"In Training Pennfield Ridge" Painting

The below painting was donated to "Pennfield Parish Military Historical Society" in 2009 to raise funds for "Pennfield Ridge War Memorial Service".

Original Piece of Art Work by Sheri L. (Burhoe) Larsen measuring 11" x 14" (Oil and Acrylic on canvas).

Tickets are $2.00 each or 3 for $5.00 with all proceeds going to "Pennfield Ridge War Memorial Service". The winning ticket will be drawn at this year's memorial service.

For more information please see:

http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nbpennfi/penn8b1PPMHS_ArtRaffle.htm

P/O Harold Otho Male (1919-1942)

Sgt. H.O. Male (GB657604) was part of Course No.1 (Pilots) at No.34 Operational Training Unit, Pennfield Ridge, NB. Upon graduation from this course 11 September 1942 Sgt. H.O. Male was “screened and retained at this Unit [No.34 O.T.U.] to fill staff vacancies.”

On 19 November 1942 Male was granted a commission rank which did not appear in "The London Gazette” until 19 January 1945.

On 20 November 1942, while employed as a staff pilot at No.34 OTU Detachment in Yarmouth, he was killed when his aircraft (Ventura AE932) crashed 4 miles N.E. of Caledonia, Queens, Co., NS. He was buried with full military honours 23 November 1942 at Mountain View Cemetery in Yarmouth, NS.

In December 2008 Sheri & I headed off to Nova Scotia in an attempt to photograph the various military markers for Pennfield Ridge training casualties scattered throughout the province. On 14 December 2008 we visited Mountain View Cemetery where Male and three other airmen from No.34 OTU are laid to rest. Male's military marker, as we discovered, reflects his old rank "Sgt. Pilot" and his non-commissioned service number.

On 14 March 2011 I sent a letter to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission in Ottawa, along the supporting documentation to see if this marker could be replaced. Yesterday Sheri received a call from a representative of the CWGC saying that the marker would be replaced this coming summer.

The phone call was followed up by an e-mail on 15 April 2011 saying: "Thank you for bringing to our attention the discrepancy between the information listed in the CWGC database and that inscribed on the headstone of Pilot Officer Harold O. MALE. As I mentioned to your wife, we will arrange to have the existing headstone replaced this year with a new one. The enclosed sketch depicts the layout of the new headstone. Thank you again for your interest in this matter."

Mountain View Cemetery - Yarmouth, NS (14 December 2008)

Relatives of veteran planning to visit next year

Frank Robert Ablett

PENNFIELD - Relatives of a man from Yorkshire, England who served at the Pennfield Ridge Air Station during the Second World War are planning a visit to the area and hoping to find someone who might remember him.

Christian Larsen, who continues to do research on the former air base, said he has been contacted by Terry Bearpark, a photo-journalist and sub-editor from the U.K., whose father-in-law Leading Aircraftman Frank Robert Ablett worked in the accounts section at the base from September 1942 until around June 1944.

Bearpark and his wife Maureen are planning to visit the area, possibly this year, to see where Ablett was stationed. They also hope to find the house where he lodged and possibly some members of that family.

If anyone remembers Ablett, they are asked to contact Larsen at 456-3494 or by e-mail at pennfieldparish@yahoo.com.

The annual Pennfield Ridge was memorial service is planned for July 24, 2011, said Larsen, with a banquet to follow. This will tie in with the 70th anniversary of the base opening (21 July 1941) and he is hoping the couple will be able to visit the area during this period.

Larsen has also provided Bearpark with information about Gordon Henderson of Leeds, England, who visited this area a couple of years ago to find out more information about his great uncle Stan Collins who also served in the accounts section at the same time as Ablett. Collins, who recently celebrated his 97th birthday, is the oldest known living airmen from the base and is living in a seniors' home in Newcastle.

In 1939 Pennfield Ridge had a population of around 188 people and by 1943 it had risen to more then 5,000. The area was not able to cope with such a large influx of people and as a result people from St. Andrews to Saint John took airmen in.

SOURCE: The Saint Croix Courier (St. Stephen, NB) - January 4, 2010.

70th Anniversary Pennfield Ridge Air Station Anniversary Celebration

"The Historica-Dominion Institute says the average age of Canada's 125,000 remaining Second World War veterans is 88 years. They are passing away at a rate of 400 to 500 a week, meaning that in another five years or so, all but the hardiest of Canada's 1.1 million Second World War vets will be gone."
SOURCE: The Canadian Press - November 11, 2010.

Pennfield Parish Military Historical Society has been acting as a steward for the "Pennfield Parish War Memorial Service" for two years now. After another successful service our society has decided to step into the role of permanent host. This will allow us the freedom and control to tailor the event to a true memorial service.

Pennfield Ridge Air Station and A-30 Canadian Infantry Training Centre (Camp Utopia) will celebrate their 70th anniversaries on Thursday, 21 July 2011 and Wednesday, 1 August 2012 respectively. To tie into these historical events, we have decided to move the "Pennfield Ridge War Memorial Service" from its usual fourth Sunday in September event to Sunday, 24 July 2011 and Sunday, 5 August 2012. At the conclusion of each respective memorial service a formal banquet will be held at The Royal Canadian Legion (Branch No.40), St. George. This dinner will provide a great opportunity to catch up with old friends and to make new ones.

Pennfield Ridge War Memorial Service (2010)

PENNFIELD - A memorial service for those who served and/or worked at the two military bases in the area during the Second World War was held Sunday at the Pennfield Ridge war memorial.

More than 100 people attended the service, which has hosted by the Pennfield Parish Military Historical Society, to remember those who served at the Pennfield Ridge Air Station and A-30 Canadian Infantry Training Centre (Camp Utopia).

The service was dedicated to the veterans who have died since last year's service - Elmer Bulman (RCAF), John Crammond (RCAF), Nevin Filby (RAAF), Raymond Kelly (RAAF), John Norton (RCAF), Cyrille Poissant (RCAF), Samuel Shapton (RCAF), Arthur Stainforth (RAFVR), John Spear (RCA), Herbert Swazey (RCA), Clifton Thorne (RCA) and Clifford Warner (RCA) and all the others who lost their lives.

Master of ceremonies was Lt. Bernard Cormier, the invocation was read by Rev. Grant Alcorn and Cpl. Colin Fleiger read the additional names to add to the roll of honour.

Cpl. Colin Fleiger reading the additional names into the "Roll of Honour"

The memorial was dedicated Sept 24, 2006 and a service has been held there each September since. Among those in attendance were George Richardson and Jessie Nason who served at the Pennfield Ridge Air Station, and Fleiger and Alfred Barker who served at Camp Utopia.

Air crews from Canada, Britain, New Zealand and Australia trained at Pennfield as part of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan and 69 airmen, one British seaman (a passenger on board a Ventura aircraft which crashed) and six civilian workers died during the history of the base.

Following the service there was a reception held at the Legion hall in St. George where Blacks Harbour Mayor Terry James brought greetings from the village.

Lt. General Louis Cuppens (Ret.) said he was born in the Netherlands during the Second World War and people there will never forget what the Canadians and the Allies did for them.

"Canada stands out in their minds as the country that gave them back their freedom," he said but the cost was more than 7,000 lives and about 3,000 of them are interred just outside Nijmegen where he was born.

He said there are no weeds in this cemetery and the stones are erect and clean. School children, said Cuppens, are given custody of a Canadian grave and they maintain it for three years - washing the stone, trimming the edges and bringing flowers.

"The children over there cannot help but remember what was accomplished in the many wars that have taken place there. They have to walk by these cemeteries. They know what wars are all about."

"It is our job to make sure the next generation after this continues to understand the great sacrifices the Allies have made so that people can live free."

