IVENS, F/L Herbert Alexander (J10649) - Mention in Despatches - No.146 Squadron - Award effective 14 June 1945 as per London Gazette of that date and AFRO 1478/45 dated 21 September 1945. Born 12 November 1922 in Scott, Saskatchewan. Educated there, 1929-1939. Boy scout six years, scoutmaster two years. With Dominion Experimental Farm, Scott, Saskatchewan, 1938-1940. Attending University of Saskatchewan, 1940-1941 (Agriculture) and had COTC training. Home in Wilkie, Saskatchewan. Enlisted in Saskatoon, 12 June 1941 and posted to No.2 Manning Depot. To No.7 Equipment Depot, 14 July 1941. To No.2 ITS, 7 August 1941; graduated and promoted LAC, 24 September 1941 when posted to No.2 EFTS; graduated 21 November 1941 when posted to No.2 SFTS; graduated and commissioned, 13 March 1942. To No.118 (Fighter) Squadron, 15 March 1942. Flew in Alaska with this unit; long letter in DHist biography file about this. Promoted Flying Officer, 1 October 1942. To “Y” Depot, 8 April 1943. Embarked from Canada, 9 May 1943l disembarked in Britain, 23 May 1943. To No.1 Personnel Despatch Centre, 25 June 1943. Taken on strength of Air Headquarters, India, 17 July 1943. Attached BRD Wooli, 29 September to 20 October 1943. Arrived Poona, 20 October 1943. To No.261 Squadron, 1 January 1944. Promoted Flight Lieutenant, 13 March 1944. To No.146 Squadron, 20 October 1944. Shot down with No.146 Squadron, Burma, 11 December 1944 and taken prisoner (Thunderbolt HD136). Safe in Allied hands, 7 May 1945. Safe in United Kingdom, 16 June 1945. Repatriated 6 July 1945. To No.10 Repair Depot, 20 July 1945. To No.6 Release Centre, 11 November 1945; retired 14 November 1945. Legal Advisor to Custodian of Enemy Property, Vancouver, 1948. Obtained a law degree, University Of British Colombia, 1949 and applied to join RCAF as a Legal Officer, but there were no vacancies. Died in Richmond, British Columbia, 6 June 1980. RCAF photo PL-60674 (ex UK-21562 dated 22 May 1945) is captioned as follows: “Freed from a Japanese prison, these Canadians airmen smile happily for the camera aboard the hospital ship which brought them from Ramgoon to a port in India. Left to right, they are F/L Herbert Ivens (J10649) of Scott, Saskatchewan, whose Thunderbolt was shot down at Meiktila last December, Pilot Officer John Yanota (J88914), Blairmore, Alberta, and Flying Officer Keith Cuddy (J16295), endured solitary confinement and rough treatment from Japanese guards in the Rangoon Central Gaol, but after a few solid meals on the hospital ship the ex-prisoners began making rapid strides toward full recovery.” RCAF photo PL-60714 (ex UK-21874 dated 8 June 1945) is captioned as follows: “At a Saturday night dance at the Canadian Legion’s Canada House in Calcutta, ex POW F/L Herb Ivens (J10649), right, catches up on some of his calories. He finds buffet supper at Canada House a vast improvement on the rice diet of Rangoon Central Gaol where he was held for several months in solitary confinement. With him in the picture is F/L Jack Glessing, RCAF Liaison Officer, India and Southeast Asia, and a fellow townsman of Ivens at Scott, Saskatchewan.” RCAF photo PL-60715 (ex UK-21875 dated 8 June 1945) is captioned as follows: “Ex POW F/L Herb Ivens (J10649), right, of Scott, Saskatchewan, tells about his experiences in Rangoon to F/L Ray Walker (J11051) of Duncan, Oklahoma. Ivens and Walker are old friends, have been together almost all the time they have been in the service, and were on the same Thunderbolt squadron when Ivens went missing. Picture taken at Canada House.” Description of his imprisonment in volume 5 of RCAF file 46-19-15A, “Prisoners of War - Escape of - Interrogations” National Archives of Canada, Record Group 24, Volume 5373. // The genesis of this statement was a letter dated 4 January 1946 from Headquarters, United States Air Forces in Europe (signed by Birt J. Rainey, Special Agent, Counter Intelligence Corps) to RCAF Overseas Headquarters, London, which read in part: // We have learned from a statement completed by F/O A.R. Tomlinson, 211 Squadron, RAF, that F/L Ivens, RCAF (squadron unknown - Thunderbolts, who has been repatriated to Canada) was asked technical questions by Lieutenant A.L. Bearden, USAAF while a prisoner of the Japanese in Rangoon about 22 October 1944, and that Beardon informed Ivens he was re-assembling a P-34 [sic] aircraft for the Japanese. // We are conducting an investigation of Lieutenant Bearden’s activities while he was a prisoner of the Japanese and would appreciate your obtaining any information that F/L Ivens might have relative to these matters. // RCAF Headquarters contacted Ivens on 15 March 1946 and he replied on 22 March 1946 with the following: // I am ex-Flight Lieutenant Herbert Alexander Ivens, J10649, RCAF and I submit the following statement: // I was shot down on December 11 over an airdrome in Northern Burma. I was handed over to the Japanese by the Burmese and was taken to the prison in Rangoon. There I was put into solitary confinement on December 15, 1944. On or about January 15, all the prisoners in this prison, numbering about 106, were moved into different cells. I was moved from a cell on the main floor to a cell on the second floor. W/C L.V. Hudson, RAAF, who had been shot down shortly after I was and put in a cell on the bottom floor directly across from mine, was also moved to the second floor and brought to the same cell I was being moved into. As the guards put us in the cell he turned to me and said he thought something was in the wind. // We discussed the move and could not think of any reason for it. About an hour later, the guards returned and with them was a white man, who we later found was Lieutenant Al Bearson, USAAF. Beardon was issued with a blanket and a rice pan and we found that the three of us were going to be held in the same cell. Later that afternoon Beardon was taken out for a few minutes and Hudson and I discussed the move further. Hudson was very suspicious and although I could not see any reason to suspect Beardon we decided to be careful in our future conversations since althiugh we heard Beardon had been in the prison before and had been taken out, we had not seen him before and knew nothing of his record or history. That night we were able to talk to one another when the guards left the prison, and Beardon gave us his history and a few details of his life in the United States. // The next day he was again taken out of the cell for a short time and Hudson and I decided that although we had no reason to suspect Beardon we would be very careful about what we talked about. When Beardon returned and we had an opportunity to chat to one another then conversation invariably developed to discussions of when and how the Allies would return to Burma. Hudson and I were firmly resolved not to give the slightest hint of any plans we were familiar with. To our questions as to why Beardon was being taken out of the cell periodically, Beardon told us that the Japanese were reconstructing a P-38 at Mingladon Airdrome, and since he had been flying a P-38 on operations against the enemy, the Japanese had taken him out to explain certain details of construction to them. Beardon gave a very colourful story about working with them and told how very stupid they were and how he knew they would never finish the reconstruction job in time for it to be of any use to them. // We asked him if he was doing any of the actual work to which he answered that he was, but only work that was not of military importance. We asked him if he was being treated well to which he replied in the affirmative. He was in good flesh and showed no signs of the malnutrican which was so evident in the appearance of the rest of the prisoners held in the prison. In the days that followed Beardon was a good cell mate in that he was not greedy or overly pessimistic but he did seem extremely anxious to hear our ideas as to when we would be released and how. He was taken out again several times for short periods and when we asked him the reason for these trips he would explain that one of the engineers from the airdrome was asking him to interpret plans of the P-38 for him. // When Beardon was out of the cell Hudson and I would discuss his queer behaviour, and also wondered at veracity of his story in that his clothes had no grease or oil on them, which he would have had if he had been working around an aircraft. Although we did not condemn him then, Hudson and I decided that something was definitely wrong and that we would continue our program of silence on military matters. Finally Beardon was taken away and did not return. // Shortly after that - about the end of February - the prison was cleared except for 15 white men, of which Hudson and I were two. The others were taken to a compound which had been vacated by a section of the Indian National Army. The 15 of us were left there for approximately a month. During this time Beardon again returned from one of his trips and told us he had attempted an escape and had been recaptured. We saw him after this alleged escape and since he showed no signs of fatigue or starvation, which he had claimed, we further doubted him. // At the end of the month the 16 of us were moved into the compound where the rest of the prisoners had been taken. Beardon’s reception in the compound was not warm as the feeling that he was up to something had spread. One night we were all gathered together in one of the upstairs rooms and since Beardon had just returned to the prison after another short absence we were questioning him on what he was going on outside the wall. We asked him if he thought the British troops were approaching and if there was any sign of freedom. He gave us all the news he had and then told us that he thought there was a very good chance of freedom in a very short time. He then told us that he had been carrying out a sort of independent counter-espionage program against the Japanese in that they had been asking him for invasion plans and other military information and that he had been giving them answers which would have hindered more than helped. He said that he was not able to tell us this before because he was afraid that in some way or other it would get back to the Japanese and then he would not be able to do anything. We asked him about the P-38 story and he admitted it was false and only given to ally our suspicions about his trips out of the prison. Some members of the squadron he flew with were in the prison and they agreed that what he had done was for the good of the Allied cause. Others did not. // The following appeared in the Toronto Star of 11 November 2012 under the headline Remembrance Day: Herb Ivens, The Soldier Who Came Back From the Dead and byline of John Spears: // Calcutta, May 10, 1945 // Dear Family, // // I’ve just had one of the best experiences of my life . . . // This is the story of a lucky man. A man who came back from the dead. // It emerged from a dusty box that my sister found in the attic of the house where my mother had lived for 60 years. // It begins in 1945 in India, where my father, Flight Lt. Borden Spears, was serving with the Royal Canadian Air Force. // It ends with some phone calls to British Columbia. // In the box my sister dragged from the attic was a sheaf of letters, written by my father to his parents in 1944 and 1945. They probably ended up there after my grandfather died in 1951. // In a few short paragraphs, confined by the cramped space of an airmail form, was the story of a man who beat the odds: // “One of the hard things about this job is that you meet a lot of people, make some good friends among them, and then they go on operations and don’t come back. One of the best of them was Herb Ivens, who got killed last December at Meiktila. // “Last night I went to meet a hospital ship bringing prisoners of war back from Rangoon — and the first man I saw leaning over the rail was Herb Ivens. // “I busted all the regulations, dashed up the gangplank to see him, and before I could get a word out he was congratulating me on my promotion. // “I still can’t get over seeing him alive; his No. 2 saw him hit the earth at 500 miles an hour. He himself doesn’t remember anything after he got hit, until he came to in a bullock cart. He didn’t have a bone broken. It was certainly good to see him.” // That’s it. // Dad’s letter moved on to other news, after managing to dispatch and then resurrect Herb Ivens in about 200 words. // So what became of Flight Lt. Herb Ivens, whose life had been so miraculously spared? // My father, who died in 1983, had never mentioned the story. // Websites with wartime records turned up a few details. Herb Ivens had been the pilot of a P-47 fighter-bomber, shot down on a raid over the Meiktila airfield, in northern Burma, in December 1944. // After his astonishing survival, he spent the rest of the war imprisoned in Rangoon, until he was liberated by Allied forces. // The Japanese simply vanished one day, leaving the cells unlocked, according to Herb’s younger brother Boyd Ivens, who lives in Delta, B.C. // Boyd Ivens filled in some of the details. // Herb Ivens was a Saskatchewan boy, born in 1922, who joined the air force after war broke out. // He trained in Ottawa and Dartmouth, N.S., (where he met his future wife, Patricia) before being sent to the Aleutian Islands off Alaska with his squadron. He was then transferred to Southeast Asia. // It was while flying a mission in Burma, that he was shot down — and so miraculously survived. // He was imprisoned in the jail in Rangoon, with hundreds of other Allied prisoners. // One of them was an Australian flyer, Lionel Hudson, who later wrote a book about the experience, The Rats of Rangoon. // He recalls his first meeting with a gaunt, bearded Ivens on Christmas Day, 1944. Hudson had arrived in the jail late that day — and had missed dinner. // Ivens was locked up in the cell opposite. // He waved a chicken bone at Hudson, offering it as a gift. // “It was a sordid, lonely shank, bare of meat as the iron bars I gripped,” Hudson wrote. Not being familiar with Rangoon jail conditions, he thought Ivens was crazy, and waved him off. // Later, he realized Ivens had been saving the bone for the next day, to suck the marrow: “I had turned down a precious gift.” // Then, one day the retreating Japanese suddenly pulled out, leaving the gates unlocked. // Boyd Ivens said the prisoners’ first instinct was to head into the city. // They