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*® 4- PORT PERRY STAR - Tuesday, August 12, 1997 "Scugog's Community Newspaper of Choice" Saved from bloody beaches of Normandy Vets meet for celebration By Heather McCrae Port Perry Star War against countries can cause the most horrendous tragedies of life. But it can also generate wonderful friendships. Such is the story of Jesse Buxcey, a form- er resident of Port Perry and Ron Dunn, a British stretcher-bearer who was responsi- ble for saving Mr. Buxcey's life following the bloody raid on the Normandy Beaches in June 1944. : It was in 1944, during World War 2, when Mr. Buxcey, then a staff sergeant for the British army, led his platoon to aid troops who had landed on D-Day. After landing in France, they moved inland as the German forces were pushed back. But, on or about July 11, 1944, Mr. Buxcey's command was brought to an abrupt end when he was hit in the head by a small hand grenade thrown by a German prisoner. Laying on the ground unconscious, with brain matter seeping out of a gaping head wound, the soldier was given up for dead. One stretcher-bearer had already written Mr. Buxcey off, but-Ron Dunn, a 19-year old stretcher-bearer could detect a faint pulse and ordered his men to take the sol- dier to a hospital immediately. After several months of healing in the hospital, Mr. Buxcey survived and returned to his family in England. The injuries Mr. Buxcey received in the blast resulted in an almost complete loss of memory. Even when he returned to England and was operated on by a Canadian doctor, he still was unable to remember much about what happened before 1944. When doctors suggested Mr. Buxcey and his family move to another country to start a new life he chose Canada. His son, Tony, feels his father chose our great nation to live in because of stories the Canadian sol- § diers often told about their homeland. When Mr. Buxcey and his family arrived in Canada in 1949 he was examined by a group of neurosurgeons at Toronto's Sunnybrook Hospital. One of the doctors was Dr. Silverside, the same man who had operated on the soldier after the near fatal head injury. "When he real- ized I was the same man he had operated on, he couldn't believe I had recovered that well" Mr. Buxcey said. After several years Mr. . Buxcey regained some memo- ry but in 1982 when he and RIK DAVIE / PORT PERRY STAR his wife, Hilda, were visiting BROTHERS IN ARMS: Ron Dunn (L) whose battle field relatives in England, his decision saved the life of Jesse Buxcey(R) are shown memories of the war finally here together. came together. Just by chance, a former soldier from Ih Jesse Buxcey (centre righ ERR EEN t) was mortally wounded in the raid of Normandy in 1944 but survived due to the efforts of Ron Dunn (second left). The men are seen here with Mr. Buxcey's four surviving children, Pat Rankin, Tony Buxcey, Beryl Pearce and Don Buxcey who held a party in honor of Mr. Dunn for saving their father's life. (See story) his platoon recognized him on the street. It was through this unexpected meeting Mr. Buxcey learned only 27 of the 1001 who had comprised his regiments had sur- vived the war. Some of these men had died since the war ended, but those remaining veterans still met to discuss old times. One of these survivors was the former stretcher-bearer, Ron Dunn. - At a celebration party held August 10 at the Raglan home of Mr. Buxcey's daugh- ter, Beryl Pearce, Mr. Dunn said "I couldn't believe it when I heard that sol- dier was still alive". Since then, the two war vets have visit- ed each other three times. This fourth vis- it last Sunday was when Mr. Buxcey's children planned a special celebration to honor Ron Dunn. Although most of the children had met Mr. Dunn before, a daughter, Joyce, who died of cancer in 1981, never had the opportunity to thank him for his efforts in saving her father's Tony had ever met Mr. Dunn. When Mr. Buxcey was wounded, his wife, Hilda, was pregnant with their second son. The older son, Don, and two daughters, Beryl and Joyce, had already formed the family. Later, in 1947, another daughter, Pat, was born. At the celebrations, Tony thanked Mr. Dunn for saving his father's life. "If it wasn't for you, Ron, our father wouldn't be with us today". Tony also went on to stress that those years when his father couldn't remember anything were hard on his mother and the rest of the kids, too. ~ "It's hell to go through life without a father; I'm thankful I've got mine." he said. Last Sunday, Scugog Mayor Howard Hall proudly presented Durham Region and Township of Scugog pins to Mr. Dunn. Addressing the former stretcher-bearer, he said "thank you for looking after this guy when he was a young fellow". Mr. Buxcey is now 83 and the teenager life. But last Sunday was the first time Turn to page 8 Scugog retains trustee, Uxbridge, Brock to share one Restructuring best of a bad situation By Chris Hall Port Perry Star A recent decision on how to distribute education trus- tees throughout Durham Region has received a reluctant approval from Scugog's current representative. After discussing many ideas, two different scenarios were passed from the Local Education Improvement Committee (LEIC) to the clerks of the region's three lar- gest municipalities. _. With trustees passing along ideas to the LEIC, the options have been narrowed down to two. "It's all math. They have to chose a number that will be the best for everyone," said Bobbie Drew, Scugog Township's trustee for the Durham Board of Education. With Durham's numbers being reduced to 11 from 15 because of the provincial government's Fewer School Boards Act -- which was announced last January and is expected to take effect the first of next year -- the Durham Board of Education will have a different look in 1998. "Under the current system Scugog, Uxbridge and Brock each have their own trustee but now a choice has to be made. Things could remain the same with each of the northern municipalities retaining one and Ajax only hav- ing one or there could be two for the north and two for Ajax," she said. ; : Oshawa will receive three trustees and Whitby and - Pickering will have two no matter what decision is made, Mrs. Drew noted. : whm-- While neither option was favorable, the local trustee stated, there was one clear choice. "I didn't feel that either one was a good one, but, we have to look at fairness and Ajax only having one trustee was not right. They have over 40,000 people there and having only one person to represent them was not fair so the option té give the three northern municipalities two trustees to split between them was a better idea. That choice was the better of a bad situation," she said. Under the LEIC recommendation Scugog Township will retain their single trustee while another will split time between both Uxbridge and Brock townships. "There was no clear choice, in the beginning or now, but we have to live with the clerk's choice," she explained. Any municipality unhappy with the decision had the SDporLuhity to appeal the decision, which three did, she added. "LEIC isn't going to appeal and neither is Scugog, but Uxbridge, Brock and Oshawa plan to appeal. I don't believe Oshawa likes the "at large" decision." Trustees in every municipality will be responsible for representing people from all over their area exeept for Ajax, where the four wards will be split evenly between the two trustees. A final decision is expected during the third week of August, says Mrs. Drew, after the appeal process is completed. Things could have been a little easier, though, she adds, explaining that the province denied Ontario's school boards the ability to raise or lower their trus- tees themselves. "We knew it was coming -- we crunched the numbers -- but neither of the suggestions are totally right. We put a request into the province two months. ago -- all of Ontario's school boards -- that the provin- cial-appointed Education Improvement Committee -'--= (EIC) allow boards to TRUSTEE BOBBIE DREW adjust trustee distribution by one to make it equitable in all municipalities but they didn't go for it. "We wanted them to allow us to either raise or lower the number so that things would be fair. I am not pleased with the way things are working out," she said. Under the Tory government's new legislation the number of public school boards in Ontario will be cut from 168 to 66. Trustees were also dealt a blow when the new bill announced that their numbers would be cut to 700 from 1,900 and that the average salary for local trustees would drop from $11,000 per year to around $5,000. yr" ae gt