He spoke about the war in Afghanistan which has been going on now for 10 years with more than 150 Canadian casualties and those who have been injured numbering in the thousands.

Cuppens said the people there have so little it reminded him of post-war Europe but much rebuilding has taken place, hospitals have opened, girls are now allowed to go to school and they are taught by female teachers. The Taliban, he said, have almost been driven out of the country but they have found a safe haven in Pakistan.

"We Canadians have so much and they have so little. I urge all of you - pass the torch, pass the message of remembrance on."

SOURCE: The Saint Croix Courier (St. Stephen, NB) - September 28, 2010.

Pennfield Ridge War Memorial Service planned for Sept. 26

PENNFIELD – The Pennfield Parish Military Historical Society will host a memorial service in September to remember all those who served and/or worked at two major military bases in the area during the Second World War - the Pennfield Ridge Air Station and A-30 Canadian Infantry Training Center (Camp Utopia).

The two bases were an important part of the Canadian war effort. Aircrews from Canada, Britain, New Zealand and Australia trained at Pennfield Ridge as part of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP). Sixty-nine airmen, one British seaman (passenger aboard a Ventura aircraft when it crashed) and six civilian workers died during the history of the base.

Numerous young aircrew students, like those at Pennfield Ridge, were killed in training crashes across Canada during World War II. They all died in the service of their country while preparing for war and yet they remain forgotten heroes. They remain so simply because they died before their finest hour. However as G/C A. Leach, Officer Commanding Pennfield Ridge, once remarked to a mother of one of the airmen killed: “He has died…in the course of duty and on active service, and has given his life for his country, just as much as if he had been killed in actual combat against the enemy; and, as I hope you will do, you are undoubtedly entitled to treasure and take pride in his memory accordingly.”

Assault troops trained at nearby Camp Utopia that, at the time, was one of the best-equipped and most effective Army training centers in all of Canada. This was borne out by the gallant actions of the Carleton & York Regiment in Sicily and Italy and the North Shore Battalion and N.B. Rangers in France, Belgium, Holland and Germany, all of whom were principally made up of personnel receiving their advanced training at Utopia. The base official closed 30 April 1946, but continued to operate mainly as a summer camp until 1957. Six army personnel died at the base between 1943 and 1952. A seventh name of an army personnel killed in 1954 will be read into the “Roll of Honour” at this year’s service.

It is said over 300 officers and 12,000 rank and file had passed through Camp Utopia by its official closing on April 30, 1946. W Garnett Eldridge, resident of Caithness, was one of the six known army personnel trained at Camp Utopia who later was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal for bravery. Some of the Charlotte County natives who received training at Camp Utopia but were subsequently killed in over-seas action were: Cpl. Thomas A. Beckerton (St. Andrews), Pte. Philip G. Corning (Milltown), Gunner Rufus M Hooper (Back Bay), Pte. Lawson H Searles (Campobello) and Pte. Maurice Thorne (St. George).

The service is being dedicated to those Veterans we've lost since last year's service, namely Elmer Bulman, MiD (RCAF), John C. Crammond (RCAF), Nevin Fliby (RAAF), Albert Norton, MiD (RCAF), Cyrille Poissant (RCAF), Arthur Stainforth (RAFVR), John Spear (RCA), Herbert Swazey (RCA), Clifton Thorne (RCA) and Clifford Warner (RCA), and to all the others who have put their lives on the line to keep our country free.

Please join with us in honouring the seventy-seven (77) service personnel and six (6) civilians killed at these two Charlotte County bases; remember those who have since gone on to join their comrades in the sky and listen to the stories from those we still have with us.

The memorial service will take place Sunday, 26 September 2010 at the Provincial Park, Pennfield Ridge (across Route 1 from the Pennfield Ridge Post Office) at 2 pm. A reception service will follow at The Royal Canadian Legion (Branch #40), St. George after-wards from 3 until 5 p.m. In case of inclement weather, the entire service will be moved to The Royal Canadian Legion (Branch #40), St. George.