found it in chaos, with gangs ransacking shops and homes for whatever they could find. // The PoWs retreated to the jail to wait for their liberators. // They spelled out signs on the roof of the jail to let aircraft know the Japanese were gone. // One of the pilots who buzzed the jail at low level saw prisoners waving from the roof. // When he got back to base, he told his incredulous mates: “I swear I saw Ivens.” // And sure enough, when Allied ground forces arrived in Rangoon shortly afterward, there he was. // Boyd Ivens says his brother was physically in worse shape than my father may have gathered from his brief shipboard reunion, and Herb wasn’t one to seek pity. // Herb had been badly injured in the crash, says Boyd, and was still walking on canes when he got back to Canada. Boyd says Herb’s legs had, in fact, been broken, and had to be reset once he returned to Canada. // (Hudson had also made light of Ivens’s injury, calling it a sore knee.) // Ivens’s sense of humour hadn’t deserted him, however. // Boyd Ivens recalls that a group of reporters interviewed his brother and several other ex-PoWs when they arrived back in Canada. // One of the reporters was a woman — still something of a novelty at the time. // As Boyd Ivens tells the story, she fixed him with a pleading gaze and said: “I’ve heard about Japanese atrocities. Did they do anything to you?” // “And Herb said: ‘It was horrible, just terrible. Unbelievable.’ ” // “She said: ‘You poor dear, what did they do to you?’” // “He said: ‘They put me in a cell with a bloody Australian.’ ” // After the war, he went to law school in Saskatchewan. After articling with a firm in Vancouver — with Cecil Merritt, who had won the Victoria Cross in the Dieppe raid — he decided to move there to start his career. // He opened a practice in Delta, with Boyd, who had also gone to law school after the war. // In the early 1970s, he took on Ulf Ottho as an articling student, then hired him for the firm. // Ottho, now a full-time member of the National Parole Board, looks back on his time with Ivens with huge pleasure. // In those days, B.C. used lawyers in private practice as prosecutors, and Ivens regularly tried criminal cases. Sometimes, he’d do defence work. He also took on civil litigation cases. // “He was in my view, and in the view of many others, the best cross-examiner in B.C.,” recalls Ottho. // He was also well-known for his extralegal activities. // Ivens was part of a group of hard-living professionals that “seemed literally to run the town,” Ottho recalls. // They included the police chief, the biggest developer in the region, and a few others. // “The gambling they would do was legendary,” recalls Ottho. “Herb once won a house in a poker game.” // Despite Ivens’s social and professional rehabilitation, Ottho believes he was still dealing with demons from his wartime experience. // The prison camp had been brutal. Hudson’s memoir recalls prisoners being beaten to death, or dying of disease and neglect. // Ivens harboured a deep antipathy for the Japanese following the war, says Ottho. // He wanted to deal with it — and embarked on a long trip to Japan and around the world in 1971. // Hudson, his Australian cellmate, recalls Ivens telling him, years later: // “I said to myself: ‘You don’t want to die hating the Japanese.’ So I went off to Japan to get it out of my system.” // He got in touch with a former Japanese fighter pilot who had also flown in Burma. // He left Japan with a samurai sword, engraved with his name and the name of his pilot friend, along with a prayer for peace. // He also left Japan with something else — a connection with a young woman, named Machiko, who had been his translator. // When he left — on his way to Israel, the next stop on his world tour — he said she could come and stay with him if she were to come to Canada. // The next year, Ivens went back to Japan to see Machiko, and shortly afterward she moved to Canada to be with him. // Machiko still lives in Vancouver. // She remembers him with love. // “He was very fair in his thinking. He never held grudges. He was very kind,” she recalled when reached by telephone. // Not that he was saintly. // “He lived every day the way he wanted to live,” she recalled. // “He drank and smoked and partied all day, all night. I guess when you have that kind of experience, you try to live every day to the fullest. I think that’s what he did.” // The home they shared was decorated like a Japanese dwelling. Herb wore a kimono at home. // The two didn’t get married until 1979. Shortly afterward, Herb was diagnosed with cancer. // He was still taking treatment when he decided he’d like to make one more trip to Japan, in 1980. Machiko arranged for him to have treatment in Japan on their visit, but by then nothing could stave off the end. // Herb