not before being shot down.
| Trevor Anderson served as a radio operator in the Second World War, and worked with Americans aboard a B-25 bomber when it was hit and crashed into the ocean. Anderson built a life-size model of his airborne work station in his basement in Victoria. (Nicole Crescenzi/B次元官网网址 Staff) |
B次元官网网址淥n number four we were shot down into the Mediterranean,B次元官网网址� Anderson said. He had been pinched in a small section of the plane where his radio station and the gun turret were located. B次元官网网址淲hen youB次元官网网址檙e going 100 miles an hour and then stop, the door slammed and it bent. I was knocked out and the cold water I guess helped bring me back. I tried to open the door, kicked it and punched it, but it wouldnB次元官网网址檛 budge.B次元官网网址�
Anderson managed to escape through a window the size of a dinner plate, despite the fact that he was wearing an insulated bomber jacket and heavy steel boots. He later built an exact replica of his radio work space in his basement in Victoria to illustrate just how impressive the feat was.
He and six other members survived the crash and managed to get on a small dingy.
B次元官网网址淲e tried to get comfortable, but of course there was no such thing,B次元官网网址� he said.
| Trevor Anderson says some of his medals are the same ones everyone who served in WWII gets, but others are more special to him. One unofficial badge that shows a fish in the water, which represents Anderson's three-day wait in a dingy after his aircraft was shot down. (Nicole Crescenzi/B次元官网网址 Staff) |
They stayed for three days with no supplies before they came to land at a rural village in Northern Egypt.
During his station in the desert, Anderson contracted malaria as well as blood poisoning, which he thinks he got from sliding into a makeshift, dusty base while playing baseball during his time off.
Anderson said he was good at keeping himself busy; he fixed up abandoned German motorcycles, and took photos to circumnavigate the censorship he saw from the Canadian Armed Forces. He said he and his friends stole some chemicals from the military hospital in order to develop the photos, and because they didnB次元官网网址檛 have a dark room they experimented with light exposure until they could get their photos to work.
ALSO READ:
B次元官网网址淎fter 55 missions, I was getting twitchy,B次元官网网址� Anderson said. He asked to go back home, but it wasnB次元官网网址檛 easy to get back to North America. He had to fly into Brazil and travel north. When he got to Miami, all of his photos and records were confiscated for years.
Anderson moved back to Victoria, but didnB次元官网网址檛 stay out of the military for longB次元官网网址� after all, he didnB次元官网网址檛 have training in anything else and there wasnB次元官网网址檛 other work available. He worked in and out of the Canadian Armed Forces for over 20 years, but when he tried to collect his pension he said he was denied because it wasnB次元官网网址檛 20 years in a row.
| Trevor Anderson (left) and his crew mates stand on a beach in Northern Africa after spending three days in a dingy on the Mediterranean Sea when their plane was shot down. (File submitted/Beth Cruise) |
B次元官网网址淭hey always say veterans are treated so well,B次元官网网址� Anderson said. B次元官网网址淭hatB次元官网网址檚 BS!B次元官网网址�
When his hearing started to go after spending so much time in the plane without proper ear protection, he and his wife asked Veterans Affairs about covering the medical costs.
B次元官网网址淭hey sat on their lush chairs, we sat on our hard chairs and they asked my wife if I could hear the baby cry,B次元官网网址� Anderson said.
His hearing aids were not covered, but Anderson said a kind audiologist helped him out.
After leaving the Armed Forces for good, Anderson, his wife and their four children became lighthouse keepers. They spent 16 years living at Race Rocks, where Anderson built a 56-foot two-masted ketch called the Wawa Wild Goose.
After retiring from lighthouse duty, Anderson and his wife sailed around the world for 14 years, from New Zealand to Fiji to Samoa to Tonga and everywhere in between.
When asked about how he feels about Remembrance Day, Anderson said it was all fluff.
B次元官网网址淚t does nothing,B次元官网网址� he said. B次元官网网址� ItB次元官网网址檚 advertising about nothing.B次元官网网址�
Instead, he advised people to just go with the flow of life and let it take you where it will.
B次元官网网址滼ust do it,B次元官网网址� he said. B次元官网网址淚f you just kind of let life go along, you find that itB次元官网网址檒l be easier. At least, I do.B次元官网网址�
