Congratulations - Durham College and UOIT

12 The Chronicle November 6, 2007
By Eric Laganis
Chronicle Staff
On Nov. 11, Gordon Cormie of
Oshawa will have a lot to remember.
He’s one of many Britons who
fought during World War II alongside
over a million Canadians.
Cormie was a fl ight navigator
for the 40th Squadron of the English
Royal Air Force and achieved
the rank of Flight Lieutenant.
Cormie, born in Yorkshire, England,
entered the air force to help
out his country. While he isn’t
proud of the actual fi ghting, he
realized he had to do the job for
the betterment of his country and
friends.
“I had to do a job and to look after
my friends,” he said.
He took part in 19 operations
as a navigator during the war, having
been shot down in his fi nal two
operations.
Th e fi rst time he was shot down
was in January 1944 over Italy. He
was not hurt and was returned to
England by Allied hands in two
days. However, the second time
his plane was shot down, he wasn’t
so lucky.
Th e 85-year-old vet recalled
the purpose of that operation. On
a two-day mission, May 5 and 6
1944, his crew was to destroy oil
fi elds in Romania to stop the oil
supply to the Germans. He said
this was a key to stopping the Germans
because they relied on oil to
operate their planes.
Th ey were to target the oil fi elds
by dropping mines in the Danube
River. Cormie said this was dangerous
because they were exposed
to the enemy since they had to fl y
low to drop the mines.
“Th is was risky because we
were fl ying above the Danube at
50 to 100 feet dropping mines,” he
said.
After fi nishing their mission,
Cormie and his crew waited for
nightfall so they could return to
base.
While fl ying back, the enemy
noticed them and the plane was
attacked. One of his crewmembers,
a gunner named Ray Sauwalde
from Australia, was killed
when the plane was hit. Cormie
said that Sauwalde was wed two
days before he left his country to
serve in the war.
Another Australian crewmem-
CAMPUS NEWS
War veteran recalls his past
ber, Dick Kilroy, was injured in
the attack having been shot seven
times in the leg. Cormie went
to fi nd the fi rst aid kit to mend
his friend’s wounds, but the spot
where the kit was had been hit and
it was gone. So he went to the front
turret and took out the shell dressing
and used it on Kilroy’s wound.
In order to get to the turret, he
had to crawl under the pilot’s legs,
because there was no room to
move about on the plane.
Photo by Eric Laganis
REMEMBERING THE PAST: Second World War veteran Gordon Cormie poses in front
of a photo of him being presented with badges for his bravery during the war.
Th at ’80s trend is back
By Jenna-Lee Mainse
Chronicle Staff
From leg warmers to tights,
headbands to side ponytails, hoop
earrings to cinched belts; the ‘80s
seem to be popping back into
malls, magazines and city streets.
Sweaty ‘80s workout girls have
been seen working out to Eric Prydze’s
Call On Me music video, his
twist on the original song Valerie
by Steve Winwood. Now, not only
is that fast retro music back but
also the fashion, and in a big way.
Diamond studs, neon colours,
chunky jewelry, layering, long
shirts, ballet fl ats and oversized
purses have all strutted their way
into this year’s fall and winter
months.
But according to Alex Rogers,
who is Web Manager at the Le
Chateau head offi ce in Montreal,
this 80s comeback did not happen
overnight.
“Designers have been hinting
at the ‘80s style throughout the fall
fashion weeks around the world,”
said Rogers, referring to the ultra
crimped hair on designer Zac Posen’s
models, Anna Sui’s punk-rock
designs and Oscar de la Renta’s depiction
of masculine tailoring.
According to Rogers, the long
and lean masculine style is popular
right now, after being used in
the ‘80s as a way for women to
fi ght for equality with men in the
business world. With this look
comes skinny pants, long shirts
and jackets, earth tones and colour
blocking. But beneath fall’s neutral
pallet, neon colours and patterns
can be seen adorning the feet of
fashioneistas around the city.
While high-fashion icons are
wearing ‘80s designer, fashiontrend
hungry females can get the
look for less.
Retail stores such as Costa
Blanca, Le Chateau, Aritzia and
Guess have covered their racks
with studded hand-bangs, metallic
heels, bold patterns, neon leggings
and chic accessories.