Past and current members of the military have been invited to attend the ceremony as well as representatives from the local, provincial and federal governments. Also family members of those killed at these two Charlotte County bases have been invited to attend the service as well.

Registration, due to seating limitations at the reception service and to assist with food preparation , is being asked. To reserve your seat to the reception service please call (506) 456-3494.

SORENSEN, Colin Frank (1922-2010) - Great Escape Survivor

SORENSEN, Colin Frank - (DDS) - World War II Veteran, RCAF - June 15, 1922 - February 5, 2010 - It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our father Frank Sorensen in his 87th year. Frank was born in Hjorring, Denmark and immigrated to Canada with his family when he was 17. He enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force at age 18 and was eventually sent to Wales where he was trained on Spitfires to become a fighter pilot. He was wounded over Dieppe, but was able to ferry his Spitfire to home base where he survived the crash landing. Frank's Squadron was sent to North Africa to fight against Hitler's top General, Rommel, the Desert Fox. During a mission in April 1943, Frank failed to return to base. He had been shot down in Tunisia and crash landed behind enemy lines where he was taken prisoner and shipped off to a German POW camp called Stalag Luft III. He spent two years in the camp and took part in the Great Escape in March 1944. He was number 81, however number 76 was in the tunnel when the German guards discovered the escape. Of the 76 who escaped, only 3 reached freedom. Of the 73 captured, 50 were shot by the direct order of Hitler. In January 1945, the 10,000 Allied Officers of Stalag Luft III, being used as human shields against the advancing Russian Army were ordered to evacuate camp. The long march started in Sagan Germany, now part of Poland and ended with a much diminished company of prisoners eventually reaching an area east of Hamburg where they were intercepted by Allied Forces in May 1945. During the forced march, the men suffered through the coldest winter Europe had experienced in decades. They had only the clothes on their backs and had to forage for food once their supplies were exhausted. The German guards shot any who fell by the wayside, and had the POWs carry German flags to elicit friendly fire from the Allied forces. Once the prisoners were met by Allied tanks, the German guards readily surrendered. One guard gave Frank his Luger as his sign of surrender. Frank spent weeks recuperating in a hospital in Bouremouth, England and was repatriated to Canada in July 1945 at the age of 23. Frank met Betty Bodley on the tennis courts at Queen's University, Kingston and they were married in December 1946. Frank entered Dental College at the University of Toronto and graduated in 1951. He practiced dentistry for 38 years, starting his first practice in Leamington, Ontario, eventually settling in Kingston in 1954. Frank was an active member of the Kingston Barbershop Chorus for many years. He retired to Duncan, British Columbia in 1989 with his wife Betty, both returning to Kingston in 2007. Frank is survived by his wife, Betty and their three children Glenn, Stephen and Vicki. He will also be missed by his grandchildren Larissa, Erik, Nikita and Erika, and his brothers Ben and Wilfred and sister Eileen. A celebration of Frank's life will be held with friends and family at a later date.

TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES, Part 1: F/L Gordon Arthur KIDDER (1914-1944) from St. Catherines, Ontario was one of the 50 shot and killed. F/L Kidder was part of Air Observers Course No.33 at No.2 Air Navigation School (ANS), Pennfield Ridge, New Brunswick. It's nice to know more about one of the survivors, such as Mr. Sorensen.

TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES, Part 2: Jack Harrison, a Scottish Great Escape survivor, died shortly after Mr. Sorensen. Mr Harrison, who was number 98 on the escape list, was in hut 104 waiting to go down the tunnel when the escape was noticed. He quickly burned his forged documentation in the stove and changed his clothing from a Siemens engineer back to a POW. Mr Harrison spent his last years at Erskine veterans' home in Renfrewshire along with his friend and fellow former Stalag Luft III prisoner Alex Lees, who died last year aged 97. Mr. Lees was a gardener at the camp who was responsible for getting rid of the soil from the tunnels.