Volume 6 - Legion BC/Yukon Command Website

British ColumBia / Yukon CommandBrown, James LeminJames enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force in Edmonton, Alberta onAugust 3, 1943. After training at Manning Depot in Edmonton, he was senteast to take further training at #10 Bombing and Gunnery School in MountPleasant, P.E.I. After graduation, he was sent to England to take moretraining at the Operational Training Unit (O.T.U.). James was then posted to626 Squadron One Group (RAF) at Wickenby, England. He says he“completed 33 trips as the tail-gunner by good luck and good training.” Hewas discharged on September 18, 1945. James is a member of LegionBranch #24 in Cranbrook, BC.Brownsey, Reginald George (Reg)Reg was born in Duncan, BC in 1923. He joined the Army in June 1941 while stillsix months underage. He served in the Bay Street Armouries in Victoria and at OtterPoint in Sooke and went to Camp Vernon, BC for basic training. Reg then attendedVancouver Tech to become a machinist, graduating in the top one-third of his class,before going to Esquimalt to be an armourer. Reg repaired, modified, and inspectedweapons with the 13 th Infantry Brigade in Nanaimo, BC and then went overseas withthe St. John’s Fusiliers in 1945. He repaired weaponry, trained recruits and thenreturned to Camp Borden in Ontario to work at the Canadian Army Overseas #1Base Workshop. His final posting was near Aldershot, England where he helpedrepair up to 2000 rifles a day to ship back to Canada. He says that while he was there,food was in short supply and he greatly appreciated the kindness and generosity ofthe Salvation Army. Reg was discharged on January 6, 1946. He has been a LegionMember for fifty-nine years and is still active with Branch #53, Cowichan.Burrows, Robert H. (Bob)Bob was born on September 22, 1923 in Edmonton, Alberta. He moved to Victoria andenlisted in the 27 th AAC Regiment, 13 th Battery at the Bay Street Armouries inVictoria when he was 18. He went to Brandon, MB for a course on 25 lb. artillery, thento Kingston, ON as a Signalman/Radio Operator before going to Shilo, MB and in1943, to England. Bob trained in Borden, England before landing in the Bay of Naplesin Italy where he saw action with the 2 nd Field Regiment, 10 th Battery and as aForward Observation Officer with the 48 th Highlanders Infantry. He was responsiblefor mapping coordinates when firepower was needed and doing reconnaissance work,including from church towers. Bob left Italy for Marseille, France and after a shortleave in Belgium, went to Holland and Apeldoorn and Deventer, the site of the lastmajor action for the Canadian Army. Bob had been a member of the Legion PublicService Branch #127 in Victoria, BC for thirty years before he passed away in 2010.www.legionbcyukon.ca79