made it back to Canada, but his plane was met by an ambulance. He died shortly afterward. // “I’m very thankful about the life he shared with me,” Machiko says. // “Without him I wouldn’t have this outlook on life — be happy every day, and positive. And live today, not tomorrow.” // It’s hard to get the real sense of a man’s life from a few short words in an old letter, and a handful of phone calls to the other side of the country. // What’s clear, though, is that Ivens had a life. He’d been given a second chance, and seized it. // As Ottho recalls: “He told me he regarded his life as a bonus because he should have been killed when he was shot down. He had the attitude that every day was a bonus.” // RCAF Press Release dated 8 December 1944 from: F/O W.B. Spears read as follows: // BURMA FRONT: - “It’s like driving a Rolls,” said Flight Lieutenant Herb Ivens. He bestowed an approving slap on the stubby fuselage of the P-47 Thunderbolt in which he had returned from a sweep over Burma. “There’s nothing in Asia that compares with it,” he declared. // The stocky flight commander from Scott, Saskatchewan, was voicing the opinion of every pilot in this Thunderbolt wing which numbers many Canadians. Since it was added a few months ago to the list of RAF aircraft operating in South-East Asia, the powerful fighter-bomber has amply justified its European reputation as a plane with a punch, at high altitudes or low. // “That isn’t always the case,” explained F/L Tommy Sheppard of 137 Arlington Avenue, Toronto, Ontario. “Some of the types which do well in Europe can’t take the climate out here, but the T-Bolt performs like a charm. For one thing it has an air-cooled radial engine and we have none of the trouble you get with liquid cooling in a hot climate. It’s unbeatable at high altitudes, and it packs a real wallop in low-level attacks on ground positions.” // Sheppard is a member of the squadron, then flying Hurricanes, which broke up the famous Japanese attack on Ceylon by carrier-borne aircraft on Easter Sunday 1942. It was another Canadian, S/L L.G. Birchall of St. Catharines, who was credited with shooting the Japs from his Catalina and flashing back warning of the attack. Other Canadians in Sheppard’s squadron are F/O Mal Beverly, 5 Don Mills Road, Toronto, and W/O Bob Owen, 817-21st Avenue, S.E., Calgary. // Two other Thunderbolt squadrons share the same airfield on the Burma front, and of the six flight commanders, five are RCAF pilots. Besides Ivens and Sheppard, there are F/L Don MacLean, 176 Joseph Street, Victoria, B.C., F/L Harold Benson, Wellesley Park, Moose Jaw, and F/L Ray Walker, Duncan, Okla. // The roster of Canadians flying with the wing also includes P/O Frank Horne, 105 Madison Ave., Toronto; W/O Tom Lyons, 100 O’Connor Drive, Toronto; W/O R.E. Amey, 720 Victor Street, Winnipeg; F/O Hubert Ives, Pembroke, Ontario; P/O George Stewart, Morriston, Ontario; W/O Jim Stevens, 14 Roxborough Drive, Toronto, whose family live in Victoria, B.C.; P/O C.B. Smith, Drumheller, Alta.; and F/O Ron Craymer, 190 St. George Street, Toronto, Ontario. // Their assignments, emphasizing the versatility of the Thunderbolt, range from escort and intruder operations to close-support bombing in front of 14th Army troops. They destroy bridges, shoot up enemy airfields, and hammer constantly at Japanese transport. Using extra long-range tanks, they can stab deeper into Burma than other aircraft in their class; Sheppard, for example, has been twice to Rangoon. // “The Japs seldom come out to meet us,” said Amey, “so our chance at them is to catch them landing or taking off from their own fields.” He has yet to meet a Zero or Oscar in the air, but has brought home a few flak holes as mementos of dive-bombing and strafing attacks on enemy airdromes. // Enthusiasm for the job is high on this field. Targets are assigned as a result of daily conferences between senior R.A.F. and army officers; but frequently the squadron request, and usually receive, permission to make additional attacks on objectives observed during their sweeps. When that happens - considering the bomb under each Thunderbolt wing and destructive power of its eight .5 machine guns - the sons of Nippon have more to worry about than the part in their hair. // Training: Interviewed in Saskatoon, 12 June 1941 by F/O H.G. Raney. “Good character, healthy, athletic; refined appearance, neatly dressed, alert, intelligent, well organized mind. Mature pleasant personality. Scout master two years. One year University of Saskatchewan. Above average type, shows leadership qualifications. Suitable in all respects for commissioned rank.” // Course at No.2 ITS was 8 August to 8 September 1941. Courses in Mathematics (88/100), Armament, practical and oral (72/100), Signals (99/100), Hygiene and Sanitation (31/40), Drill (75/100) and Law and Discipline (50/60). Placed 81st in a class of 140. “This airman is better than average. He is very aggressive, dependable and has plenty of initiative. He has a good sense of responsibility and leadership qualities. Apart from his age, he is definitely officer material.” // Course at No.2 EFTS was 25 September to 21 November 1941. Tiger Moth aircraft - 35.15 day dual, 41.10 day solo (10.10 on instruments included) plus ten hours in Link. “Progress satisfactory. Plenty of spirit and can be held down a bit. Tends to overconfidence - result, carelessness and roughness.” Ground courses in Airmanship (177/200), Airframes (88/100), Aero Engines (89/100), Signals, practical (95/100), Theory of Flight (76/100), Air Navigation (144/200) and Armament, oral (165/200). Graded 150/200 on Qualities as an Officer. Placed 7th in a class of 25. “Capable and reasonably confident.” // Course at No.2 SFTS was 24 November 1941 to 16 March 1942. Harvard aircraft - 51.40 day dual, 56.20 day solo, 4.15 night dual, 11.45 night solo. Flew 28 hours on instruments and logged 28 hours in Link. “A very high average pilot - alert, sound airmanship, aerobatics rough, use of tabs weak - a high average on instruments. Over-controls with ailerons and rather heavy-handed. Link trainer ability above average (78 percent).” Ground courses in Airmanship and Maintenance (166/200), Armament written (72/100), Armament practical (82/100), Navigation and Meteorology (155/200), Signals written (36/50) and Signals practical (100/100). “Above average student, clean cut.” Placed 16th in a class of 65. // Notes: Accident, No.118 Squadron, 6 June 1942, 1830 hours, Kittyhawk AK815, VWT. Right oleo leg collapsed on landing, aircraft went off runway. No injuries. Landing field near St. Hubert. // Assessed 15 September 1942 by W/C A.D. Nesbitt, Annette Island, Alaska - “P/O Ivens is an average pilot and a very good officer. His character and sense of responsibility are excellent and he can be depended upon at all times.” // Circumstantial Report dated 12 December 1944 by S/L R.A.C. Weir, Commanding Officer, No.146 Squadron: “On 11th December 1944, nine Thunderbolts were airborne at 1430 hours to attack Meiktila Airfield. F/L Ivens was the Leader of the first section at attack the Airfield at 1540 hours. His aircraft was hit either by Machine Gun fire or Bofors fire from the Airfield whilst it was flying at ground level. He was seen to crash by his No.2 (F/O Fraser) and his aircraft broke up on impact. Nothing was seen of the pilot though his No.2 circled the spot. It is believed that he was killed in the crash.” // Writing to his mother on 1 January 1945, S/L Weir gave a slightly different story: // He was hit by anti-aircraft fire during an attack on an enemy airfield and his aircraft was seen by his No.2 to be leaving a trail of white vapour. He then called up to say he had been hit and was next seen to crash in some fields near the enemy airfield. The aircraft broke up on impact. // His No.2 then circled the area but could see no signs of your son. The cockpit appeared to be empty. He would probably have been thrown out and I feel sure his death would have been instantaneous. // Herbert was one of my Flight Commanders and I can assure you I held him in very high esteem, as did all his fellow pilots. He was a fine pilot and an inspiring leader. I have some happy memories of duck shooting expeditions we went on together. His loss is a very heavy blow to the Squadron. // I received a letter from Air Vice Marshal Vincent saying what a good view he took of your son’s action and he has recommended him for a Mention in Despatches. // Your son had been detailed to go on ahead of the Squadron and was to report if there were any aircraft on the airfield. Despite the fact that he had been hit, he kept his head and reported the presence of aircraft, which the Squadron were then able to attack. It was a magnificent effort. // When shot down he injured both knees. Unable to walk for two months, No treatment. Suffering from malnutrition when liberated. // At the time of liberation, he was one of four RCAF and one CAN/RAF freed and a CBC broadcast arranged - they were Ivens (Wilkie), F/O John Yanota (Blairmore, Alberta), P/O Dick Corbett (Toronto), P/O Keith Purdy (CAN/RAF, Sanforb, Manitoba) and P.O R.W. Stephens (Windsor, Ontario). // On 2 July 1945 he stated he had flown 150 sorties, 300 operational hours and 300 non-operational hours. Also listed his accomplishments as two Oscars destroyed, one Dinah destroyed, one locomotive and one tank. // In 1949, when applying to the RCAF, he listed his flying as follows: Tiger Moth (76.25), Harvard (206.35), Oxford (17.15), Norseman (1.00), DC-3 (45 minutes). Cessna 105 (2.30), Hurricane (91.05), Spitfire (3.10), Thunderbolt (151.30) and Kittyhawk (160.15).