Glen Hancock

Hancock's story of his participation in the Royal Canadian Air Force in WW II is usual in some aspects. he joined the Air Force three times because he was release twice for various reasons. He also joined the Canadian Army between two of those releases. Eventually he was accepted in the RCAF and eventually made it to England to fly as wireless air gunner in Halifax bombers. He flew missions right up to April, 1945 and had volunteered to go to the Pacific to finish the job against Japan.

His love life was also interesting. At one point he was in love with a woman in his home town and another in Manitoba. Eventually the latter sent hm a "Dear John Letter" and when he went to visit her to try to change her mind, he discovered she had been heading to Newfoundland on the ferry Caribou to be with her new husband when it was torpedoed by a U-Boat but she wasn't one of the survivors.

There are many descriptions of the life between missions visiting pubs, historic sites and cities of the British Isles. While he does describe missions over enemy territory, they are less descriptive than the social life of a Canadian airman in war time Britain. One episode that left a real mark on him was his visit to Belsen Concentration Camp only days after it had been liberated,… (mehr)