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"I particularly remember the horror of the first pictures of the infamous Nazi Concentration Camp at Bergen-Belsen."

See below for Mrs. Collins' entire testimony.

Please be advised that Memory Project primary sources may deal with personal testimony that reflect the speaker’s recollections and interpretations of events. Individual testimony does not necessarily reflect the views of the Memory Project and Historica Canada.

"So we got out of there and arrived at Stalag III. Now, that was a real Sunday school compared with Buchenwald."

See below for Mr. Smith's entire testimony.

Please be advised that Memory Project primary sources may deal with personal testimony that reflect the speaker’s recollections and interpretations of events. Individual testimony does not necessarily reflect the views of the Memory Project and Historica Canada.

"You're twenty years old and you think of your own mortality and are you going to survive the next twenty-six trips. We did."

See below for Mr. Cowhey's entire testimony.

Please be advised that Memory Project primary sources may deal with personal testimony that reflect the speaker’s recollections and interpretations of events. Individual testimony does not necessarily reflect the views of the Memory Project and Historica Canada.

"I did 220 hours of operational time, which is actual engagement with the enemy, other fighters and bombers and so on."

See below for Mr. Connolly's entire testimony.

Please be advised that Memory Project primary sources may deal with personal testimony that reflect the speaker’s recollections and interpretations of events. Individual testimony does not necessarily reflect the views of the Memory Project and Historica Canada.

See below for Mr. Berntson's entire testimony.

Please be advised that Memory Project primary sources may deal with personal testimony that reflect the speaker’s recollections and interpretations of events. Individual testimony does not necessarily reflect the views of the Memory Project and Historica Canada.

"But my great wish is that never again will there ever be cause again to disrupt and sacrifice so many lives, young and old."

See below for Mr. Scammell's entire testimony.

Please be advised that Memory Project primary sources may deal with personal testimony that reflect the speaker’s recollections and interpretations of events. Individual testimony does not necessarily reflect the views of the Memory Project and Historica Canada.

"We were told that if you ever got shot down, to make sure you leave the area of your parachute."

See below for Mr. Ryckman's entire testimony.

Please be advised that Memory Project primary sources may deal with personal testimony that reflect the speaker’s recollections and interpretations of events. Individual testimony does not necessarily reflect the views of the Memory Project and Historica Canada.

"It was very secretive, and we were not allowed to tell anybody the frequencies or if we were ever caught by the enemy, to divulge anything about radar."

See below for Mr. John's entire testimony.

Please be advised that Memory Project primary sources may deal with personal testimony that reflect the speaker’s recollections and interpretations of events. Individual testimony does not necessarily reflect the views of the Memory Project and Historica Canada.

"I looked after everything that was ever used in the RAF, from clothing right down to the smallest part of a nut or bolt of a plane, to the bigger part that would make a wing."

See below for Mrs Wylie's entire testimony.

Please be advised that Memory Project primary sources may deal with personal testimony that reflect the speaker’s recollections and interpretations of events. Individual testimony does not necessarily reflect the views of the Memory Project and Historica Canada.

"After the raid was over, we said, oh, don’t worry, they won’t be back again until tomorrow. [laughs] But that was the worst raid we had."

See below for Mr. Robertson's entire testimony.

Please be advised that Memory Project primary sources may deal with personal testimony that reflect the speaker’s recollections and interpretations of events. Individual testimony does not necessarily reflect the views of the Memory Project and Historica Canada.

Marguerite Marie “Marge” Plante left Alberta to join the Women’s Division of the Royal Canadian Air Force, serving as a timekeeper and typist during the Second World War. Read and listen she describes her enlistment, the death of her brother in Italy, interacting with prisoners of war, and the V-E Day celebrations.

Please be advised that Memory Project primary sources may deal with personal testimony that reflect the speaker’s recollections and interpretations of events. Individual testimony does not necessarily reflect the views of the Memory Project and Historica Canada.

"Our commitment was to do observations along the ADL, which spread from the Mediterranean down to the Gulf of Aqaba - the tip of the Sinai Peninsula -re-supplying Army and UN outposts along the ADL by air."

See below for Mr. Myers' entire testimony.

Please be advised that Memory Project primary sources may deal with personal testimony that reflect the speaker’s recollections and interpretations of events. Individual testimony does not necessarily reflect the views of the Memory Project and Historica Canada.

"I started to go down to Bay and Wellington. That’s where the recruiting station was. The first time the guy, the recruiting officer, just said, "No, sorry, we don’t take you people.""

See below for Mr. Braithwaite's entire testimony.

Please be advised that Memory Project primary sources may deal with personal testimony that reflect the speaker’s recollections and interpretations of events. Individual testimony does not necessarily reflect the views of the Memory Project and Historica Canada.

Junius Lyman Edward Hokan, pilot (born 4 March 1922 in St. Catharines, ON; died 26 September 1942 in the English Channel). Hokan was likely the first Black-Canadian commissioned officer and fighter pilot in the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF). He served his country with distinction in the Second World War but was killed when his plane crashed on the way back to England after a mission.

​Leonard Austin Braithwaite, CM, OOnt, QC, lawyer, politician (born 23 October 1923 in Toronto, ON; died 28 March 2012 in Toronto). Braithwaite was the first Black Canadian elected to a provincial legislature. He served as a Liberal member of the Ontario Legislature from 1963 to 1975.

James Francis “Stocky” Edwards, CM, fighter and fighter-bomber pilot, ace (born 5 June 1921 in Nokomis, SK; died 14 May 2022 in Comox, BC). Edwards was credited with shooting down 19 enemy aircraft and another 7 “probables” during the Second World War. He also destroyed 12 aircraft and about 200 vehicles on the ground. His actual total was likely higher, as Edwards was unconcerned with claiming victories. He fought in the North African, Italian and North-West Europe campaigns — a rare record for an Allied pilot. Until his death, Edwards was likely the top surviving fighter pilot in the Commonwealth.

"They went very well, until we got shot down on January the 15th, I think it was. Our target was Merseburg."

See below for Mr. Eddy's entire testimony.

Please be advised that Memory Project primary sources may deal with personal testimony that reflect the speaker’s recollections and interpretations of events. Individual testimony does not necessarily reflect the views of the Memory Project and Historica Canada.

"I ended up flying a Tiger Moth, which is a small training plane. And I flew it and I landed it right by my house, in northwest of Edmonton, got out and showed my folks"

See below for Mr. Bronson's entire testimony.

Please be advised that Memory Project primary sources may deal with personal testimony that reflect the speaker’s recollections and interpretations of events. Individual testimony does not necessarily reflect the views of the Memory Project and Historica Canada.

Paul Theodore Hellyer, PC, politician, engineer, businessman, writer (born 6 August 1923 near Waterford, ON; died 8 August 2021 in Toronto, ON). A long-time Member of Parliament (MP), Paul Hellyer served in the cabinets of prime ministers Lester B. Pearson and Pierre Trudeau, and was the longest-serving member of the Privy Council at the time of his death. As defence minister, he oversaw Canada’s adoption of nuclear weapons and organized the unification of the armed forces. Hellyer contested the leadership of both the Liberal and Progressive Conservative parties and led two small federal parties of his own creation. He was a notable critic of free trade and advocated for monetary reform. He also gained international notoriety for claiming that Western governments possess — and have been suppressing — evidence of UFOs and extraterrestrial life.

"They wanted to give a Christmas dinner to service personnel. So that’s the sort of thing that, you know, it really means a lot."

See below for Ms. Melton's entire testimony.

Please be advised that Memory Project primary sources may deal with personal testimony that reflect the speaker’s recollections and interpretations of events. Individual testimony does not necessarily reflect the views of the Memory Project and Historica Canada.