Melissa Head, a sales representative
at Costa Blanca in the
Oshawa Centre, said they are focusing
mostly on the earthy, gold
and bronze tones of the ‘80s as opposed
to bright neon colours.
Head said the most demanded
item from Costa Blanca shoppers
right now is leggings.
“Leggings are the biggest thing
this year,” said Head. “Along with
draping, long, more ‘80s-style
shirts.”
With the abundance of ‘80s
style materials such as wool, tweed
and spandex, and the ever-popular
embellished hand-bags, sunglasses
and jewelry making their mark
in today’s fashions, it is hard to see
this ‘80s-turned-classy look going
out of style anytime soon.
However, Rogers isn’t sure how
long the retro look will last, explaining
the androgyny trend runs
in cycles.
She looked back to the decades
of corsets and waist cinching, followed
by the straight fl apper silhouette
comeback of the ‘20s; Dior’s
rehash of the hourglass fi gure
in the ‘40s; with Twiggy’s boyish
frame in the ‘60s; the desired Pamela
Anderson fi gure of the ‘90s
and fi nally morphing into the “thin
is in” style of today.
“Th e ‘80s trend is part of the
beautiful fashion cycle,” said Rogers.
“When the look has been feminine
for while, we go rocker chick
to counter it — and vice-versa.”
After dressing Kilroy’s wound,
he slapped a parachute to his back
and, after some insisting, pushed
his injured friend from the plane
while yelling at him to remember
to pull his cord so the chute would
open.
Cormie then went back and got
a parachute for himself and the
pilot, John Coape-Smith, and they
both strapped on their chutes and
abandoned the plane.
Th e next morning, he found
Coape-Smith. His pilot friend had
lost his boots and had hurt his ankle.
He wasn’t about to leave him
so he sat with him the entire night.
Fall, winter
By Jenna-Lee Mainse
Chronicle Staff
Th e cold and dreary aspects
of fall and winter have the ability
to change a person’s mood,
attitude and mental health.
An estimated half a million
people are aff ected by Seasonal
Aff ective Disorder (SAD) between
September and April, because
of the decreased sunlight.
According to the SAD Association
in London, England, the
illness can either severely aff ect
an individual, or only cause mild
Th e next day, a Romanian peasant
boy found them and brought
them to his village.
However, while in the village,
another peasant boy brought
guards and they were captured,
now prisoners of war.
Unbeknownst to Cormie at the
time was that the reason why the
boy turned them in was because
the populace received money for
alerting the guards to the presence
of any Allied troops.
Before being sent to the P.O.W.
camp in Bucharest, Cormie,
Coape-Smith and two other prisoners
were kept in a police jail
cell.
“Th e village came to see the
monsters in the cage,” he said.
Th e camp in Bucharest was
predominantly American. Cormie
remained in the camp until Aug.
23 when Romania switched sides
because the Russians were just
outside the city.
“I could hear the rumbling of
tanks and machine gun fi re,” he
said.
Even though Cormie and the
rest of the prisoners were now
free, they were stranded well behind
enemy lines.
Colonel Gunn of the U.S. Air
Force, who oversaw the operation
in Romania, organized to have all
the stranded Allied troops air lifted
to Italy. Th e planes were accompanied
by American fi ghters so
they would be safe from German
attacks.
Cormie received many honours
for serving in the war. He received
a Caterpillar badge for saving
his own life with a parachute,
a P.O.W. badge, and a Queen’s Veteran
badge, which was presented
to him on the 60th anniversary of
D Day.
He came to Canada in 1957 and
spent the majority of his life as a
patent maker for such companies
as Ford and Chrysler.
Cormie is happily married to
his wife Betty and frequents the
Sir William Stephenson Branch
of the Royal Canadian Legion in
Oshawa where he reminisces with
old friends about the war.
weather blues
aff ect attitudes
discomfort.
While the majority of people
feel down at some point during
the winter, the key to diagnosing
SAD is whether the symptoms
occur and continue at the same
time each year.
Th e Canadian Health Network
looks for changes in mood,
appetite, sleep, energy level and
concentration to help diagnose
the illness.
Although SAD only occurs
seasonally, it is a recognized
mental illness and can be treated
by light therapy, antidepressants
and counseling.